Keszthely, Hungary

August 10-13, 2010

 There are 16 pictures here.

I flew from Dubrovnik to Zagreb, the capitol of Dubrovnik, and stayed overnight. I caught an early morning train from there to Balatonszentgyörgy [aka St. Gregory on Balaton], Hungary. John Maxwell met me at the train stop and drove me to their (John and Erika) very nice new house in Keszthely, overlooking Lake Balaton. Lake Balaton is the largest inland lake in Europe.

G001 Here is a view from their house.

G002 Another view across their to-be-completed swimming pool.  

G003 John and Erika

John and I rode our bicycles around. I borrowed Erika’s bicycle, as she spend the days with her daughter and granddaughter on the beach at the lake. We rented helmets at a local bike shop. In Hungary, and around Lake Balaton in particular, there are lots of bicycle paths, and you see cyclists everywhere.

Here I am on one of the bike paths.

G004     G005

G006 John walking his bike

G007 John and me at the lake

We biked to the Festetics Palace, a Baroque palace named after its original builder, and built over a century from the late 1700s to the late 1800s. It is one the three largest country houses in Hungary.

G008

Another day we biked to the Szigliget Castle, which was started in 1260. Here are a map and an aerial view. The aerial view (taken from the intenet) shows how extensive the castle is.

G009      G010

We climbed and walked round the ruins.

G011      G012

G013      G014      G015

We ended the day with refreshments and met some other cyclists at the castle. This is Noemi who treated John and me to our drinks, and was interested in my Africa trip.

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The last night I took a bus to Budapest, stayed overnight, and caught an early morning flight back to Dallas, via London.

That's all for Hungary.