balaton museum in keszthely.
we are reaching an end with this post to last year's hungary adventures. i have only some photos left of a visit to the balaton museum in keszthely and various pictures of the open air area of zalakaros spa ( in which we spent a lot of time this year, the weather mostly was warm enough to be lazy and enjoy some lido time ).
the balaton museum in keszthely is quartered in a really beautiful baroque-looking building that looks super old, but actually isn't. it was erected between 1925 and 1928, fully for the purpose of being a museum. i was quite surprised to learn that this building is not as old as it looks, especially since the time when it was built to me is a time where modernism started to rear its head and this style was loosing its appeal.
the museum is dedicated to all things to do with the lake balaton region, from its ancient history to modern times. it focusses on wildlife & geography, with some beautiful dioramas on display, on history ( archeological excavations, roman history ) and tourism around lake balaton. when we visited there were two temporary exhibitions about bats and beekeeping too and an art exhibition about jános halápy - an impressionist painter who focussed on lake balaton. i really recommend this museum to tourists, as they offer german/english audioguides and they have english descriptions in the permanent exhibitions, but even if you don't speak hungarian the exhibits are interesting to look at and visually appealing.
this was inside the exhibition about bats. the bat mascot was too cute, really. it lead you through the whole exhibit. you could listen to bat sounds, try out how a bat uses its ears and hears the world, visit a real vampire who was sleeping in a coffin and learn some more about local bats ( which we couldn't understand, because this exhibition was in hungarian only, but it wasn't terrible for us as the interactive elements used in the exhibition made up for that ).
taxidermy bat. those little teeth are surely impressive.
a clay mask found around the balaton region. the balaton itself is about 20.000 years old and was always attractive for humans. the settlement history reaches way back to the romans, who took advantage of the many medicinal springs that can be found in and around the lake. but even before the romans discovered this lake for themselves older cultures inhabited and lived around the lake. various early neolithical cultures have settled on the banks of the lake - as some archeological excavations suggest.
the dioramas show the flora and fauna of lake balaton ( underwater, shores, mountains ). i do like dioramas a lot, especially when they are made up so beautifully. and it's also sort of a game of hide and seek, as you have to look closely to find all the animals.
this skull showed something that seems to have been the rage in those super ancients days - deformed skulls. it was a very common practice in the milleniums before christ. you could often find such skulls in the graves of better off citizens. must have been some sort of an elite tradition.
you can also learn something about the fishing traditions inside the museum. lake balaton has a long and rich fishing culture.
this room was dedicated to the touristic history of lake balaton.
lake balaton experienced its main tourist boost in the midst of the 20th century ( mainly in the 1960ies ). that's why you can find so many mid-century/modern architecture here and generally a lot of design elements of that time are still visually apparent in the villages and cities of the region.
you can find a lot of knick-knacks and souvenirs inside that exhibition. the buntings were beautifully designed in my opinion, and exude the charm of socialist realism art.
basically shows you all that is important on lake balaton! love this!
the minimalist approach in advertising back in the 60ies really is right up my alley.
these statues are actually beehives! this was shot inside the beekeeping exhibition. the region of the river zala and somogy hills is well-known for its honeymaking traditions with the help of the local bees. i can attest to the delicacy of hungarian honey! i always buy myself a glass or two to take with me back to germany. my favourite honey is acacia honey, because it's a bit more flavorsome and spicy.
it's pretty amazing that the builders of these beehives were doing this in such a religious way ( see the shroud with jesus' head on it ). bees were always important in the history of mankind and in medieval times were adored as life-bringers and godly tools. this reminds me so much of a german spell, the lorsch bee blessing.
Christ, the bee swarm is out here!
Now fly, you my animals, come.
In the Lord's peace, in God's protection,
come home in good health.
Sit, sit bees. The command to you from the Holy Mary.
You have no vacation;
Don't fly into the woods;
Neither should you slip away from me.
Nor escape from me.
Sit completely still.
Do God's will.
those historic apiary uniforms are quite an eery vision to behold. so alien!
this was inside the jános halápy exhibit. the painting of the sailboats was especially enticing. but a lot of his work is equally wonderful. what i like best is, that he created art with very little brushstrokes, but still created an elaborate scenery that is effective from afar. and those pastel colours? good lord, they were so lovely.
outside the museum the sky opened up again and shone on these beautiful roses.
flower vase details - also in front of the museum. the palace style of the museum surely did not indicate that it was built in the 1920ies.
and since i am real bad at reading roman numbers, i also couldn't decipher the construction date. but when i now look at it, after learning that it was opened in 1928, this surely is much more eye-opening to me 😂 back then i could only understand XXVIII, which is 28, but what MCM meant i could not tell you. now i am a bit smarter as well. MCM is the arabic reading of 1900 - M means 1000 and CM 900.
beautiful shell decoration.
after our museum visit we made a tiny walk around it and i captured some surrounding architecture.
this building was right in a back alley adjacent to the museum. it seems like it's a housing complex now, but my guess is that it was something more glorious back in the day, like a villa for someone rich. the condition of the building wasn't so good, but it added to a certain charm.
