Is it possible to swim in Lake Heviz in winter? Open left menu Heviz

When purchasing a subscription, a deposit of HUF 1,000 is required. (~4 Euro) for each magnetic watch (bracelet). After the subscription expires, the magnetic watch (bracelet) must be returned to the cashier along with a check for the deposit, after which the deposit is returned. Refund of the deposit within 2 days after the end of the subscription period.

Children under 6 years old go to the lake for free

The lake is open every day.

The new entrance to the lake is open from 09:00, the ticket office closes at 20:00. The new entrance building has a wellness area with saunas and jacuzzi, access to which costs an additional 1,500 HUF/person. (~6 Euro). Wellness closes at 20:30.

I read about Heviz from Axler. I had never heard of the existence of this place before. I read about a healing thermal lake, after which the lame throw away their crutches and begin to actively cut circles around their surroundings pine forest and thought: “Oh, I wish I could go there to treat my legs and spine!”
And then, when we had the idea of ​​going on vacation to Hungary, I immediately decided: we’ll visit Heviz too! Even though we only have 8 days in Hungary (half of which are in Budapest itself) and they usually go to a sanatorium for three weeks, but still!
And we were very pleased!

From Budapest to Heviz it takes about 2.5 hours by bus. Heviz is located just 6 km from the western tip famous lake Balaton (once they were one body of water).

Road to Heviz. Sunflower fields. On the horizon is Lake Balaton (we drove around it in a wide arc for quite some time).

Heviz is a small southern town. There are about four and a half thousand permanent residents there. Even the school seems to be only one. But this is a popular year-round resort because people go there for healing lake, and in it the temperature in winter is +24, and in summer up to +35.

Apart from a few multi-storey sanatoriums, Heviz is a town of two-storey cottages. "Villas", as they are usually called there. Local residents live in cottages and rent cottages to visitors. The town is extremely cute and picturesque. All the cottages were built with imagination, with decorations, all are different, all of them stand on well-groomed plots, literally buried in flowers and greenery. We would think about the owner of any such cottage that “a rich businessman, he stole.” And everyone lives there like that, there is no other housing. Perhaps some of these cottages have several apartments, I don’t know.
The town is very clean and green. What makes the town even more picturesque is that it is located at the foot of the mountains and itself stands on hilly terrain. The streets go up and down. And suddenly, from the next intersection, you will have a magnificent view of the valley below, and beyond it - the mountains.

"Villa Natalia" where we lived. The two-story building has six “apartments,” three per floor. Very cozy. Two rooms - "living room-hall-hall-aka-kitchen" and a bedroom. We got a room on the second floor, with skylights. The ceiling is naturally sloping. Someone at booking complains about such rooms, but on the contrary, we really liked it. On each floor there is a large common veranda with plastic tables and chairs, and each room has its own drying rack for swimsuits and towels. And swimming circles were included with the numbers.

The owner of our villa speaks Russian well, and many Russians stay with him. Which he prudently took into account. :) Interesting choice. ;)

All sorts of other houses.

Attila the duck.

Here's a decoration - a display case with cacti, right on the street. Nothing is written about any sale, so it's just like that.

And this is the decoration of the site. Take a closer look at what the flower pots are attached to. ;)

This is also a street. Leads to the lake. A town on the hills.

We didn’t have hats, so when we went for a walk, we took a bottle of water with us and constantly wet the top of our heads - my mother’s old method. There were no problems with heat strokes. It was very hot though. In order not to forget about precautions, I had to remind myself: “we are almost in Crimea.”

There is no public transport. It's just not there at all. ;) The area of ​​the entire town (somehow I’m drawn to numbers) is about 8 square meters. km, why do they need transport? ;) Everyone has their own car. From the small, quiet bus station, buses run several times a day to Budapest and the nearby town of Keszthely, which is located on the shores of Lake Balaton. It is only 5 km away. If we had an extra day, we would just walk there.
The only “public transport” in Heviz is a children's train with several carriages, like in our parks.

Once every half hour it departs from the main square and makes a circle around Heviz. The cost of the “circle” is 1000 forints (a little more than 200 rubles). But it is not children who ride it, but adults. It is especially in demand in the late afternoon, when the swimming pool on the lake closes, and tourists (naturally, the locals don’t go there) go to the “wine hill” to restaurants.
Although... for some it’s a “wine hill”, and for others it’s the ancient village of Egredy... This is the outskirts of Heviz. The way there is an upward climb, but the climb is not particularly steep, and you can walk there in about 25 minutes. At the top there are small family vineyards. Locals are engaged in winemaking and also run restaurants. This is where people go to party in the evenings with a gorgeous view of the valley.
It’s good to take a walk in Egredy in the morning, while there are no tourists there yet. We went on Sunday, set off at about 11 o'clock, and were rewarded - everything around was as if extinct, quiet, beautiful, and it all belonged to us alone. ;) Details to come.

