tihany, hungary

Saturday was by far the most interesting and fun day of this past week. We peeled ourselves out of bed at the insanely early hour of 6 o'clock and were on the train platform headed toward Lake Balaton (largest lake in central europe) by 7 am.  When we got on the train Sierra was super excited and very convinced we were going to hogwarts and even posed as Ron in our train compartment. A little while later I took out my book, This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl, (which she wrote a portion of - long exciting story that I won't put here but if you're interested ask) and she signed the page she wrote. 2 hours of beautiful country side later we arrived in the quaint town of Balatonfured where we would board a ferry to Tihany which is a peninsula that sticks into the lake. But first we stopped at an adorable cafe with a named that translated sweetheart coffee house. After our sweets we walked along the lake taking photos of the phenomenally blue water. Then we ambled to the dock where we waited a short bit to get on the ferry that would take us to Tihany.

After 30 minutes of hanging out in the sun on the back of a boat soaking in the scenery we had arrived. Before we got up to the town we had a group circle of facts. Basically we all went around and said a past fact, a present fact, a future fact about ourselves as well as something that has challenged us about Hungary and one goal for ourselves. By the time that was over most of us were pretty hungry (in Hungary how hilarious - that joke has never been ever made before) and were ready to see the town. It was more of a hike than any of us had expected and nearly a half hour later we were hot and sweaty but at the top with a wonderful view. We ate at the first restaurant we saw called Echo. I had a delicious iced coffee which was very iced and very much appreciated. Then after a  long chill lunch Kara, Sierra, Jane and I made our way to the town taking lots of pictures with and of the view. The water looked like we were in the Caribbean (not that I've ever been but...).

In the town there was an Abbey which was quite cool and then the cobbled streets were lined with tourist shops. The main theme of the shops was lavender because Tihany is know for its lavender growth. We heard it only grew there because of the water on both sides of it. After a brief look through the shops we all met back at the abbey to head back to the boat. The boat ride back was much longer and everyone fell asleep after spending so much time in the sun. We arrived in a different small town an 1 1/2 before our train left. First we found the train station but then we wondered looking for dinner/ a place to rest. I sat with Aby, Jane, Kara and Sierra at a cutely decorated place that only had drinks. Aby and I (Abi squared) spend most of our time sitting in a really tall large chair.

Around 6:40 we met back up with everyone at the station so we could be ready for our 7 o'clock train. We had assigned seats so when it arrived we struggled a bit to find the correct car and seats. When the ticket inspector came around we were in the wrong spot so we moved further down only to find when he came by again that we were still wrong but he told us just to stay. Around 9 we were back in Budapest and thus ended our exciting daycation.