Hungary is definitely one of my favourite countries in this region. We arrived from Slovakia and went straight to Tokaj, home of the famous dessert wine lauded by Louis XIV. We had arranged to do the wine tasting in the 600-year old cellar, so we had to miss the UNESCO caves on the border, but we ended up in the home of a pensioner with
an Algerian son-in-law who I could speak with in French. We did the tasting with a Polish couple and then proceeded on to this lovely restaurant that does fantastic food and is really beautiful and totally empty. We stuffed ourselves for 20 pounds and then wandered our way home. The town itself is interesting as it is on the confluence of two rivers and surrounded by vines. From there we drove down to Budapest to go to the Gellert Baths, a famous spa that is contained within an Art Noveau hotel. Simon was keen to move on to Croatia, so we didn't spend a huge amount of time in Budapest but I was reminded of why I liked it so much the first time. We spent the night near Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, and the next morning went for a swim in Lake Heviz. This is a thermal lake which is at a constant 32 degrees and everyone there is at least 65. They all float on big rubber innertubes or noodles. That's it. Lilypads grow, ducks swim around, and all these old Europeans float. It's an absolute riot. We were the entertainment, with all our swimming and messing about. We loved it and would have stayed longer but Si was particularly keen to move on to Croatia. So we breezed down through the border towards the beaches and the sun. E
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