ABOUT THE LAKE

Although you will read about Lake Heviz that it is the largest thermal lake in Europe, but in comparison with their hefty (and famous) Balaton (which is marked on any map of Europe), Heviz, as the famous song says, is “like God spat.” ;) It is written on the Internet that the area of ​​the lake is 47,500 square meters. But, for example, this doesn’t mean much to me; I can normally imagine square meters in my imagination only if they are approximately the same order of magnitude as the rooms in my apartment. ;) Let's just say that if Lake Heviz had the shape of a regular circle, then the diameter of this circle would be 122 meters - this is approximately the length of a standard football field+ on both sides of the stands for about 12-14 rows. This is the lake. :)
The word viz means "water". He-viz is some kind of water. I wanted to ask the locals, but didn’t get around to it. The Internet claims that this is a “warm spring”, “ hot spring", "current hot water".

Picture from Wikipedia.

The depth of Lake Heviz is from 2 to 38 meters. There are warnings about this everywhere so that people can calculate their strength. You can't get to the bottom even right next to the shore. The maximum is that your feet will sink into the silt, which cannot support a person. The thickness of the silt layer is about half a meter. It is soft, pleasant to the touch, and if you trample on it, bubbles with a faint smell of hydrogen sulfide will rise up.
Where the bottom allows, handrails are made on the lake, secured in the bottom with supports. A lot of them. They are only absent in the main crater of the lake, which is located next to the central bathhouse. At the bottom of the crater there is a spring feeding the lake. The bathhouse has a mini-museum telling the history of the lake. It's a pity that I didn't take pictures there. I was sure that everything was on the Internet, but in the end I had difficulty finding one picture that someone had taken in that very museum.

But in the park there is a model of the lake and the surrounding area, where the bottom topography is clearly visible. (Especially when the water dries out in the evening, which is added there “for clarity”).

The bottom of the crater ends with a channel leading to a cave, which was explored by Hungarian scuba divers in the 70s. They discovered that the cave is divided in half by a layer of mud, and in one part there is a “cold” spring (about +17), and in the other there are about a dozen hot springs (with temperatures from +23 to +38). All of them, mixing, feed the lake. Two channels flow out of the lake. It is written that in about a day the water in the lake is completely renewed. Its temperature does not depend at all on the time of day. We went swimming both in the morning and at the end of the day (a hot southern summer day) - we didn’t feel any difference in temperature.

People go to the lake to swim with circles. The water in it is warm, the body in the water immediately becomes covered with bubbles, like the walls of a glass of soda. Mineral water bath. ;) You immediately feel soft and don’t really want to swim. Both the circles and handrails are needed so that people can use the entire area of ​​the lake. Well, for safety too. There are a lot of elderly and disabled people there. For disabled people there are special descents to the water, even something like a wheelchair lift. And the lifeguard on duty floats around the lake all day long in something between a boat and a catamaran. ;) He didn’t have to save anyone with us, but he sometimes whistled at naughty teenagers.

Sociological retreat. ;) In general, Heviz is a very calm resort, by no means a “cattle resort”. It has a reputation for healing, so people don’t stop going there. There are very few young people. There are also much fewer children than in ordinary seaside resorts. Obviously, they simply take children with them if there is nowhere to place them. They take dogs in the same way. ;) There are a lot of vacationers in Heviz who come with their dogs. Of course, they are not allowed into the lake;), but in a cafe, giving the dog a bowl of water while the owners are having lunch is not a question.

As for the nationalities of vacationers, the most heard in Heviz, of course, is Hungarian. In second place are German and Russian. A lot of Russians, yes. And it’s very convenient in such a place. Russian grandmothers always know everything in the smallest detail - where, what, how, where is better, etc. :) Less often, but also more than once, we heard Polish speech. And finally our neighbor in the villa told us that he is Croatian. That's all. In general, we didn’t see a single Chinese, Japanese (there are a lot of them in Budapest) or Africans (but there are very few of them in Budapest).
The retreat is over. :)

It is written everywhere on the Internet that it is not recommended to stay in the lake for more than 30 minutes at a time. And we understood why. After 30 minutes you are already so wet, warmed up and softened that you yourself want to dry off and cool down.

By the way, at some point I was worried whether we would enjoy swimming in such heat in a thermal lake, and not in refreshing cool water. Okay, we got it. ;) It's nice to swim. It’s very pleasant to go into the lake; you don’t have to get used to the water. :) It’s nice that it is completely warm, and not just the top, heated layer, as in the reservoirs we are used to. It’s nice that it’s good to just sit in it (well, that is, hang), without necessarily moving. And then you come to the surface - and the air is cooler than the water. ;)

There is a separate mud bath in the lake, where a shallow pool is specially made, into which silt is shoveled (or it deposits itself) from the bottom. There, everyone is smeared up to their ears with healing mud, and many men even smear it on their bald spots. The depth there is such that if you kneel down, your shoulders will stick out of the water. Many people stand there with their knees and feet in the mud.

