Lake Balaton in the middle

Most the Hungarian citizens have those “stories at Lake Balaton”. For some people it happened in their childhood, while for others the lasting experience came later. One thing is sure, they still share it in every conversation among friends. I'm sharing my own story with you now.

I was around 5 years old when my parents and I first vacationed at Lake Balaton - at least I don't have a memory of the “Hungarian sea” before. We stayed in one of the hotels in Balatonfenyves, down at the beach, we could see the lake from our balcony. I loved being able to walk in the water for almost forever, yet the waves didn't hit higher than my belly button, and the turquoise color of Lake Balaton never turned my mouth purple with its pleasant temperature. Oh, yes. For a child, there is no greater disappointment when, for some reason, he has to leave for the mainland: “It was enough bath time, your nose will run”.

Our holiday routine proved to be quite simple: beach after breakfast, back to the hotel at noon, an hour of “siesta” after lunch, then beach again until evening, and after dinner fishing with dad. Well, I remember I really didn’t know what to do with these quiet after-lunch breaks. Nowadays, as a mother, of course, I understand everything, and if I could, I would ask for much more than a single hour, however, with my 5-year-old head, I didn’t even realize the significance of that. I felt it is only an unnecessarily wasted time locked in a room. I had to do something to make meaningful these tiny parts of the day. So, it happened that after lunch, when my parents were convinced that I was already sleeping the dreams of the prophets and the righteous — I had never slept — they walked down to their usual afternoon coffee at the hotel bar. I was left alone. My well-thought-out plan was just waiting to be implemented. I figured I’d close the door so my “ancestors” will be well surprised as they can’t come in. The key is inside the lock, small hands grab it, turns it, then clicks, complete with success. The door is locked and there is a smug smile on my face. From then on, all I had to do was wait. Wait… wait… waaaaait… I don’t know how many minutes I could sit alone - I don’t think it could have been more than 4-5 – sitting on my bed waiting for my joke to finally to click, but I got bored. I walked back to the door, thinking I'd rather open it and go down after my moms to see if that would speed up the process of going to the beach. But the door-opening procedure somehow didn’t want to accomplish. I squeezed, jerked, sweated, slipped, sniffed, finally bellowed, but the door remained closed. I got stuck, and my very own creators were outside. Come on, now what? A good thorough head wash, it's fixed, but now then I'm forever inside, and they're out??? Thoughts like this, and things like this, swirled in my head when I suddenly became aware of a kind voice from the balcony. It was the neighbor who was trying to find out the cause of my sobs. As I recounted what had happened, the dame reached across the railing soothingly caressed my red-crying face, then smiled and asked me to pull the key out of the lock and give it to her, she would open the door from the outside. That's how it happened. The huge, seemingly unsolvable problem was solved in 5 seconds. By the time my parents got back, I was waiting for them with washed eyes sitting on the bed. They didn't notice anything. And I’ve been grateful to my neighbors ever since for saving me that afternoon, and at least I didn’t get a head wash then.

Since my story, summers have come, summers have gone, I have grown up, but Lake Balaton has always waited back, and whenever my time allowed, I went and go to this day. Whether it’s wine tasting, sailing, sunbathing, hiking or parties, family or group of friends, everyone will always find the right relaxation for them. Perhaps this is the greatest calling force of Lake Balaton and the mission of MiBo.