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KESZTHELY |
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A tradition of freethinking that dates back to the eighteenth
century gives KESZTHELY a sense of superiority over other resorts, and
its university ensures that life isn't wholly taken over by tourism.
Perched at the far western tip of the lake, and the hub of several
ferry, bus and train routes, the town gracefully absorbs thousands of
visitors during peak season and yet manages not to look bleak and
abandoned the rest of the year. With the Belváros and Festetics Palace
to admire, and a thermal lake awaiting bathers at nearby Hévíz ,
Keszthely is one of the most appealing and enjoyable towns on Balaton.
It's also the best place from which to approach the attractions at Kis-Balaton.
The Town
Walking uphill along Mártírok útja from the train and bus stations,
you'll pass the Balaton Museum at the junction with Kossuth utca
(May-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; Nov-April Tues-Sat 9am-5pm; 200Ft), which
covers the region's history and wildlife, with artefacts dating back to
the first century AD, when road-building Romans disrupted the lifestyle
of local Celtic tribes. Mock-up displays of fishing and thatching scenes
are used to illustrate the life of the lakeside population. Heading on
up Kossuth utca for ten minutes brings you to Fo tér , a strangely
shaped square in the middle of which stands the Trinity Statue , erected
in 1770. On the eastern side of the square, the much remodelled Church
of Our Lady of the Hungarians was originally constructed in the
fourteenth century, and was at one point rebuilt as a fortress as a
means of repelling the Turks before becoming the property of György
Festetics in 1799. Further reconstruction in the late nineteenth century
included the addition of the neo-Gothic tower, and the church still
retains a Gothic rose window above its portal. North of Fo tér, Kossuth
utca is pedestrianized and given over to cafés, buskers and strollers,
with a flea market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.
Heading towards the Festetics Palace, you'll pass a plaque on the right
at Kossuth utca 22 marking the birthplace of Karl Goldmark . Born in
1830, the son of a poor Jewish cantor who enrolled him in Sopron's
school of music, Goldmark went on to study at the Vienna Conservatory.
Almost shot as a rebel for giving concerts in Gyor during the 1848
Revolution, he survived to compose Merlin, Zrínyi and The Queen of Sheba
. In the courtyard behind is the newly restored synagogue , dating from
1852; if it's closed you can arrange to get keys from István Goldschmidt
(tel 83/311-852). A black obelisk nearby commemorates the 829 Jews who
were deported from here in 1944.
A little further down Kossuth utca you come to a triple-header of
attractions on the left hand side at no. 11 (all daily: June-Sept
9am-6pm; Oct-May 10am-5pm; 200Ft each - visit all three and pay only for
two). First is the Shell Parliament ( Panoptikum ), an extraordinary
seven-metre-long, 2.5-metre-high reconstruction of the Budapest
Parliament building - extraordinary in the sense that it took one
indefatigable woman fourteen years of her life to piece together 4.5
million Pannon sea-snail shells to get the finished result. Just around
the corner is the Waxwork Museum , featuring life-size models of
legendary and eminent Hungarians such as King Stephen, Árpád and Petofi;
it is made all the more enjoyable thanks to the English captions
explaining each person's role in Hungarian society. The recently
restored building next door houses the delightful Folk Costume Puppet
Museum ( Népi Babamúzeum ), a vast collection of exquisite porcelain
dolls dressed up in folk costumes representing the multifarious regions
of Hungary. Five minutes' walk away, the Marzipan Museum and Pastry Shop
, 200m down from the palace gates at Katona József utca 19 (March-Dec
Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; 100Ft), is also well worth a stop, not only to view
the extraordinary ornamental marzipan works, but also to sample one of
the many tempting marzipan desserts.
Keszthely has three beaches . There's a free strand at the end of Lóczy
Lajos utca east of the centre and two more paying beaches: the Városi
strand , near the ferry dock, with its own quay, is the nicer of the two;
while the Helikon strand is between the two campsites further south (both
mid-May to mid-Sept daily 8am-8pm; 250Ft, free after 5.30pm). You can
rent windsurfing gear at both of the paying beaches (500Ft per hour,
2000Ft per day).
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