The water in the lake is not salty, but tastes fresh. It's full of mineral salts, but not sodium chloride. They not only bathe in the healing water, they also drink it. Near the lake itself, a good prestigious place is occupied by the St. Andras Hospital (which on Russian signs is called the St. Andrew Hospital, this “im.” touched me separately). And in the hospital lobby, everyone is given free access to such a beautiful pump room.

Due to some peculiarities, water from the lake cannot be bottled, only drunk on the spot. Apparently, it is only passed through the simplest filter to retain pieces of silt and all that. The taste is the most common, like plain water, but when drinking you can smell hydrogen sulfide. Drinking medicinal water on an empty stomach, it is recommended to drink it slowly, in small sips, while walking. Therefore, before breakfast, people head to the pump room, fill the dishes, and then slowly go home, drinking some water along the way. For the first time, while drinking, I very quickly had a feeling, like during a gastroscopy, when the stomach is “inflated” with air so that it expands. Then this gas gradually leaves you for half a day. ;) The next time the feeling was weaker.
But the most interesting thing! I went to the lake without any prior belief about the healing effect. In general, I am the kind of person (tested by experience) for whom the placebo effect does not work. If the drug or procedure itself works, it works. But convincing my body of something is almost impossible. ;)
In general, I did not feel any orthopedic changes after swimming in the lake. Logically, we were there for only 4 days and went swimming only 5 times. But... I arrived in Hungary with a slight exacerbation of gastritis and pancreatitis (and, accordingly, a supply of medications). So, after two days of drinking this water from the lake, I suddenly joyfully and bewilderedly woke up in the morning without a girdle pain in the middle of my stomach, and after eating there were no more problems. Everything went so nicely.

About flora and fauna.

Lotuses grow in the lake all year round. There are two varieties - native local, lilac (which for some reason is called “white lily” in the museum) and bright pink, imported from India in the 19th century. The Indian guest settled down perfectly in Heviz and became a symbol of the city; he appears on the coat of arms of Heviz and on numerous souvenir magnet postcards. Which is not entirely fair at all. ;) Indian lotuses bloom at night and close around 11 am. Therefore, I was not able to really photograph them - I took the camera to the lake only when we went there in the evening. But local lilies bloom all day. I really wanted to take a closer picture of them. In the end, I decided on this adventure: I put on two circles, carefully picked up my camera and slowly, using only my legs, swam to the flowers.

The first photo clearly shows both varieties side by side.

There are also large numbers of ducks on the lake. They are used to it, swimming almost among groups of tourists, relaxing on the handrails in the middle of the lake. The stands clearly warn: do not pick lotuses, do not chase ducks. :)

Part of the area around the lake has been turned into a relaxation area. There are plenty of comfortable sun beds, chairs, small cafes, and some slides for kids. There people dry off and sunbathe between swims.

But there is no access to part of the shore. There is beautiful wildlife and duck habitat there. :)

Fry swim in large numbers in the lake. Several species of fish live there. I remembered carp and pike perch. True, there are no fishermen on the lake. Maybe, of course, some watchmen fish at night? ;)

There are also many swallows there. There are two types - the classic "city swallow", black and white, and the "country swallow" with a yellow throat and bluish underwings. Swallows make their nests under the floor of the bathhouse, where there are supports. You can only see them from the water.
Once while relaxing in the lake right next to the bathhouse, I noticed several fully grown swallows sitting on a bracket above the supports of the bathhouse. One was sitting in the nest, and two were on the “perch”. From time to time another swallow would fly there, and then they would all start screaming loudly. Having looked closely, I saw that a swallow had arrived and was feeding those who were sitting there. They open their mouths wide and scream, and she shoves food into their beaks. At the same time, the sizes of the sitting swallows and the arriving one were exactly the same - not some kind of chicks. What kind of lazy, over-aged people are these? ;) I decided to restore justice. First I threw a piece of mud at them. The silt did not reach, but the swallows, as A. said, glanced at him in bewilderment and indifference and remained in place. "Ah well!" - I said and splashed water at them. With an indignant squeak, the swallows took off and whistled very cheerfully over the surface of the lake somewhere towards the shore. It's full of dragonflies and other insects. That's right, they're big already, there's no point in counting on mommy and daddy.
The one in the nest was not touched. Although the time has already passed for the little chicks, but in the end, you never know...

And here is such a beautiful main entrance to the bathhouse and the alley leading to it.

Heviz warm breath,

Fog swirls over the water.

The frozen forest is all waiting,

Coming summer days peace...

