Lake Balaton

To celebrate my first non-rainy weekend in the ‘Pest, my friend Jackie and I visited Lake Balaton, nicknamed the Hungarian Cape Cod by wistful Americans unable to return to the States for the summer. The lake has a circumference of 212 kilometers, and the water is super shallow and sparkly.

We arrived in the resort town of Siofok early Saturday afternoon. Now scratch the Cape Cod imagery. Siofok is more like the Hungarian Cancun. The Hungarian Cancun which is yet to be open for the season. So we did what anyone would do in Cancun with nothing going on – Jackie got another piercing (and I didn’t, Mom!). And then we started drinking.


After a drink at Tequila Tavern, we moved to a lakeside bar. Sitting as far as we could from the dancer in the cage, we concentrated on the lakeside view and ordered more drinks. On vodka in a tall glass with a side of water with gas #3 (my closest European approximation to a vodka soda, my drink of choice for the long-haul), we met our German friends. Apparently they too missed the memo that Siofok wasn’t open for another two weeks.

I don’t speak German. Jackie doesn’t speak German. German #1 didn’t speak English. German #2 sort of did. We proceeded to have an amazingly long conversation considering no one really knew what the other person was saying. I knew it was time to leave when German #2 began talking to me in German thinking he was speaking in English.


Despite a lot of talk, Jackie and I called it an early night. When we awoke around 3 AM to shouting and techno music radiating from Captain Morgan’s Ship (were there enough people in Siofok to make that much noise?), we contemplated rallying.

Just kidding. That is a total lie. We swore about the stupid teenagers making a racket, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Sunday, however, was awesome. Jackie and I took my trusty Opel Astra on the ferry across Balaton to the tiny hillside town of Tihany. Tihany is one of the least developed towns along Balaton and home to a beautiful 950-year old Benedictine monastery. We browsed the ceramics shops, checked out the marzipan museum, debated buying fanny packs and ate langos, delicious fried dough saucers topped with clotted cream and cheese (my time in Budapest will weed out any friends who liked me only for my figure). We drove back to Budapest via the more scenic north side of the lake.

So, our first trip to Balaton was a learning experience. But really, when can you say you had tequila at 2 PM, spent time with a good friend, and explored a gorgeous, hillside town in the same weekend?