Pre-conference trip
Schedule: 27–28–29 August 2015. (3 day trip)
Price: 250 € (including transportation, accomodation in Hotel****, meal, and guidance)
Application: until 30 June 2015 here on our website (click on apply button).
Payment: until 30 June 2015. via bank transfer
Limit: 45 persons
Final program will be delivered on arrival.
Day 1:
route: Budapest - Tihany Peninsula - Hegyestű Hill National Monument - Káli Basin - Badacsony - Keszthely.
On the northern shore of Lake Balaton, we will visit the picturesque peninsula of Tihany, which is the earliest, 8 million year-old volcanic maar system of the basaltic Bakony-Balaton Uplands Volcanic Field. Its 12th century abbey and the historical village are also one of the most fascinating locations in Hungary. Because of its popularity, Tihany is the site of conflicting geographical issues between mass tourism and natural and cultural heritage. Hegyestű National Monument is a half-quarried basaltic hill showing spectacular basalt columns. We will go through the Káli Basin, famous for both its natural and social aspects, and arrive at Badacsony Hill, one of the best-known wine-producing locations, and also an iconic landscape feature of the Balaton Region and the whole country. We will stay in Keszthely, whose baroque Festetics Palace was one of the biggest baronial homes (now a museum) in the Transdanubian countryside.
Day 2:
route: Szigliget (Castle Hill and geology trail) - Sümeg - Celldömölk, Kemenes Volcano Park Visitor Center - Sopron.
Leaving Keszthely, we will stop first at Szigliget that hosts a nice renovated castle hill together with a spectacular trail showing some basic features of the basalt volcano. The next attraction will be the volcano park at Ság Hill, a 5 million years-old basalt volcano near Celldömölk town, whose newly constructed volcano house is a unique popular scientific attraction presenting up-to-date information on volcanology. We will reach Sopron in the afternoon, a city along the Austrian-Hungarian border, which was returned to Hungary as a result of a referendum held after the post WWI treaties in Paris. Nowadays, Sopron is famous for its historical city centre, monuments, fire tower and wine, but the growing number of citizens shows that the place attracts people from the whole country as a home base for commuting to Austrian workplaces.
Day 3:
route: Pápa - Győr - Pannonhalma abbey -Budapest.
Pápa is another historic town situated at the foothills of Bakony Mountens. The "Athens of Transdanubia" has a spectacular townscape with several churches, and its regenerated Esterházy castle is a revitalized tourist magnet. Only 50 km away from Pápa is Győr, a city which has played an important role in the history of Hungary since the medieval period. The city itself (akin to Sopron) was founded upon the ruins of a Roman civitas but the atmosphere of its centre take us back to 17th and 18th centuries. The last stop of our trip will be in the abbey of Pannonhalma (a UNESCO world heritage site) one the oldest Hungarian historical monuments. The first Benedictine abbey in Hungary was founded in 996, four years before the coronation of St. Steven, and the foundation of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.
