Football Summer Camps in English | ISC

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Železná studienka

Did you ever know that the recreational park is not called Železná studienka?

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Thermal Baths

Lately, I have been stinking a lot!  Not because I have not taken a bath for a long time.  On the contrary, I believe I have taken too much dipping in the thermal baths.

The first we visited is the Thermal Lake in Heviz in Hungary  It is Europe´s largest thermal lake.  The water at our May visit was at 28 degrees C.  It still felt chilly. The lake has different water lilies floating around the lake.  The lily is the symbol of this little town.  There are two entrances to the lake, and there are lots of grassy surface to relax after dipping for some 20 mins.  There are lots of `handles`to hold yourself as it is not popular to swim in the lake.  One floats with a lifesaver.  They are being sold all throughout the village or one can rent them at the premises.  In the middle of the lake is the spa which is built on stilts.  It is also possible to enter the water from the spa building itself.  A lot of people come here who are under `cure`.  Children were scarce and naturally they are not advised to enter the water at all.  There is a separate pool for kids which unfortunately was still not filled during our stay.  The experience was great.  

 
The other spa was the elegant spa in Piestany.  They call it a Spa Island.  It is however at one part connected by land to the mainland.  The Spa Island of Piestany dates back over a 100 years.  With its renovated Thermia Palace Hotel at the entrance to the island, it reminds you of its glorious days.  Still, the hotel stands out well preserved.  It is connected to the IRMA Spa where all of our booked services were done.  We had mud pack wherein the back, joints in the legs and shoulders are covered with Piestany mud with a temperature of 40°C for 15 minutes.  Another healing treatment was soaking yourself into the mud pool for 20 mins.  And a massage.  The Spa also has a mud pool where you can cover yourself with the mud while in the water.  There is also a outside thermal pool. I had not seen a single child in the hotel nor the spa.

Extra notes about the island: One can walk around the island in 30 minutes.  There are bicycle and jogger paths. There are peacocks in the park.  This is the symbol of the hotel and could be seen on the garden at the main entrance, the windows and the floors.  The island is just a few minutes walk to the pedestrian zone.  The pedestrian zone offers lots of restaurants with the water fountain highlighting you meal.  The trees and plants are so green and healthy which we believe is due to the springs. There are two tennis courts (how can I not observe), a nine hole golf course, and other hotels.

Well then would like to stink?

Happy stinking!!!!

Balatonfüred, Lake Balaton, Hungary

I dedicate this Post to my Hungarian friend, Kati.  She comes from the beautiful city of Györ, which I have never visited myself, unfortunately.  But with this new love I have for Hungary, it looks like we will be there soon.


Lake Balaton is very famous and interesting for the Germans.  I just heard that is is stunning until I found it out myself.   From Bratislava, we took a part of the highway then exited on D82.  It was a picturesque drive on a winding road passing by Pannonhalma and the Csezsnek Castle Ruin. As we arrive in Veszprem, I felt the holiday feeling as one gets into Hawaii.  I do not know why but the wide elevated roads with a view on the lake probably welcomed me.  We turn off to get to Balatonfüred and after a few minutes we are there.  I did not book any room and believe me, everything we asked were fully booked.  We could have stayed at the Hotel Annabella which is right infront of the promenade but it was nothing for us.  After running around three more hotels, we settled in at the Anna Grand Hotel Wine and Vital.  We chose their classic room with high ceilings and looking over the main square.  The Ipoly Residence might have been a better choice (also from Anna Grand) but perhaps walking from the Ipoly to Anna to use the pool is a bit inconvenient.


At the main square is the well where one can sample and get the sour water of Balatonfüred.  It tastes strange but still I brought a plastic bottle full of it.  When you walk down towards the lake, beautiful landscaped garden with black and pink tulips kissing the sun graces the path.  And as you get on to the Tagore Promenade lined with trees posing as umbrellas for the pedestrian and bicycle lanes, you start to belong.  The lake is very turquoise, so shallow that its deepest is at 3 meters thereby it gets warm so fast.  It just feels also like a mystery why this lake, so vast and beautiful, was quiet.  Motorboats and motor sports are definitely a no on this lake apart from the cruise ships and the police boats.  My photos depicts the quietness and tranquility of it as I have experienced it.  Just the tourists like me were there to disturb it.