many buildings in hungary do make a very dilapidated impression. a clear sign that money is missing to renovate such jewels. hungary is not a very rich country and it shows. somehow the dilapidation has grown worse over the time span we didn't visit hungary. while i love old buildings and also slightly ruinous ones, it still makes me sad to see beautiful buildings go to the dogs, maybe eventually even beyond repair.
all around the museum the streets were full of abandoned homes and buildings.
and interesting tiny villas with strange oriels. we quickly ended our tiny walk and soon made our way back home.
the outside area of zalakaros spa is our final destination. i shot these on our last day in zalakaros. i don't have a lot to add here, as i probably already told you about the history of the spa. the hot springs were discovered in 1962 which spurted an immediate rise in tourist attraction. the layout still shows the former structures, but the pools and the spa itself underwent reconstruction by now. the spa still attracts lots of tourists and cure-seeking guests, and it's probably the most modern facility in the balaton region. it offers a wide variety of activities ( sauna, massages, hydrotherapy, SWIMMING of course, but also going down water slides, playing in the wave pool or doing gymnastics in some of the outdoor pools ). the meadows surrounding the pools are wide open and offer lots of possibilities to find a cute little space to settle down, wether it's directly in the sun or underneath trees. there are also food stations scattered around the facility, offering the usual fast-food options, but also hungarian specialties. unfortunately, the little family restaurants of former visits to zalakaros have closed down, though, and the familial and hospitable environment is gone now. i remember we always ate at the same place for years, and even bonded with the owners over time who always recognized us whenever we returned, and i have teenage memories of crushing on some of the waiters there... and that's all gone now. the new restaurants are sterile, non-personal and the staff everywhere seemed pissed off and unfriendly. which i thought of as very unfortunate, because i can remember other times where it wasn't at all like that. the food in general, especially bigger meals, wasn't on par with what we experienced on former vacations. everything was prepared sort of loveless. i mean, that's only natural in environments that focus on quick meals, but i don't know. i really missed the old restaurants. but at least the lángos & fánk kiosk just around the corner we always hung around at, was good and always truly delicious.
anyway, the outside area still sports some old remnants of the 60ies and 70ies, which i find very charming. let's find those elements!
these changing cubicles still stand and i love them very much. they're from the heydays of when the spa was first opened!
the walls and flower pots near the sports pool ( which is very refreshing and cool, unlike the actual spa pools that offer hot, slightly after sulfur smelling water, which you can roll around in for only half an hour before overheating ). the canna flowers in front of the wall are zalakaros' flower symbol and there's always a festival dedicated to them happening in summer.
i'm pretty sure these flower pots are also from the 60ies or at least the 70ies. they're pretty neat.
the spa building which houses the indoor pools and other indoor facilities. it's also the oldest building on the whole areal, which means it's a born-and-bred 70ies building and therefore giving me the heart eyes! the conch roof is so cool, as are the big windows. unfortunately, you can't get any good pictures of this building from anywhere inside the lido terrains, so here's a better picture of it stolen from an online archive :P
there were lots of swallows up on the roof making one hell of a row.
these kiosks were new additions to the outdoor facilities. they sold all kinds of cooled drinks, coffee, lángos, fánk and ice.
children's paradise. also really new!
the water slide construction was already here about 10 years ago on our last visit. it's still going strong and is very popular with the kids ( and even the adults ).
this tent is often used for festivities or activities.
a new addition right next to the lido is this little park. you should also see water under the bridge, but apparently that water went missing in may 2018 because a crater emerged and sucked all the water from the lake and seemed to have destroyed the drainage. the park itself was opened in 2016 and actually is really nice, with a few activity points all over the place. if the water had been present as well, it probably would've been quite a lovely place to hang out at. don't know if they fixed the problem now, but it would be desirable, especially because this project seems to have been pretty expensive ( 500.000.000 forint to be exact, which is like, 1 550 000 euro ).
the new restaurant buildings.
the drained lake. can i get a 'shit happens' here? 😂 this way it doesn't really look like a relaxing and recreative park...
and another picture of one of the new restaurants. at least it looks very modern, right?
well, and with this, the hungary series is over. i know, it didn't end with a bang or something like that, and i apologize. even though i don't know why i should apologize. maybe for the structure? hmn.
anyways, as a conclusion for the whole trip i will just say a few words. hungary is a really beautiful country, and my heart still clings to it due to older memories we made here, but all in all it didn't feel as inviting as it did when we were visiting a decade ago. there are still places that exude the wonderful charm i hold so dear in my memories, but other places lack it these days. i don't know if it's the influence of the right-wing politics in the country or rather the western shunning of the country due to its political views. i've seen the typical hungarian hospitality in the balaton region more than in our main stay zalakaros this time around and i think next time i visit hungary it will probably be a balaton destination. don't get me wrong, zalakaros is a nice city, but it misses something these days. it misses the many restaurants of the past and the hustle and bustle of the 2000s i got to experience as a kid. the overall hospitality. maybe it was all just me and my perception of it. but i'm pretty sure many people who were long-time visitors have had the same thoughts about it and decided to not return so soon. and i think it shows, because the city wasn't at all booked out like it used to be.
but still, hungary, you still have my heart and hopefully we will meet again, on better terms.
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