Heviz opened its holiday season this year, and already at the end of January.
When the New Year holidays burned out with sparklers and crystal glasses of champagne rang, and winter finally grabbed Moscow in its cold, dank embrace, we ran away. We escaped to warm, incredibly peaceful Heviz. Heviz, where a magical lake, shrouded in snow-white mists, has created around itself a fabulous atmosphere of calm, silence and beauty...
Where else if not here can you recharge yourself to the maximum with the healing energy of thermal water, fully relax your soul and body, leaving all urgent matters and empty chores at home! Even if only for a week!

We flew to Budapest Wizz Air. The airline gave a good price (175 euros for two), including hand luggage and one piece of luggage (up to 23 kg). Departure from Vnukovo.
There - January 25, 2017 at 11:15.
Return - February 1, 2017 at 06:05.
We booked two hotels on Hotels.
In Heviz - "Danubius Health Spa Resort Aqua" 4* (double standard for 6 days, all inclusive - 39,973 rubles for two persons).
In Budapest - "Danubius Hotel Gellert" 4* (double standard for 1 day, buffet breakfast included in the price, special offer price 3258 RUR for two).
Transfer Budapest - Heviz was taken at Sanatoriums.com (88 euros for two). We got back by regular bus (the price per person was 3,705 forints (about 12 euros), we left at 9:30, we were at the Budapest Nepliget bus station at 11:55).
Well, the organizational aspects of preparation have been outlined in general, it’s time to move on directly to the journey.

DANUBIUS HEALTH SPA RESORT AQUA 4*.

Address: Kossuth Lajos utca 13-15, 8380 Heviz, Hungary.

We arrived at the hotel. We paid the driver. First impressions: a modern eight-story building in burgundy tones, well-groomed clean territory, excellent location (700 m to the Lake) on a quiet cozy street planted with huge blue spruce trees. The hotel was opened in 1984 and completely renovated in 2016.
Let's go to the registration. We cross the marble floor into a beautifully and imaginatively decorated foyer (a “cosmic” chandelier, a stylish striped cocktail bar “Quint” with a wide range of paid alcohol, floral installations and even a small waterfall opposite the elevators). At the reception we get our room on the fourth floor with a view of the forest around Lake Heviz.
The Aqua standard is made in a classic style and has an area of ​​22 square meters. m. and equipped to the most modern standards: French balcony, air conditioning, safe, TV (three Russian channels), refrigerator-minibar, hairdryer, bathroom with toiletries, bathrobes, slippers, free WiFi in the room and throughout the hotel, free daily bottle of mineral water (1.5 l). The room is provided with high-quality daily cleaning.
For motor tourists there is a parking area in front of the hotel, closed by a barrier. Parking cost: 3 euros/day (free for stays of 7 nights or more).
Check in from 14:00. Check out before 11:00.

The hotel restaurant "Aurea Restaurant", in addition to the "winter" rooms, also has a large summer terrace overlooking the Heviz forest park.
It must be said that "Danubius Health Spa Resort Aqua" is the first and only health resort hotel in Heviz, specializing in All Inclusive meals. I think it will be interesting to talk about this miracle in more detail.

So, the features of the Heviz-Hungarian all-inclusive:

7:00 – 10:00 hearty breakfast (traditional European dishes: fried bacon, sausages, cutlets, omelettes, fried eggs, eggs, warm lecho, country-style potatoes, potato balls, slices, vegetables, pancakes, pastries, juices, tea, various types of coffee).

10:00 – 11:00 continental breakfast (no hot dishes) for those who like to sleep.

10:00 – 15:00 herbal tea and fruits in the medical sector.

12:00 – 14:00 lunch buffet: soups, salads, vegetables, pasta, hot dishes cooked on the grill and in a wok, cakes, pancakes, fruits, ice cream, etc.

15:00 – 17:00 afternoon tea - tea, coffee, canapés, cakes, ice cream.

18:00 – 21:00 buffet dinner. Every week an evening of Hungarian gastronomy. A wide selection of hot dishes and side dishes, salads, pickles and marinades, cheeses, a large selection of desserts and pastries, ice cream... In addition to soft drinks, we offer Hungarian-made red, white or rose wine and draft beer (alcohol is free only at dinner), as well as same tea and coffee.

11:00 – 22:00 soft drinks available in the hotel restaurant: exclusive mineral water"Danubius" (with or without gas), fruit and vegetable juices.
All the food is very tasty and high quality, we liked it. Respect to the culinary team!

The pride of the Aqua sanatorium is its own park area and a modern aqua center, which includes several swimming pools:
- a bathing complex (200 m², 29°C) with indoor and outdoor pools, various types of underwater massage, a waterfall, a geyser and even underwater lighting at night;
- swimming pool in the park area (12x8 meters, 20°C-26°C, open from mid-April to mid-October);
- two indoor swimming pools with thermal water pumped through pipes from the springs of Lake Heviz (33°C and 37°C), a jacuzzi, a sauna and a salt cave;
- summer outdoor pool and play area for children.
"Danubius Aqua" also has a serious medical and health center staffed with highly qualified medical personnel. A wide range of treatment procedures are provided here.
In a word, it is a pleasure to relax and undergo treatment here, even in winter!

