Blog News/Me News - Tapolca - Badacsony - Sümeg - 01.10.2024

My mom is a spontaneous person, so driven by a sudden idea, she invited me on a short mother-daughter trip in September. It is not the first time that we go on such a trip if our time and budget allow and we discover our destination together, except if she wants a spa-wellness relaxing trip, because I am not the best partner for that, so in this case my mum take my dad on such trips.

The destination she chose was Tapolca in Hungary. Tapolca is in the "castle" county of Veszprém, close to Lake Balaton and it´s main attraction is the Malom lake located in the heart of the town.

We chose the Hotel Gabriella, located in the immediate vicinity of the lake, and its top floor, which had a great view of the lake, as our accommodation. The room was spacious, well furnished, warm and quiet.

Unfortunately, it was raining throughout our first day, but that didn't stop us from walking around the town and around the lake. The Malom Lake (Mill´s Lake) is beautiful even in rainy weather, full of koi fish of all colors and many ducks.

Tapolca means warm water in Slavic - the spring water emerges at 18 degrees from the karst cave system below the town. Due to its temperature, the water of the lake does not freeze in winter. Beneath the city lies the 4th longest cave system in the country.

The lake is fed by the Tapolca stream, the damming of which created the Malom lake, already in the time of the Romans. Right next to the lake - which is also called the Great or Upper lake - is the Small or Lower lake, which is another they were created because of a mill.

The other attraction in the city is the Fish stairs, which is the work of local artist Judit Varjas and is really very beautiful, but unfortunately many things have already been stolen from it. She worked for 16.5 days from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening to prepare for the inauguration planned for the 2016 Trout Festival: she sketched, primed, painted and varnished, and finally used 30 kg of paint for the 27-stair creation.

Of course, I couldn't miss the vacation umbrella pictures, which my mom took laughing...if that umbrella could talk...save many rainy holiday of mine.

The other main tourist attraction in Tapolca is the Tavasbarlang (Lake Cave). The accessible section of the lake cave of Tapolca is 250 meters long, of which 70 meters are dry and 180 meters are covered with water; you can get to know the latter by boating. 73 steps lead down to the cave. The air in the cave is humid (95-98% humidity), with a temperature of approx. 20 °C. Visiting the visitor centre approx. it takes 1.5 hours, of which 15 minutes is boating. We wanted to check out this cave, but since none of us were brave enough to go boating, let alone paddle, we skipped it. But my mom's plan is to go back with dad at some point in time and let him row in this lake.

I can say that the rain completely soaked us by the time we got back to the Hotel, and unfortunately the electric towel dryer is not exactly the fastest way to dry something on it. Since we were hungry, we went out again in the rain to eat at the restaurant we had already selected. The service was good, the food was tasty, but not a large portion for the price. It seems that our favorite restaurant in our city is completely spoiled us, because we usually get such a large portion for the price-value ratio that we can hardly eat the whole thing and those are also very delicious. (Spoiler - if you visit Zalaegerszeg, try the Kiskakas restaurant).

By the time we got back to our room, my mom was hungry, but we brought "cold food" and bananas from home, so it wasn't a problem. We spent the evening playing together - Forbidden Island - I recommend it, because it is very fun, not so easy if you have not much luck and fast. Unlike other games, you have to work together to win the game, but even that is no guarantee of a successful mission before the island is completely submerged. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65244/forbidden-island.

The next day we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, and I think this was to prove that Mama Gaia doesn't always give me rainy days during my vacations. There was a buffet breakfast at the hotel, after which we took a long walk around the lakes in sunny weather. The local souvenir shop opened and sold fish-duck food in all sizes, which we bought, and according to the lady, those were made in such a way that they were not harmful to the water of the lake. I really enjoyed the feeding. Unfortunately, the fish didn't get much, as the ducks were very fast and followed us all the way. I called them mafia ducks because they hardly left anything for the fish.

Thanks to the good weather, we discovered that there are not just only colorful koi fish in the lake, but also smaller black fish that are well hidden among the algae.

We walked around the city for a bit, then we visited the local museum, which is famous for its old school classroom - basically it is a school history exhibition. It was a trip back in time for my mother, as she used most of the school supplies on display during her school days. I think it would be such a nostalgic experience for me too, if I could see the toys and technical devices of the 90s in a museum.

Of course, the museum also exhibited archaeological finds, the life and work of the city's famous poet, as well as old photographs and tools from the past.

After the museum, we decided to climb a mountain and see Szent György - hegy alias St. George's Hill (414 m), where the famous basalt organs are located. We could only rely on google gps, but we couldn't turn around in 1-2 places, as the other driver was impatient behind us, or stuck to the back of our car, or my mom didn't like the mountain road.

My mom drives carefully and is also take care of the car, but the road leading up the mountain was not really good, as the car often got stuck and suffocated as it scraped the stone-strewn road.

We parked on the side of the road and walked... a lot, uphill, which is not my favorite. I told my mother that I bet we go around the whole mountain...and I was right. We chose the longest route, but in return we found a nice vantage point from where we could see all the way to Lake Balaton. We didn't meet people for a while, but when a married couple came across us, we were very happy. Our first question was "how far is it?", and my next question was "is it worth it?".

I really liked the directions "After the second fallen tree, it's not far from there, but the path is very slippery to going down, so be careful". They even showed pictures about this place.

