Csopak
We frequently go Csopak with my friend, Dani Stark, because they have summer house there. It is the kind that was built by grandparents in 30 years, while the neighbour kept complaining about everything. There is even a Commodore 64 computer with a floppy disc drive there, which fits our needs perfectly. And when we have had enough of bits and bytes, we head down to the beach of Csopak, which I would recommend to parents with kids.
Balatonfüred
I pop down there by bike anytime. I must give special recognition with stars to the Füred Wine Weeks. I made a tour last summer: I tasted lángos everywhere, both at festivals and at the Balaton. The one in Füred was the most ambiguous experience ever, because the lángos there tasted the best but it made me the sickest– I would not say it was worth the 8 hours at the hospital, but I will remember it on my death bed for sure. Oh, and the music! We bumped into a Szakcsi Lakatos Trio concert on the wine street by chance in the summer.
Szentbékkálla
A friend, who played polo in the Káli Polo Club, invited us. It was a peculiar feeling to appear at the Club in second-hand clothes when others wore Gucci shoes. The contrast was all the more apparent as just before we had visited a noname bar where wine was 30 HUF per dl. It was a positive surprise that in a part of the bars around Balaton you can buy local wine - not just bottled - as well. In the above-mentioned bar, they took us for millionaires because we spent more than 300 HUF.
Wine
As the white wines off the north shore are excellent, I came up with the idea of tasting the products of the wine-makers around Balatonfüred. Among other places, we also visited the Koczor winery, situated in the hillside above Füred. Our favourite was "Rozália", a blend of Riesling and Tramini, apart from the view. I can heartily recommend the mature Rieslings of the Mészáros cellar in Pécsely or the fresh ones of the Jásdi Winery in Csopak. I even drank good red wine: the Vivamus Cabernet sauvignon in a place called Borharapó.
Once, we were playing in Balatonboglár, after the concert a guy called Tibi Lovasi invited us to the cellar where he worked. We went the next day, and after getting lost a few times on the winehill roads we eneded up at Ikon Winery Rádpuszta. Now those who have had the chance to visit know what I'm talking about, for the others, all I can say is we were almost reduced to tears because we had to leave for a concert so we could not taste the red wines.
The wine named Bandérium by Villa Tolnay is also a huge favourite. The recently opened Decanter Bistro in Veszprém is one of our haunts, and we order Tolnaywhenever we are at loss what to to drink. I already know the Villa Tolnay wines by taste, which shows that I'm often at loss.
Sajkod
My favourite beach at Balaton. It is the Hungarian Switzerland. I you venture in the forest, following the hike path, you can find the lots where ingenious Hungarians tried to cultivate lemon. Sajkod is an eternal favourite. For example, littering is unfashionable there.
Icecream berries
You get it in paper cups, these are tiny ice balls and I think every beach has them. The best is the bubble-gum flavour. Kids love it and I also combined it with lángos. This is the terror to the family budget. You must make sure that the kid does not see it too early, because then you won't have money for lemon-flavoured Gösser.
Tihany
We often pop down to Tihany. Near the boat stop, there is a former hotel called Sport, well past its glory days. We had been thinking about renovating it simplay because it's beautiful, but we did not win the 3 billion HUF jackpot on the lottery. Another alternative of spending that money was to build a time machine: in the 1970ies, when famous singers Pál Szécsi and Péter Máté played in Sport, and in the 1980ies one could drink champagne with lieutenant Csöpi Ötvös (the Hungarian Bud Spencer & Don Johnson) in Club Tihany.
Summer festivals
I only join the fun as a perorming artist. I have attended almost all the Balaton Sounds, but I'm somewhat old for the party hard. In 2012, I liked Caribou the most. Now, that's my world - and Amon Tobin, whom I missed unfortunately. Last year, we played at Strand Festival as well, in the frame of Nagyon Balaton. I think this is the festival for the Hungarian audience, for and about Hungarian artists. What is truly nice about it is that you can feel they came to see you especially, and they are not just wasting the remaining half-an-hour before the White Stripes.