TRIP TO AUSTRIA.

We planned to lazily hang out in Heviz all week, completely dissolving in the thermal embrace of the resort, but we couldn’t resist and took a full-day excursion to Graz, Austria, with a passing visit to the unique Zotter chocolate factory in Riegersburg.

Travel agency "Robinson Tours" (representative in the lobby of the Aqua Hotel).

Cost 80 euros per person.

Departure from Heviz at 7:40 am.

It is mandatory to have a foreign passport with you; when crossing the border, there is a random check; our group of six people, led by the Hungarian driver-guide Janos, was checked in a comfortable Mercedes minibus. This is the order now, by the way, we crossed the border in the opposite direction without any interference...
Janos is an experienced man, aged. Sociable and friendly, in addition to historical information, he is a big fan of talking about the current political situation in Hungary, and in the world in general. I learned the Russian language when I was still working in the USSR, at one of the enterprises in Siberia. While we were on the way, he told us a lot about the life of his compatriots, the Hungarians, and complained that we were not very lucky with the weather. The winter of this year, they say, turned out to be unusually cold (-3...-5 degrees below zero), cloudy and foggy... Yes, in general, everything was as real as it was: the sun did not please us during all seven days of rest by his appearance. Nature seemed to be hiding, covered with a snow-white feather bed of clouds and fogs...
Meanwhile, we arrived at the Zotter factory, where they create a real chocolate fairy tale.

Chocolate factory "Zotter" (Austria, Styria, Riegersburg).

At first it was thought that this stop at the factory on the way to Graz was a typical formality. Well, chocolate and chocolate, what could be interesting here? The amazing thing began as soon as we got off the bus at the entrance to the factory. Is this even a factory or a museum? Or maybe a chocolate theater? Chocolate adventure? Sweet fairy tale? Encyclopedia of chocolate flavors? Yes, all this at once!
The tasting and interactive route runs right through the workshops of real chocolate production at a height of several meters above it, through special transparent tunnels. Here you can try absolutely everything and in any quantity. You can start right with raw cocoa beans and end with the most expensive exclusive chocolate! So, save your strength until the end of the tour - all the most delicious things will be in the final meters of the chocolate marathon!
In 1999, the owner of four traditional Austrian confectioneries, chef Joseph Zotter, opened a unique enterprise aimed at creating unusual designer chocolate.
It is unique in everything - it is 100% environmentally friendly, diverse, unique and of the highest quality. What's the secret here?

Firstly, Maestro Zotter organized the work according to the Bean-to-Bar principle, which means: a full production cycle from cocoa beans to the finished chocolate bar.

Secondly, they work exclusively with bio-components according to Fair Trade standards, that is, they consciously prefer to do business only with small peasant farms in Peru, Congo, Brazil, Belize, Panama, India and Ecuador. After all, quality begins already at the stage of growing raw materials.

Thirdly, this is Zotter’s fantastic flair for composing flavor compositions. Chocolate filled with oranges and balsamic vinegar, dark chocolate with the taste of sweet wine and cheese, and how about this chocolatier’s masterpiece called “Ayurveda Course”, combining soy chocolate and filling of sesame nougat, ginger and dates. By the way, a very subtle, inimitably refined taste! You have to try this, it’s simply impossible to explain in words!

Fourthly, this is diversity! 365 different types of chocolate, one for each day of the year. Chocolate bars with cocoa content from 35% to 100%. Bitter and sweet. With fruits and caramel. With goat or sheep milk. With hemp! And also: children's chocolate on a stick, chocolate discs, chocolate-coated nuts, chocolate popcorn and even drinking chocolate for those with a real sweet tooth.

And, finally, the design - it is unique and has managed to become a cult favorite in its environment. The packaging meets the highest artistic standards of modern European art. Originality, interesting plot findings and a bright palette emphasize the uniqueness of chocolate from the wizard Zotter.

"So what do you think?" - Janos asked when everyone gathered in the car.

"This is not a factory - this is a real chocolate paradise!" - we responded in unison.

To prepare your trip on your own, I provide a link to the factory’s website. Here are prices for individual and group excursions, opening hours, directions and even an online store.
https://www.zotter.at/en/zotter-experience/prices-tour.html

It so happened that Graz, the second largest city in Austria, despite its historical significance and tourist value, undeservedly found itself in the shadow of brilliant Vienna, musical Salzburg and Olympic Innsbruck. But in vain, because in fact, Graz is a really very interesting city, it organically combines the medieval architecture of the Old Town and futuristic objects built in our days.
Our small group of restless Heviz holidaymakers, led by Janos, passed under the ancient city gate "Burgtor" and entered Old Graz, which has been part of the world's list since 1999. cultural heritage UNESCO, and in 2003 it became no less than even the Cultural Capital of all of Europe.

