Friday 8 August 2008

Tuesday 29th July 2008 – Lillafured, Hungary





We had a relaxed day today, strolling the few hundred metres down into the village for an exploration. There is a large park, a huge and very pretty hotel (Hotel Palota, built to provide work for the unemployed during the slump in the 1920's), a narrow-gauge forest railway, two caves open to the public, a lake (Hamor Lake), a number of cafés, restaurants and pensions and the whole village is surrounded by wooded hills. In other words, it is an ideal tourist resort.
In the early evening, I got out the gas barbecue and felt somewhat guilty as the true campers (those in tents, and they were in the majority) started a fire and, sticking their meat and vegetables on whittled sticks, they proceeded to cook over the fire. It was a great way of bonding and three families sat around the fire chatting. I would have liked to join them although, given that the conversation was in Hungarian, I would not have been able to contribute much. Our marinated and grilled pork chops were very nice but I suspect that their wood-smoked meal tasted even better, if only because of the effort that they had put in to cook it.
We had all finished eating when the thunderstorm started – we are beginning to think that they are following us – is it personal?
Photos: The Hotel Palota; Limestone cliffs at the lower end of the village provide excellent climbing; Cooking and bonding around the campfire.

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