The road was no longer uphill, but the famous question "Are we there yet?" was often asked. (Shrek cartoon- Donkey's question). Our way was blocked by a fallen tree, which you either climb over or go around, and we were very happy, because we found the first tree. After that, we found the second fallen tree and soon we arrived at our destination. The path down was really rocky, steep and slippery, but worth it. The basalt organs were actually very beautiful and huge.

The base of the mountain comes from the sediments of the Pannonian Sea, on which layers of basalt and basalt tuff were deposited 3-4 million years ago by a series of volcanic eruptions. When the surrounding Pannonian sediments were destroyed, the area protected by the basalt cap stood out from its surroundings. The basalt organs are 30 meters high and 1.5 meters wide.

We then took a leisurely walk to the car and headed back to the hotel, but at the fork in the mountain road we both forgot where we came from. Of course, the phone GPS showed the fastest route, which turned out to be not the best. By the time we noticed the quality of the road, we couldn't turn around because of the steepness of the road which covered with many tiny stones. My mother was mad, as she was afraid that we would either get stuck on the rocky road or the sharp edges cut off the brakes... well, in that case, we would have made it down really fast. We descended slowly, went into some holes, come out of it, up and down, the car was shaking, we prayed, my mother scolded the female voice of the GPS madly, the tension was hard as the basalt cap. We made it down successfully, but the car suffered battle damage, as branches by the side of the road scratched the carrosserie from the rear light to the front rear-view mirror. My mother wasn't happy that day...but that's what happens when two spontaneous women head off into the wilderness without a sense of direction 😅. 

But there is another funny story about the first day, when my mom used the safe in the room and locked the door before entering the code. The Universe made sure that we girls don't spend our money. You can imagine that my browser history was full of things like how to open a locked hotel safe or whether koi fish is edible (I was really interested about it - it´s eatable 😄). I told my mother that in the worst case, we would take the whole table home, since the safe was glued to it, or we would buy a metal saw at the nearby DIY store. She didn't reward my ideas but she laughed. But the next day the receptionist opened it for us with a smile...seem so not we are the only ones who do things like that. 

This is how this vacation became memorable. Do you think there will be more mother-daughter trips in the future?

That day we ate in the hotel restaurant, where the food was very delicious and filling, for the same price as in the other restaurant. Later we took a walk around the lake at sunset and I saw a beautiful cat looking at the fish or the ducks with such longing in her eyes as to which one would be the best for her dinner. I had to go over and pet her, the kitten and I both liked it, and then we parted ways. Later, from the window of the room, I saw another cat begging food  from people under the tables outside the restaurant. That evening we played the board game again, at least 3-4 parties, and then the day was over.

The cat went to work early in the morning and was waiting for the guests.

The next day we were also greeted by good weather. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and went down to Lake Balaton, since I haven't been there for many years. We took a walk on the shore of Balaton, but since there are no ship trip there, we admired the new ferry.

On the way home, we stopped in Sümeg, where the Sümeg Castle is located. We both love castles so we spent some time there. We found a free parking in the city, looked at the beautifully decorated church, and then headed towards the castle. Of course, we almost walked around this as we followed the road. There is an entrance fee to the castle, and as we entered, an old man in medieval clothes greeted us and invited us for a guided tour, for a small fee. We didn't have to wait long before everyone arrived at the trap door of the castle at the agreed time and we started the tour. The old man told a lot of historical information about the castle, then rumors and legends. We found it very interesting, but the story of the castle's toilets remained the most, as in wartime you never knew you would return from there, or not as the enemy shot them with love and one of the castle captains died that way... My mother and I have in common that we are always remembering to the stupidity and surprising things. I knows that among the many facts and historical things, this story comes to our mind first, the second is the Turkish-Hungarian couple in love story, and finally a sad story about a castle captain who was cheated on by his wife and killed his wife along with her lover.

The castle consists of three larger units, the outer, inner and citadel. Its construction can be divided into several eras. The oldest part of the castle was built in the 1260s, in the 14th century, in addition to the structural strengthening of the castle, the walls of the citadel and the upper level of the Old Tower were built, and the existing buildings were repaired. Major expansions of the castle were carried out during the 15th century and the next large-scale construction started after Veszprém fell into Turkish hands in 1552 and the bishopric fled to Sümeg Castle. At that time, the bishops had enough money to maintain, expand and rebuild the castle.

There were sharpened piles and water in the castle´s moat.

The roughest part was in the castle, the castle prison aka dungeon, where many dolls symbolized various cases of torture and execution.  There is also a chapel in the castle, where weddings are held to this day, which I really liked, although not the chapel, but my mother did not share my ideas of this kind for a wedding. I don't understand why. How many people can say that they swore loyalty to their love in a medieval castle?

I really liked this - a child's custody cage. A mother locked her child there as a joke and pretended to leave. The kid had a sense of humor and even waved.

There were also animals in the castle, big geese, cute goats that could be fed, as well as rabbits, ducks and chickens. Yes, I fed the goats, but for that there was a separate basket of chopped root and carrot pieces, and it was free. Various buildings in the castle were freely accessible, such as the rooms of the baker, the blacksmith, the administrator and the castle captain. There is also a restaurant in the castle that hosts medieval feasts and have medieval jousting too, but it was too late for us to check it out.

Our way back home was fast and good and we enjoyed this little holiday, and for the next day the weather become again rainy and cool.

Thanks for reading :)