Graz: history and architecture.

The first settlements on this land date back to 900, when Slavic tribes began to settle around the Schlossberg mountain. In 1240, Graz received city status, and from 1278 to 1918 it was ruled by the notorious Habsburg dynasty.
After Graz visited one of the capitals of the Holy Roman Empire, its status increased. Around Main Square(Hauptplatz) the most important city buildings began to appear: the Town Hall, the Landhaus in the Renaissance style, the place where the parliament of the state of Styria still meets, and, of course, the famous Arsenal - a valuable collection of weapons collected since 1551. And here there is the most colorful urban development! The houses are each more beautiful than the other.
"Herzoghof" is a house whose facade is entirely painted with Roman and Greek gods and heroes.
The house "Ums Eck lugen" (Look around the corner) is richly decorated in Baroque style. If you look closely, in its stucco decoration you can see mysterious masks and faces looking at us straight from the depths of centuries...
The main attraction of the city of Graz is Schlossberg Castle, located on the top of the mountain of the same name. In addition to the unique funicular, you can also climb here to a height of 450 m via an impressive staircase carved in the shape of a serpentine in the rocky wall of the dolomite shield mountain formation. It is also sometimes called the “Russian Stairs”, since it was built in 1914 - 1918. Russian prisoners of war.
The dominant feature of Castle Hill is the beautiful Urturm clock tower (1712), with a large antique clock whose dials look on all four sides. The hands of this non-standard clock are mixed up - the large one shows the hours, and the small one shows the minutes.
The bell at its top is also unique; it is one of the oldest in Austria. Otherwise, Schlossberg Castle is the complete ruins of city defensive fortifications, densely overgrown with vegetation. Time turned out to be merciless to the once impregnable fortress...
After walking through the streets and alleys of Old Graz, admiring the medieval cathedrals, palaces and Franciscan monastery, we go to the Mur River, around which and even on which there are unique avant-garde objects that embody the flight of fancy of modern European architects!

Graz: a look into the future.

Kunsthaus.

This Museum was built in 2003 in the blob style - this is when the structure contrasts sharply with the surrounding buildings. The Kunsthaus has a collection contemporary art second half of the 20th - beginning of the 21st centuries. The building was designed by English architects P. Cook and C. Fournier. The unofficial English name of the building is "The friendly alien", and from afar it also resembles a giant futuristic submarine parked at the city pier, or maybe a strange deep-sea whale? In general, you can fantasize here endlessly! The Kunsthaus does not have its own permanent exhibition; its space is used for temporary exhibitions dedicated to cinema, photography, modern architecture, painting, design, etc. And to top it all off, the facades of this wonderful building represent a unique media installation with an area of ​​900 square meters. m., consisting of luminous elements that can be programmed using a computer.

Murinsel.

It is not simple entertainment center is an artificial bridge island located in the middle of the Mur River. The unique design is a floating object in the shape of a glass shell, under the glass dome of which there is a restaurant, a children's area "Adventure Island" and an amphitheater with a capacity of 350 people. Interestingly, Murinsel is able to glow entirely with a pleasant blue light and even move a little along the river. The author of the project was the famous designer from New York, winner of the Design Miami award, Vito Acconci. In one of his interviews, he admitted that “...I stopped making installations and preparing performances, because I felt the need for a viewer alien to art, who simply walks around the city, and does not disappear in the echoing silence of fine arts museums.”

Graz: the life of remarkable people.

Johannes Kepler is a great German mathematician, astronomer, mechanic, optician, discoverer of the laws of motion of the planets of the solar system. Kepler spent 6 years in Graz. Thanks to his extraordinary mathematical abilities, in 1594, at the age of 22, he was invited to lecture in mathematics at the local university. Here he wrote his first book, “The Mystery of the Universe” (1596), in which he outlined his revolutionary view of the mathematical harmony of the Universe. This scientific work caused a lot of noise in medieval Europe, and its author gained great fame...
Here in Graz, Kepler married the widow Barbara Müller von Muleck. Their first two children died before they even lived a year, and their wife fell ill with epilepsy. To top off the misfortunes, persecution of Protestants began in Catholic Graz, and Kepler, included in the list of “heretics,” had to leave the city and move to a more tolerant Prague...
We stood for a while near the house, from the wall of which, as a sign of memory of the life of the great scientist in Graz, a small comet with his name on its tail burst out... A story that can be seen live, just like that, in a quiet and seemingly an unremarkable city street...

In the village of Tal, on the outskirts of Graz, a man was born who went from a thin, sickly boy to a world champion in bodybuilding, the Terminator of world cinema, and even the governor of California. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the mansion where the famous movie character was born, there is now a very popular house-museum, the exhibition of which consists of the actor’s personal belongings, the original furnishings of his childhood, as well as artifacts from the most famous films in which Arnold starred. Training daily in one of the gyms in Graz, young Schwarzenegger could not even dream of the world fame awaiting him...

