I enjoy the beach so much…

Our gallery of the end of June reflects the actual general feeling: get out of the office and let’s go to the beach! There are plenty of opportunities to do that in Hungary: beaches of Lake Balaton and Lake Velence, Palatinus Lido in Margaret Island. We are giving a bit of heartache and show you free-minded people splashing around in the water or sunbathing, eating ice cream or watermelon on the beach.

Vacation arrived to the children, and adults have already planned – agreed with colleagues – who and when are going on holiday. Beaches are beckoning you in the heat: the coveted destination. It does not matter if it is a natural lake, a riverbank, or an artificial chlorate-smelling lido. Because you link many positive associations to the chlorate smell as well, just like to the scent of suntan lotion and that of the beach mattress. The mixture of them results in the typical summer holiday essence. Not mentioning the oily fried fish and pancake smell of the beach buffet.

Also, other sensory organs are tickled by stimuli: our ears hear the rumble of the beach as a steady noise, sometimes with a dissonant scream. It is unnecessary to talk about the effects on our skins, which we ignore until the end of the day, when we discover the white print of the swimsuit, or in a worse case, we can feel the burning pain of our roasted back indicating that we have overdosed vitamin D. But later our exponentiating torments might be moderated by Panthenol.

The culinary delight is the highlight of the day! A beach pub is the Mecca of people tired of bathing. What should we have? A defrosted hamburger with mixed pickles, a hot-dog sausage being lost in a giant bun, a pancake with cocoa topped with melting icing sugar on paper tray for dessert? Hake is a must at Lake Balaton! But there is a corn monger too! And a candyfloss seller! It is hard to decide. Of course, we should save some space to ice cream and a popsicle too! After getting a shock from the prices of Cornetto and Magnum (‘it was a hundred forints in the 1990s’), yet we eat the dripping dessert with satisfaction.

Eszti Kovács’s famous hit ‘The little splashing girl’ (A pancsoló kislány 1959) is probably the perfect song to give back the constant feeling of life on the beach that spans over ages. Since 1959, some things have changed during the decades. For example, you cannot buy Bambi, but the products of the Coca-Cola Company mostly.

Being on the beach nowadays is a bit different than it was in our childhood. We are more responsible with the sun or with our lunch, and we cut down on the daily ice cream dose. We also think about hydration – even if it happens to be a spritzer (wine with soda water). We wish you a pleasant summer holiday and recommend you our image selection that could bring a minimal ease on scorcher workdays – until the long-awaited and deserved vacation arrives.

TEJ

Translated by Zita Aknai

Recommendation

Comradely greetings from Lake Balaton

We have already rested in cosy restaurant gardens sipping beer, watered wine or “Bambi” and walked under the shady trees of Margaret Island, visited the famous baths of the Monarchy, so now it’s time to go on holiday. How about Lake Balaton? Many of us first remember – besides the breathtaking coast – the “Zimmer Frei” apartments, the rammish smell of the corn on the cob – “maisbitte” – and the typical buildings of company resorts. Relaxing can be pleasant not only on the beach. Mountain lovers and rural thermal-bath-goers can also spend some nostalgic moments with the postcards and photos of our selection.

Past and present of the beach food movement at Lake Balaton

All of us, Hungarians have experiences of the gastronomy at Lake Balaton: about the retro hamburgers, the Hungaricum ‘langosh’ (lángos) and the present beach food gastro-revolution too. The catering of Balaton beaches is so much a determinative segment of the Hungarian culture that even cult films were made about it: Zimmer Feri (by Péter Tímár) or Szezon (by Ferenc Török). In our exhibition we are going to review how an impoverished region became the most popular holiday location in nearly a hundred years and how we got from the langosh-frying huts to the culinary delights served on the coolest terraces of the country.

Beach-style – Swimsuit fashion from bathing costumes to bikinis

In our current exhibition, we are going to visit the lidos of the past century and find out how bathing suits became smaller and shorter. What beach fashion did our parents and grandparents follow? Who popularized the bikini that was regarded as a taboo initially? How did the atomic bomb and a strip dancer influence the swimsuit fashion? And how was it connected to James Bond and Star Wars? Our exhibition will give you the answers.

Balatonfüred retrospective – the fame history of Füred in a nutshell

According to archive news articles, the history of the popularity of Balatonfüred started with its medicinal springs. The first bungalows of Balatonfüred – for holiday reasons – were built next to the medicinal springs; they were replaced by bath houses and inns later. The growing fame of the holiday resort was promoted by – besides the king’s visit – an unpleasant event, paradoxically, that caused “negative publicity” and by the affirmation of a duchess, who said that the medicinal water of the place cured her twice.

Bathing and wellness culture at the beginning of the 20th century

Although beach-bathing – including sun- and air-bathing – was thought to have special healing and innovating power at the beginning of the previous century, beach-bathing served for relaxing primarily (just like today) and for surviving hot summer days. The wellness services of the period were ‘steam-chamber, electro bath, hydraulic massage’, pine-needle bath and relaxing in air-bath houses with breezy walls, built for air bathing.

Basalt cliffs, wine terraces and Muses’ kisses

Badacsony. Our peculiar-shaped butte brings up a great deal of positive associations in our minds: a holiday at Lake Balaton, the taste of Badacsony wines (kéknyelű, szürkebarát), a joyful compotation with crackling cones, a walk on the mountainside covered with vine-plants, a tour among the basalt cliffs. All these will be evoked during a virtual trip on the slopes of Badacsony in our current exhibition.

More thematic virtual exhibitions