More money than sense

After a peaceful night sleep (except for the noise of the cows) we drive off to Lake Balaton, central Europe’s largest expanse of fresh water lake, covering 600 sq km.

It is pretty gloomy and grey today. We hope the weather improves by the time we get to Keszthely, a town close to the lake, where we will spend the day.

The drive to Keszthely has only taken an hour and a half. Before wandering around the town, we stop at a shopping centre to get some food and a new swimming costume for me as the one I currently have is disintegrating. It has lost most of its elastic and has become horribly baggy. It is about time to replace especially now, as we will be visiting a few spas and thermals baths in Hungary.

Keszthely is a cute town. In fact, all Hungarian towns we have seen so far are quite pretty. They have a Viennese style, not surprisingly since Hungary belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire for centuries. It was only after the WWII that it was separated from Austria for supporting the Nazis. Interestingly, being four decades under the communist regime has not affected the western look of towns and cities. But, sadly, it has made a significant economic impact on the country, which will take years to overcome.

Suddenly, we find the tourist information office, we pop in and get some information on activities to do around here: sightseeing, biking and walking.

The lake is only 10 minutes away from here. But before that, we visit the Festetics Palace – a museum. It is enormous, it holds five different museums. We are only interested in three: the palace, the model railway museum and the aquarium, we won’t bother with the hunting and the carriage museum. However, it is cheaper to buy the full ticket, so we will see them all. That will keep us entertained for the next couple of hours.

The interior of the palace is ostentatious, grandiose, oversized for daily use. It is hard to imagine how the family used such a massive, indulgent building. Did they use all the rooms? How often? I also wonder how similar this palace is compared to when it was in used centuries ago.

They stuff it full of furniture, but up the barricades to prevent you stepping on the bedraggled carpets and getting to close to the oversized portraits. But there is no hint of what this place was like to live in. Was it always like this, a museum to stuff the family had collected over the years. GDR

We now move on to the aquarium, which also has a garden and a greenhouses.

The aquarium has disappointed us; the water is murky and full of algae. It seems it has not been cleaned for years. Occasionally, we can glimpse some sort of fish moving next to the surface. We are surprised they can still breathe.

In the garden, Gary gets caught by this unusual flower.

And I get caught up by cactus. I like cactus; they are robust, hardy, but nonetheless beautiful. I admire creatures like this.

Then we move on to the rail museum. Sorry no photos, we didn’t pay for them. They have put together a cute model of the town and its surroundings, with trains running up and down. I think they have done a good job, they have also included a snowy section.

Then, the Hunting museum. I am not interested in hunting, but it is included in the ticket. So we might as well.

What has been displayed here is horrendous.

The family’s trophies! And that is what they call them, if only you could give these animals a rifle and teach them how to use it so it was a fair fight, maybe they would be not so keen on hunting then! GDR

More than 200 game species from five continents, some hunted by members of the family, others donated.

This is what you get from people with too much money and too much time on their hands, but little capability to do something useful with them.

These unlucky lads, which happened to be in front of the aristocrat’s riffle that day, have perfectly dissected, stuffed and displayed in their natural habitat, for our pleasure.

Gary and I went to an unforgettable trip to the Serengeti in 2012. We saw most of these animals in their natural habitat. Imagining the hunters chasing them and killing them… is utterly disgusting.

I must admit I am not an animal lover or belong to any sort of animal lobbying group. I simply see animals as living things. They want to live and they get scared if someone wants to kill them for no reason, like us, because no matter how much religious people deny this, we all come from the same source. We wouldn’t do this with human beings, so why do with do it with them?

So many animals are on the brink of extinction because of a lack of respect and understanding on how we should live in harmony with the natural environment. The religious often wrongly believe we should rule over it, with disastrous consequences. The ignorance of these individuals beggars belief. When you experience the magnificence of these animals in the wild it is truly awe inspiring. GDR

I am so glad we came. This has reminded me how horrific humans can still be. No matter how civilized we think we are, we have still a long way to go.

The one in the centre was one of our favourites, the wildebeest.

Sitting at the bottom of the food chain they are the ones that keep the system running, providing food for all the predators and scavengers, providing fertilizer to the grasses. There are millions and to watch then roam is an incredible experience. GDR

Here is some of the video footage we took while in Tanzania of these amazing animals, and to think someone could level a rifle at them for so called sport! GDR

 

 

15.00!! time to go back to Dora and get some lunch.

Thereafter we drive to the lake.

We find an empty large car park, only a bus is currently parked here. Dora will be happy next to it.

Probably she won’t be, she likes being the biggest in the car park! GDR

We go for a walk outside the village.

Not a very exciting walk, it is nice to be outdoors, we have been driving too much lately.

The walk is only an hour and a half long. The highest point is the fire-break, a couple of hundred metres above the sea level. From here, we can only get a glimpse of the Lake Balaton.

We walk back.

On the way down, we want to do a detour and climb up to another higher point to get a better view, but we get distracted, as we get engaged in a lively discussion about the future of Greece, which we both have been following closely. Gary thinks they will reach a deal, I think they will get out of the Euro. By the time we write this post, we will know who was right.

And we are now back down to the lakeside. To get to the car park where we left Dora, we have to go through a residential area, which looks more like a summer holiday place. Big mansions, huge gardens, expensive cars, all with German registered plates. Yeap! this feels like another Mallorca, an Spanish Balearic island chosen by Germans as their retired place, they have even set up a political party.

We go back to our this year’s modest and tiny home, have a relaxing evening, updating the blog with our adventures, with a glass of wine at hand.

SM