Graz: free time.

Free time of two hours, given to us by Janos, was devoted to Sackstrasse. This central city street received the unofficial name "Art Mile" due to large quantity art workshops, exhibition galleries, art cafes, antique, jewelry and other shops and shopping centers. Following a tip from our all-knowing guide, we first went to the Kastner & Ohler Department Store. On the roof of this store there is a large bar-restaurant and an observation deck with beautiful view for the whole Old city. And even though the weather was not particularly kind to us, trying to cover Graz from our camera with a cold veil of fog and piercing gusts of wind, the panorama of the city was still impressive!
Christmas has long died down, but the discounts on Sackstrasse remained, which, to our joy, we did not take advantage of, having really spent time doing Austrian shopping, shopping for children, for friends, for ourselves...

Janos did not disappoint, delivering us to Heviz exactly at the start of dinner, which allowed us even half an hour to relieve fatigue from an eventful day in the warm pools of the Aqua...

With the onset of cold weather and with Egypt closed, our beachgoers with low incomes were overcome by despondency. Of course, there are plenty of places on the planet where you can swim to your heart’s content at any time of the year, but not everyone can afford them. Meanwhile, just two and a half hours flight from Vnukovo airport there is a completely budget thermal resort.

Lake Heviz and the adjacent town of the same name are located in southwest Hungary. This is the largest thermal reservoir in Europe with a very active healing “mineral water”, the composition of which would be unique if it were not for its analogue - Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. You can guess how much a flight to New Zealand and a vacation on Lake Rotorua will cost. But you can get to Heviz relatively cheaply - either from a travel agency or on your own.

The lowest prices for air tickets and accommodation are from October to mid-December, as well as from January 9 to the end of April. The largest influx of vacationers, and accordingly the rise in prices - starting from Catholic Christmas and through the first ten days of January, and then from May to early September. Winters in Heviz are mild, the air temperature rarely drops below minus 3°C, while the water temperature in the lake remains at 22-26°C, and in the indoor swimming pool in the middle of the reservoir it is maintained at 32-38°C all year round.

There are three main factors that made Heviz popular among people with musculoskeletal diseases: thermal water, peat mud and a unique microclimate. This video will tell you more about them in more detail and competently:

The full range of procedures and related services, as well as their prices, can be found on the resort’s website.

By the way, since most Russians today work either sitting (offices) or standing (trade stores, etc.), swimming in Heviz water is also important for them - as a prevention of all kinds of scoliosis, chondrosis, problems with the spine, etc.

Where did the lotuses in the title come from? - They were brought from India about 100 years ago. Exotic flowers took root well in a foreign land and since then have delighted the eye with their unique beauty (plucking them is strictly prohibited). You can understand how much lotuses are revered here by looking at the official coat of arms of the city of Heviz:

Useful information for independent discoverers of Heviz

The fastest budget way to get to Heviz:

• the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizzair, which operates daily flights on the Moscow - Budapest route; flight time - 2 hours 35 minutes.
• bus 200E from Budapest airport to the station. metro station Kőbánya-Kispest; departure every 5-10 minutes, travel time 20-25 minutes.
• 4 metro stops to Népliget station (the name of the central bus station) - it will take 15-20 minutes at most.
• a comfortable Volánbusz bus from Nepliget to Heviz bus station; you need to choose flights from this particular carrier, then the travel time will be 2 hours 40 minutes, the usual “Ikarus” of other carriers “bow to every pillar”... however, the cashier in Nepliget will warn you about this.

The return trip to the airport will be more expensive, but faster. Since Wizzair planes depart from Budapest to Moscow at 6:05 am, buses and metro are no longer needed. It is best to gather a group of 4 to 8 people returning on the same flight and pool together to order a transfer from one of two tour operators - “1000 Roads” or “Robinson” (offices on the main street of Heviz; staff - Russian-speaking) . There are a lot of us here, so finding travel companions won’t be too difficult, it’s just better to take care of this issue in advance, talking to your compatriots in the bathhouse.

Another way: book a room in a Budapest hotel or even a hostel for the last day of your stay and at the same time order an online shuttle (website in English), which delivers passengers around the clock from anywhere in the Hungarian capital to the airport at an adequate price. This option gives you a day in Budapest, a short sleep in a normal bed and arrival at the airport at the right time.

And finally, the most economical and unpretentious can return to Budapest on the eve of departure by the last Volánbusz bus (departs from Heviz at 18:25), then the metro and bus 200E, but in this case you will have to spend the night at the airport before check-in for the flight.

