In an effort to get us out of the way of the cleaning lady today, Peter and Vera gave us the car and told us to get lost. So once again, with me at the wheel of the trusty Opel, we were off to see the world.
We started by finally making it to Sümeg, a pretty complete ruin of a 1300's castle/fortress. During the Turkish invasion this was the last castle standing, and protected the sacred Hungarian Crown. The tour involves a hike up a pretty steep hill, and then forking over 3000 forint for the two of us. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to catch the 11:00 showing of the Renaissance hoot-fest. Z assures me that good history is presented here by the mostly high school aged troop. They spend the year training and learning the history so they can perform it in the summers and make a little cash. I'll buy that it is probably pretty authentic history. That said, without the benifit of being able to understand the commentary, here is the show. A bunch of guys throw axes and shoot arrows. Some ladies dance around in Elizabethan and belly dancing costumes - some of them even holding real snakes! There was the obligatory audience participation hummiliation thing, and there was a bored teen aged high school "Queen" (like I don't get enough of that at work every day). Huzzah!
(A brief aside: the last time we saw ladies dancing with snakes was last week when we took Jaden to the circus. Z translated the MC's introduction for us, and we knew we were in for something special. "And now! Two ladies - dancing with a snake and an alligator!" The two ladies appeared, tastefully garbed in traditional belly dance costume - followed by a gentleman carrying a large snake and another gentleman carrying a small and very angry alligator. The ladies began their dance, and the gentlemen set their animal burdens down on the floor - as far as possible away from where the ladies were dancing. By the book, two ladies, dancing with a snake and an alligator.)
We spent a little time wandering about the castle and a bit more time reflecting in the very pretty period era chapel, and then moved on. The whole thing here is just a little to tourist-y. If you do this kind of thing, go see the McCoy in Szigliget without all the hootiness.
From there we traveled back to Tihany. I won't bore you with another description of this beautiful place. Suffice it to say, it was well worth another visit.
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We are traveling to Kecskemét tomorrow to see Kazi-basci and Zsusza-nene and family. Rumor has it, we may even be traveling to see the jewel in the crown its self, Budapest. Should that happen, you'll find it here first.
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