Day 14: Fri 23rd – Tihany & Lake Balaton - Hungary

Sunrise 6:37am – Sunset 6:42pm

Weather Forecast:   20 and sunny

Steps:       10,723     7.4 km  

I was awake just before 6:30 this morning.  The hotel overlooks the lake and there is a small marina across the road.

I will have to try and get up earlier  tomorrow, so I can take a photo of the sunrise.  Some of the rooms face the lake,

so they would have a good view but mine isn’t one of them.

I went downstairs around 7am, as I couldn’t get on the internet and the hotel has a problem and hope to have it fixed later. And it looks like they might be having problems again tonight.

We all headed off in the coach at 9:30 for a visit to Tihany. First up was a visit with a local guide to the Baroque church and convent of the Benedictine Abbey.

The outside appearance of the abbey doesn’t suggest the actual size within, including the cloister area.  After visiting the church

and seeing the exhibitions

under the church & cloister, we then walked to Echo Hill.

From there we then had over an hour to either shop, eat lunch or do both.  I joined Val, Geoff & Sandra for lunch, while Poolsuk went shopping. 

From there, we then went to Balatonfured for about an hour to look around at the harbor and park and/or shop.

We were finally back at the hotel around 2:30pm and those of us doing the optional to the local winery and dinner, were due to depart at 4:15pm.  A number of people had complained to Karin about this hotel and a drink was on offer at 3:30.

We arrived at the winery around 4:30ish

The narrow lane that Laszlo negotiated.

The name of the Winery

The view from the winery

and a young guy explained about their vineyard and the grapes they grow etc. We then visited one of the cellars for a quick talk and then back to the kitchen for dinner. 4 courses. All of my dishes were fine, although some people had too much fat with their main meal of pork. As we had to walk a few hundred metres from the winery to the coach, through the vineyard, we departed there just as dusk was falling.  We were back at the hotel shortly after 8pm and the internet went down again around 8:30pm and up again just after 9pm.  I'm posting this while I can.

Weather wise, it was lovely today. Pretty much as forecast, so that made it a pleasant days touring.
Departing tomorrow at 8am.  Only another 3 nights in Hungary and I'll be heading home again.