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Balaton for Seniors - 1 day

Balaton
How long it takes?
1 day
Best vehicle choice for this plan:
bus
public transport
car
This region is famous for:
World Heritage Sites
Culture and monuments
Natural values
Balaton
Seniors
Day 1
If you only have a single day in the Lake Balaton region, discover the sights of Tihany and visit Balatonfüred, the ‘capital’ of the north shore.

Church and Museum of the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany

Start your trip to Lake Balaton with a visit to the abbey, which was founded almost 1,000 years ago, and is the world-famous symbol of the Tihany Peninsula. The famous wall paintings of the monastery founded by (Saint) Andrew I of Hungary were painted by Lajos Deák-Ébner, Károly Lotz and Bertalan Székely, while the beautiful wooden statues and the wooden altars were made by Sebestyén Stulhoff. The founding king was buried in the undercroft, making this the only Hungarian royal burial place from the era of the Árpád Dynasty that is still intact.

 

Walk around Tihany

If you stand at the lookout point next to the abbey, you have a beautiful view of the Belső-tó and the south shore. From here, take a few minutes’ walk to visit the Potter’s House and the Open-air Ethnographic Museum, which showcase typical folk architectural elements and tools and equipment used by traditional craftsmen. It only takes 15 minutes to reach Belső-tó and the Lavender House, where you can learn more about how the Tihany Peninsula was formed and about lavender growing.

A walk in Balatonfüred

Your visit to the centre of the town will take you back in time, with its Classicist buildings from the Reform Era, beautiful parks and cobblestoned streets. You can practically see actress Lujza Blaha or writer Mór Jókai walking around the town. After you have visited the Vaszary Villa, the Anna Grand Hotel and the Round Church, why not take a stroll on the Tagore Promenade and allow the many statues and plaques to tell you the history of the town. Lake Balaton’s best-known promenade is named after the famed Indian poet and Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. Many celebrities have followed the example of planting trees here set by the great artist. The shaded promenade is also called the main street of Lake Balaton, and is full of cafés, restaurants and ice-cream shops.

During your visit

Wine

Olaszrizling is a dry white wine, found in every Hungarian wine region, but the finest examples of the variety grow in the vineyards of Csopak, and on Szent György Hill in the Badacsony wine region. You can taste the character of the terroir in its bitter almond aftertaste. It is used to make light wines fermented in the tank, which are a frequent ingredient used in spritzers, a popular drink (wine mixed with carbonated water) in Hungary, while the Olaszrizling fermented in barrels makes a full-bodied wine to accompany gastronomic dishes and is a premium product.

Gastronomy

Fish soup is made in many different ways in Hungary. Along with the recipes associated with Baja and Szeged, the variety made at Lake Balaton is also well known. This latter is distinct from the fish soups of other regions in that it is made from carp, perch, pike or catfish, with the addition of other, smaller fish: the key distinction is that overall, a third of the fish used to make it must be predators. The soup also includes potatoes, and a glass of Balaton wine. There is no one standard recipe: it is made differently on the north and south shores of Lake Balaton. Careful, though: it can be spicy.

Move around like a hungarian