How to find the best housing option

The town of Heviz with a population of less than 5 thousand people can simultaneously accommodate 10 thousand guests. At the same time, despite its small size, it has all the necessary infrastructure - that is, it is literally “tailored” for tourists.

In addition to two dozen (some of them have their own mud baths and spa complexes), almost all residential buildings have separate 2-3-4-bed rooms priced from 9 to 15 euros/night per person. Each apartment is equipped with everything necessary for independent living, including separate kitchens and bathrooms. Breakfasts can either be included in your reservation (where they are offered) or prepared yourself from purchased products, but I would recommend having lunch and dinner in the numerous cafes, taverns and restaurants that serve amazingly delicious Magyar dishes, desserts and wines.

But housing has been found and booked. First of all, after moving in, carefully read the booklets and business cards that are in a visible place: the owners of many apartments have agreements with nearby cafes for a discount for their guests. The owners of some guest houses went even further, agreeing with the resort administration on a discount on the cost of swimming. It's also not uncommon to have free swimming laps waiting for you on your beds.

The bad news: the owners of most apartments in Heviz speak German very well, but, alas, speak neither Russian nor English. Therefore, I recommend downloading “Google Translator” to your gadget, which quite successfully solves the problem of communicating with Hungarians.

The good news: in hotels, restaurants and cafes the Russian language is already in use, there will be no difficulties here. And knowledge of spoken English will help in communicating with local youth, who will willingly answer the questions “What? Where? How much?

Sights, entertainment, pleasures

The main street of Széchenyi can be walked at a leisurely pace from start to finish in a maximum of half an hour. From any corner of Heviz you can see the cross crowning the Church of the Holy Spirit in the center of the town. There are several more churches, much older than the main cathedral and very interesting in their own way. There are original monuments, for example, a very sexy nymph in the fountain installed between the city hall and the high school. I believe that this view from the windows adequately motivates both officials and students.

However, you can explore the entire town without exerting any muscular effort, but sitting in a trailer driven by this funny little train (it’s actually an electric car):

Often on weekends, not to mention holidays, concerts of Heviz music and dance groups are organized on the central market square of Heviz. The guys give it their all, for which the audience rewards them with generous applause.

In general, there are not so many attractions and entertainment in Heviz; to save time, I will omit their descriptions, but I definitely recommend listening to gypsy violinists, watching czardas performed by Magyar dancers and attending a tasting of local wines and products followed by a delicious dinner.

Surely, everyone has heard about the healing properties of this lake, that it can cure many diseases, maintain your health and significantly improve it. Trips to such a lake in the summer are common, but tourists go there no less actively in the winter. Spa facial treatments here have a truly healing effect.

Climate in Hungary.
Hungary has a favorable climate, so winter practically never happens here. IN winter time Lake Heviz has a water temperature of 23 degrees and above, in the summer it is usually 30 degrees. Of course, many more tourists want to go there in the summer than in the winter, but, nevertheless, in winter you can improve your health there no worse. Doctors do not recommend staying in the water for more than 30 minutes when swimming, and in the summer the water just beckons. In winter, you will go into the water for a short time and take so-called baths, since only the person who is hardening can stay in the water for a long time.

However, there are special baths and many other procedures in which water comes directly from the lake itself, so such healing can be no less effective than in the summer. There is year-round on the lake drinking water, which is pumped out from a very great depth, it has healing properties and treats gastrointestinal diseases. Also, it cleanses the kidneys of stones, so after drinking this water, you should not be surprised if you feel an unpleasant dull pain in the kidneys.

Advantages resort holiday on Lake Heviz.
In the resorts of Lake Heviz, life is no worse in winter than in summer. In addition, this lake is an excellent option for a trip to it with the whole family. Now, while you are taking the procedures, your children will play and have fun in special children's rooms, and if your child is over 12 years old, then he can safely take the procedures together with you. Spa gift certificates work wonders!

Lake Heviz is especially beautiful in winter, there is white steam above it, which captivates the eye, and the lake is surrounded by forests that are covered with snow, everything around seems unusually beautiful and attractive. A resort on this lake is an excellent option for you and your family to improve your health, have a good time, and take a break from the everyday hustle and bustle. If you come to this amazing place at least once, you will want to come back again and again, it has everything you need for have a nice rest and have a great time.

tourism News

• New hotel in San Sebastian

  2019-12-04

  In our world, not only technologies are developing, but also popular trends in the field of development...

• Thousands of lotuses bloom on a Thai lake

  2017-05-25

  Thousands of beautiful lotuses bloomed on the surface of a lake in Thailand, so tourists are strongly advised not to visit this place due to...

• Season 2017 in Sochi Olympic Park

  2017-04-25

  New season in Olympic Park promises us innovations and interesting solutions that will be of interest not only to visitors and tourists, but will...

• Short excursus through mysterious places of Uzbekistan

  2016-11-08

  Almost all of us love the legends, secrets, mystery and a little adventure. But few people think...