Into the Lavender Scent: The Enigmatic Echoes of Tihany Village
Reflecting on our honeymoon from last summer.
From Budapest to Tihany 🚗
Hungary is landlocked and doesn't have a sea, but it has Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe. It covers 596 square kilometers, stretches 80 km in length, and is 10 km wide, making its size difficult to grasp.
As the largest lake in Central Europe, Lake Balaton is often called the "Hungarian Sea."
To see Lake Balaton up close, we decided to visit Tihany, a nearby town. Tihany is about 133 km from Budapest, roughly a 1.5-hour drive.
When traveling from Hungary to Slovenia, we took the upper route around Lake Balaton, and on our return from Croatia to Hungary, we followed the lower route around the lake.
In Europe, some roads have white dotted center lines, allowing for bold overtakes. It was fascinating to see how confidently people overtook each other.
Traffic lights hanging from wires, an exotic atmosphere in the towns.👍
Is this the charm of road trips?!
Arrival in Tihany!
Driving through Eastern Europe is enjoyable, and driving on unfamiliar roads is a new experience!
[Tihany Travel Itinerary]
📍Budapest > Tihany > Keszthely
Tihany is a small village located on the northern side of Lake Balaton. It's famous for its lavender and offers a panoramic view of the lake.
From the path leading from Tihany’s Echo Hill to the monastery, or from the restaurants near the lake, you can easily enjoy views of Lake Balaton.
The emerald-colored lake looked just like the sea.
On good days, the echo can be heard up to 15 times.
According to the legend, there was once a beautiful princess living in Tihany who owned a magical herd of goats. The god of Lake Balaton sought the milk from these magical goats to heal his ailing son, and after drinking it, the son quickly recovered. However, when the god's son fell in love with the princess and proposed to her, she refused him. Heartbroken, the god's son took his own life. In his grief, the god turned the princess into stone, and she could no longer speak.It is said that if you shout near the Echo Hill in Tihany, you will hear an echo.
While this echo might seem like the princess's voice from the legend, it is actually the sound reflecting off the monastery walls.😅
We thought about shouting out loud, but we were too shy to do it.🥲
Like many tourist spots, Tihany is quite crowded. There's a place called Kis kálvária, which seems to be a Catholic shrine. It doesn’t seem very famous, as not many people visit it. (I didn't find any special information on Google Maps either.)
However, it's the quietest place in Tihany. If you want to avoid the crowds, I recommend taking a walk up there.
You can enter the Tihany Monastery by paying an entrance fee of 1,800 forints, but since there was construction work outside, we just took a walk around the area instead.
The Tihany I experienced was a small, quiet, and peaceful village. What impressed me the most was the vast lavender fields and the opportunity to see Lake Balaton, which is as expansive as the sea, up close.
If I travel there again, I would like to visit Tihany's Monastery. I hope it won’t be under construction next time.