Day 15: Sat 24th – Balatonfured, Herend, Pannonhalma & Esztergom - Hungary

Sunrise 6:39am – Sunset 6:39pm

Weather Forecast:   22 and partly cloudy

Steps:     8,956     6.18 km

Awake at 5:45 with the alarm and was showered and dressed when the wake up call came, which was a knock on the door.  No phones in these rooms and I hadn’t even noticed.  I managed to get a sunrise photo

but not a very good on, as it occurred while I was eating breakfast, so I had to go for a walk outside and across the road, to take the pic.

We got away on time at 8am, heading to Herend, to visit the porcelain factory. The first comfort stop was at 8:45. About a 3rd of the people took up that offer. I got off the bus to stretch my legs. We arrived at Herend shortly after and then did a tour of the tourist part of the factory. After that, some people visited the museum. I decided to check out the shop. Thankfully, there wasn't anything there that I needed or wanted and Karin again, offered an Insight flourish and shouted us all a coffee if we wanted one, so that as an inexpensive stop for me.

We were on the coach again by 10:45 and Karin came around again with another "flourish" . A chocolate bar which was very yummy. "Mondelez International" was the brand.

The countryside on his leg is mainly agricultural. The land is gentle rolling hills.  It looks like wheat crops or something similar.  Lots of round bails of hay in the harvested fields.  And just as I wrote that, we passed through a lightly forested area.  Quick photo stop for Csesznek Castle Ruins at 11:35am. 

Arrived at Pannonhalma  and most of it was

Pannonhalma Archabbey

closed to the general public because of a religious activity but we were allowed to visit the Library with a local guide.  

The Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey is a medieval building in Pannonhalma, one of the oldest historical monuments in Hungary. Founded in 996, it is located near the town, on top of a hill.  This is the second largest territorial abbey in the world, after the Monte Cassino one.  It includes the Basilica with a Crypt (13th Century), Cloisters, the huge Library with 400,000 volumes, according to the local guide. There are about 50 monks living in the monastery. There is also a Benedictine High School and boys boarding school for boys aged 12-18.
I had time to buy a post card and a magnet and then back on the coach at 1:20.  Lots of wind farms along this stretch of the highway.

Lunch stop was as Macca's . Quick and fast and we were on our way again at 2:45.
I get lazy as tours progress and made less & less notes.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Esztergom, was to go to the Basilica.

After that we then went to the hotel and checked in.  

Nice looking hotel but a bit of a rabbit warren. My room was 224. I had to take the elevator to the left of reception up one floor, get out, walk past the bar and take a right down towards the wellness centre and take the elevator there up to the 2nd floor. Once out of that elevator, walk along the corridor, that says your room number is there but it isn't. Continue along that corridor, down 5 or 6 steps along the next corridor and at the very end was my room.  At first I couldn't find it, so went back to reception and asked a staff member to show me where it was.  Duh.  Oh, and no porters at the hotel, so if you didn't take your luggage with you, Karin and Laszlo did the delivering, although I think some of the other people on the tour, were also doing deliveries.   Something different to talk about.  It happens sometimes on these BB tours. I can remember back in 2010 at the Hilton in Sophia, the CEO John Boulding, delivering the luggage because the porters were on strike.

Pork knuckle main

There was an optional dinner tonight, billed as a medieval dinner.  The food was certainly in abundance and the chicken I had was delicious but way too much food. I only took my little camera, so photos aren't much good.  There was a starter

and the main.

a fish main

The starter would have been enough.  A good time was had by all, I think.  There was certainly merriment on the coach back to the hotel.  Heading back to Budapest tomorrow.
Another view of the Basilica from across the Danube in Slovakia.