Monday 8th October 2007

A more autumnal morning with mist and no views, so the planned morning boat trip was postponed until this afternoon. A stroll around Keszethely with an early lunch of Giros Pitta (Greek kebab in pitta bread). Although we are in Hungary, we couldn't resist our favourite Greek snack when we found the Greek decorated hut near the main square. I surprised the owner by ordering in Greek, which I explained was far better than my Hugarian on the basis that I know at least 10 words of Greek! It turned out that he had married a Hungarian lady and moved to Lake Balaton. I have to say that Lake Balaton is beautiful and not such a bad alternative to Greece. The Giros Pitta was very good but lacked the patatas (chips) that are normally included in the authentic Greek version.
The boat trip was very pleasant, although Balaton is huge (the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe) and the trip simply meanders around a very small part. Still, the views were lovely, if hazy, and it was very pleasant to be on the water. There was also a connection with Vienna in that this was one of Sissy's favourite haunts. The Hungarians are very fond of Sissy, as she was of them and they appreciate the influence that she had on her husband Franz Josef of Austria in the granting of more autonomy to Hungary.
We had an evening meal in a small locals' restaurant close to the campsite. I had cream of garlic soup, which I would not normally choose on the basis that I would be told to sleep in the spare room. However, given that we don't have a spare room in the motorhome, I thought that I would be safe. For the main course, I ordered carp as the pike-perch on the menu outside the restaurant did not appear on the menu inside. It was a miss-translation. It was definitely eel. The fish was round and came in two sections each of which looked like a piece of the Loch Ness Monster (U-shaped) and was deep fried. It was very soft and had curved bones – it was definitely eel! Jane was a little more conservative and had turkey. This turned out to be deep-fried turkey twizzlers, hopefully not supplied by Bernard Matthews! This was all washed down by some very cheap (and it tasted like it) local wine. Not the most successful of meals! However I did learn from the proprietor how to pronounce Keszethely – 'Kest-hay'. I am ashamed to admit that this is probably the only word in Hungarian that I can pronounce correctly.
Returning to the campsite at the incredibly late hour of 21:30, we discovered the gate to the campsite firmly locked and the guard was nowhere to be seen. He was supposed to be in attendance until 22:00 but obviously decided that, given the very few people in the site, he could sneak away early. There was nothing for it, we had to climb over the gate. Fortunately it was quite low but anyone who has seen Jane attempting to get over a high style will know, this was stil quite a challenge. A few minutes of pushing, pulling, groans and a lot of laughter later, Jane was over.
The photographs show the trip boat on Lake Balaton at Keszthely and a railway signal operator raising the level crossing barrier by hand near Keszthely station.