Wining and dining in Sumeg

Monday we headed to Sumeg, a tourist town northwest of the western limit of lake balaton. Lake Balaton is a very large lake in the middle of Hungary. it is 100 km long and 20 km wide, and very shallow. because it is so shallow it warms up quickly in the spring, and stays at a nice temperature through the whole summer. motor boats are not allowed, but there are many sailboats, and many hotels, motels, pensions etc. One of the towns on the Lake is Tihany. you park and then climb up a hill past many little tourist shops to a very old church with links to the Benedictine monks. near the church is a little cafe with exotic ice cream dishses. we ate on the balcony overlooking the Balaton. it was peaceful and beautiful.

Katis sister marjke lives in sumeg. she and her husband robbie run a toursit business that provides accommodation, horseback riding, riding lessons, hunting, wagon rides etc. because it was september there was lots of room for us. Robbie is keen on maintaining old traditioins and from time to time participates in hussar ceremonies and events, complete with traditional costumes and activities. supper that night was fried chicked and french fries with assorted salads. afterewards we went to a little wine taverna and tasted 6 different types of hungarian wines. one was from the tokaj region but was not made with the tokaj processes, the others were from wineries nearby. there was a sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvingon, shiraz, muscat, resiling and one other. very tasty indeed, but the quantity made the walk home a little treacherous.

today we headed to a new spa near sumeg. there are many hot springs in hungary because of the geology of the country, and many many many spas. the last time we were here we went to an open air spa that was like a lake. today we went to an indoor-outdoor spa. There were several pools at different temperatures, spots where there are showers coming down, other spots where from time to time there are bubbles coming up, and one circular area that has a current that just takes you along around and around . supper tonite was at a spot run by another tradition keeper friend fo Robbies. the floor was rocks, the tables were long picnic tables with benches; sheepskins and goat skins lined the walls, and there was a gypsy trio providing entertainment. I had goose leg. the others had pork hock, chicken, or pork tenderloin. the six meals were all served on the same great tray, and you put on your plate what you wanted. we had apricot palinka before the meal, and a nice white house wine with the meal. dessert was a potato flour pastry filled with cottage cheese or plum jam, and dusted with brown sugar and flour. since we polished that off they also provided hungarian cheese cake. it is more like a dessert square than our cheesecake, and the filling is lighter.

Tomorrow we spend some last time in Budapest, and attend a concert of music by Kodaly in the evening.