Fonyód’s shellfish shore – see today’s remains of prehistoric Balaton - English

One of the hidden treasures of Balaton’s south shore is the unique beach at Bélatelep in Fonyód. The many shells lying here preserve the memory of millions of years of geological processes, this surreal carpet echoing the lake’s prehistoric origins. Our ace photographer Tamás Kőrösi deliberately visited the lakeside on an atmospherically gloomy day to shoot these evocative images. In the background: the equally ancient monadnocks of Tapolca Medence on the opposite shore.

Congeria ungula caprae are the emptied-out fossils of a mussel that lived in the Pannonian Sea about five million years ago. This once covered all of modern-day Hungary, northern Croatian and northern Serbia.

Shells of small prehistoric sea creatures can be seen on the Tihany Peninsula, but they can also be found on the southern shore, in Szántód and Fonyód, particularly at Bélatelep. Take a look!