Balatonfüred
Encyclopedia
Balatonfüred is a popular resort town in Veszprém county, in Hungary
, with a population of thirteen thousand, situated on the north shore of the Lake Balaton
. It is considered to be the capital of the Northern lake shore and has significant yachting life. It is also a favorite location for coarse fishing, carp being the most common catch. The lake has been erroneously spoiled with eels and other non indigenous species which are by now on the decline. The temperature of the water is above 20 degrees Celsius from May to September. The quality of the water is excellent.
springs, beautiful listed buildings from the middle of the 18th and the 19th centuries and fine restaurants. It has modern hotels and guest-houses to accommodate about fifty thousand visitors in the summer. The nearest villages around Balatonfüred are Tihany, Aszófő, Balatonszőlős and Csopak, all renowned for their wine land and beaches. Highway No 71 crosses the town as well as a single track railway line between Budapest and Tapolca. Former large employer in town included the Ship-yard, whereas today the larges employer is the State Heart Hospital, the largest industry is catering and providing boarding and accommodation. The town has a pier, a harbour, a large camping site and several private marinas.
People come here to enjoy the mild micro-climate, beautiful scenery, the local wine
, made of Olaszrizling
grapes, and sailing and swimming facilities, as well as to revive the two-century-old tradition of socializing around spas
, bathing and vacationing. The main events of the two-month-long summer holiday season include a ball for first-time visitors with a beauty contest
and a wine-tasting festival, both in August.
Füred (short for Balatonfüred) has six comprehensive schools, three grammar schools, a secondary modern school for viniculture, the Lajos Loczy High School and Janos Ferencsik Music School (conservatory). A number of choirs, bands and sporting clubs are also present. The town has a local TV studio and a monthly newspaper. Füred has a newly built conference and sport centre as well.
There is a Resort House for translators of Hungarian works into foreign languages (Lipták Villa) operated by a foundation that offers scholarships to foreign nationals active in translating from the Hungarian language.
There are three churches in town: a typical red-sandstone Catholic church, a white Protestant church and a modern Evangelist church. A Pentecostal, American type of Christian denomination Faith Church
is also active in the former Communist party headquarters.
Balatonfüred has a number of conference halls, and a large clinic for heart patients. It also has a number of wine cellars that sell white house wine in the vineyards on the hillside overlooking the town and the lake.
In winter, the lake may freeze over for weeks so that skaters
and ice boat
ers take over.
n poet Rabindranath Tagore
, who was treated here. Many other famous and ordinary patients come here to heal and recuperate year-round thanks to the carbonated
springs and baths, which are one of the best-known healing agents in Balatonfüred since the 17th century. The town was officially declared a spa in 1772. The Kossuth Spring and other springs near the hospital supply water containing free and bound carbon dioxide as well as iron
, magnesium
, potassium
, hydrocarbonate
, calcium
, sodium
, sulfur
and other minerals. The temperature of the spring waters is 14 to 15 °C; they are collected into a large basin and conducted to the spa building. Then the carbonated water is warmed up to 32 to 34 °C (89.6 to 93.2 ) and used for treatment.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, with a population of thirteen thousand, situated on the north shore of the Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of its foremost tourist destinations. As Hungary is landlocked , Lake Balaton is often affectionately called the "Hungarian Sea"...
. It is considered to be the capital of the Northern lake shore and has significant yachting life. It is also a favorite location for coarse fishing, carp being the most common catch. The lake has been erroneously spoiled with eels and other non indigenous species which are by now on the decline. The temperature of the water is above 20 degrees Celsius from May to September. The quality of the water is excellent.
Description
The town has two marinas, a string of carbonated mineral waterMineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...
springs, beautiful listed buildings from the middle of the 18th and the 19th centuries and fine restaurants. It has modern hotels and guest-houses to accommodate about fifty thousand visitors in the summer. The nearest villages around Balatonfüred are Tihany, Aszófő, Balatonszőlős and Csopak, all renowned for their wine land and beaches. Highway No 71 crosses the town as well as a single track railway line between Budapest and Tapolca. Former large employer in town included the Ship-yard, whereas today the larges employer is the State Heart Hospital, the largest industry is catering and providing boarding and accommodation. The town has a pier, a harbour, a large camping site and several private marinas.
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, made of Olaszrizling
Welschriesling
Welschriesling is an ancient variety of white wine grape, unrelated to the Rhine Riesling, that is grown throughout Central Europe. The origin of Welschriesling is uncertain. The German name "Welschriesling" literally means 'Romanic Riesling', and most of the synonyms in Central Europe are...
grapes, and sailing and swimming facilities, as well as to revive the two-century-old tradition of socializing around spas
Spas
The article is about localities in Eastern Europe.Spas in the Slavic languages means saviour and past-tense of to save ....
, bathing and vacationing. The main events of the two-month-long summer holiday season include a ball for first-time visitors with a beauty contest
Beauty contest
A beauty pageant or beauty contest, is a competition that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria...
and a wine-tasting festival, both in August.
Füred (short for Balatonfüred) has six comprehensive schools, three grammar schools, a secondary modern school for viniculture, the Lajos Loczy High School and Janos Ferencsik Music School (conservatory). A number of choirs, bands and sporting clubs are also present. The town has a local TV studio and a monthly newspaper. Füred has a newly built conference and sport centre as well.
There is a Resort House for translators of Hungarian works into foreign languages (Lipták Villa) operated by a foundation that offers scholarships to foreign nationals active in translating from the Hungarian language.
Faith Church, Hungary
Faith Church is a major Pentecostal church in Hungary. The community is one of Europe's largest pentecostal-evangelical Christian churches, and the country's fourth most supported church...
is also active in the former Communist party headquarters.
Balatonfüred has a number of conference halls, and a large clinic for heart patients. It also has a number of wine cellars that sell white house wine in the vineyards on the hillside overlooking the town and the lake.
In winter, the lake may freeze over for weeks so that skaters
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
and ice boat
Ice boat
An ice boat is a boat or purpose-built framework similar in functional design to a sail boat but fitted with skis or runners and designed to run over ice instead of through water. Ice yachting is the sport of sailing and racing iceboats. Sailable ice is known in the sport as "hard water" versus...
ers take over.
State Hospital for Cardiology
With its 429 beds the State Hospital for Cardiology in Balatonfüred boasts the largest cardiac-rehabilitation center in Hungary. The hospital is built on the lake shore and is flanked by the Tagore promenade (see picture at right), named after the Nobel-laureate IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n poet Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, who was treated here. Many other famous and ordinary patients come here to heal and recuperate year-round thanks to the carbonated
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
springs and baths, which are one of the best-known healing agents in Balatonfüred since the 17th century. The town was officially declared a spa in 1772. The Kossuth Spring and other springs near the hospital supply water containing free and bound carbon dioxide as well as iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, magnesium
Magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
, potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
, hydrocarbonate
Bicarbonate
In inorganic chemistry, bicarbonate is an intermediate form in the deprotonation of carbonic acid...
, calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
, sodium
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
, sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
and other minerals. The temperature of the spring waters is 14 to 15 °C; they are collected into a large basin and conducted to the spa building. Then the carbonated water is warmed up to 32 to 34 °C (89.6 to 93.2 ) and used for treatment.
Sights
- A well named after Lajos Kossuth with carbonated drinking water - see gallery below
- Former classicist holiday home of actress Lujza Blaha (1816)
- The resort house of Mór Jókai
- A cave named after geologist Lajos Lóczy
- Tagore promenade
- Sundance Park, set on the site of the former Greek Quarter, it houses many Clubs, bars and restaurants.