At the end of the Tagore Promenade is the Eszterhazy beach.  A public beach with payment where one can rent beach chairs or as we did, we brought a sulu and sat and admired the whole atmosphere.  Alongside are restaurants and bars with two "faces": one fronting the beach and one to the promenade.  We ate langos, sült hal and sweetcorn.  We drank good Hungarian draught beers and mojito-s!


The next day we went towards the other end of the Promenade is the Marina.  Another round of beer.  One can also have go onto a one-hour cruise at 1500 forints (ca. 5 Euros). But we had no time and had to still go to the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany.  Such marvelous views (again) on the lake.  We ate cakes and lemonade (too hot for coffee) and you will not really be disappointed with what you eat nor see!


I so much love it, as I finish writing this I  plan to go again to Hungary this weekend!!  Heviz??


Happy Balatoning!!!!

A slice of snow

Adrian and I went on a date for lunch today.  Was it gonna be McDonald's for a quick pommes frites?  Or to one of our favoured restaurants in Koliba called Schoppa?  The decision was easy.  Schoppa is a log cabin restaurant at the entrance of the peak of Koliba.  Adrian got his kid's schnitzel and buttered tagliattle.  For me, Tatar Steak or Goose Liver?  The waitress was right when she said I can get Tatar Steak everywhere but Goose Liver is not always available.  So it was slices of Goose Liver with bread for me.

Afterwards, again a decision to make.  Drive up to the peak and take a look while Koliba is full of snow or not?  Ah we can definitely spare some few minutes up there. So off we drove.  The forest was covered with new snow this morning and was a great sight to smell.  Slender trees on white carpet.  As we reached the top, quite a number of people, young and old, try to sleigh on the little hill.  Adrian wanted to make snow balls and after a while, I told him that we do have in the car the little blue flat plate for sliding.  Wiiiiiiiiii!  Off he went!  I calculated he would do it twice as it was some work going up the hill again.  Off he went again!

That was just a perfect warm and white afternoon.

Happy sliding!

The Donovaly Weekend

Donovaly

For two years now we have been skiing in Austria, in a little family friendly ski town called Filzmoos. But during this long weekend semester break  of Adrian, we decided for Donovaly.  It is where one of my tennis partners go to with his family for skiing for the last five years.  Moreover, Id like to  get to know Donovaly as we are living here in Slovakia, shouldn’t we?  Interestingly, once we mention this to Slovaks, their automatic comment is, ‘Why go to Donovaly if Austria is just there?  Service is much better in Austria.’  Very correct!  Still, we went without much expectation.

Weather was predicted at -20°C.  Freezing, cold and chilly.  We arrived in less than three hours.  It was late but the town looked promising. There are two slopes, Zahradiste and Nova Hola.  Zahradiste has only blue slopes.  As beginners, we chose to stay on this side.  Unfortunately, it was really brrrrr chilly, that we did the slope and went up and down and still got frozen.  We decided to have a break at their fast food area where one finds typical Slovak food.  The weather was really not very kind that after the break, skiing was really not fun.  So, we called it a day.

Dinner was spent at the Stodola Restaurant.  I have checked their varied menu over the internet before coming to Donovaly.  Food was good but as expected NOT a single smile from the waitress.  Square  face. But we did not let that hamper us.  The beer was good enough.

The next day was as promising as the previous one.  Lazily, we pulled ourselves together to ski.  After an hour of skiing, there was snow storm, it was just unbearable. Urggh!

Off we went to Almet where they have  bowling alleys.  As it was empty at 2pm, we did not ask for any free alleys.  We took our time, ate pizza, played Air Hockey, some card games.  At 3pm we asked if they have something available.  Sorry, next available slot is at 10.30pm.  Great!  Well, it was disappointing until he told us that we would be able to play sometime at 4.30pm.  That was at least a relief.   Believe it or not, we left this place at 9pm!  Eat, drink, play!  How exhausting!!!

On the third day, it was sunny and still no one was really in the mood to go skiing as temperatures stayed the same.  But I pushed and pushed and we went to the red slopes of Nova Hola.  Now we realized that this is where we should be skiing.  A little bit difficult but manageable and long enough.  In addition, they have Gondolas so one does not freeze on the way up.  Who would have thought we would spend from 11am until 4pm skiing? 

So, Donovaly, I assure you that was not the last time we visited you.

Happy freezing!