Hungary - Eastern Europe - page 358

Herend: Home of Hungary's Finest Porcelain
About 16km (10 miles) west of Veszprém lies the sleepy village of Herend.
What distinguishes this village from other villages in the area is the pres-
ence of the Herend Porcelain factory, where Hungary's finest porcelain has
been made since 1826.
Herend Porcelain began to establish its international reputation as far
back as 1851, when a dinner set was displayed at the Great Exhibition in
London. Artists hand-paint every piece, from tableware to decorative acces-
sories. Patterns include delicate flowers, butterflies, and birds.
The recently opened Porcelanium Visitors Center, at Kossuth Lajos utca 140
in Herend, features the newly expanded Herend Museum ( & 88/261-801 ),
which displays a dazzling collection of Herend porcelain. A minitour of the
factory and a porcelain-making demonstration film are also part of the visi-
tor center offerings. The Porcelanium is open daily from May to October, 9am
to 5:30pm; Tuesday to Saturday only, from November to April, 9am to
3:30pm. Admission is 400 Ft ($1.80/£1). At the factory store ( & 88/523-223 ),
which accepts credit cards, you might find patterns that are unavailable in
Budapest's Herend Shop (p. 339). Prices will be comparable to those in
Budapest, but much less than what Herend costs in the United States. The fac-
tory store is open in summer Monday through Saturday from 9:30am to 6pm,
Sunday until 4pm; in winter Monday through Friday from 9:30am to 4pm,
Saturday 9:30am to 2pm. The Porcelanium Visitors Center also has a coffee-
house and upscale restaurant. Food is served on Herend china, naturally.
Herend is easily accessible via bus from Veszprém.
Lake and Outer Lake —as well as a lookout tower offering views out over the Bala-
ton. Give yourself at least an hour or two to explore the interior.
As you travel west from the Tihany Peninsula, the landscape begins to get hillier.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE The rail line that circles Lake Balaton does not serve the
Tihany Peninsula. The nearest railway station is in Aszóf ó , about 5km (3 miles) from
Tihany Village. A local bus to Tihany, synchronized to the rail timetable, departs from
just outside the railway station in Aszóf ó and from just outside the railway station in
the larger nearby town of Balatonfüred. You can also go by ferry from Szántód or Bal-
atonföldvár, or by boat from Balatonfüred.
VISITOR INFORMATION Visitor information and private-room bookings for
the Tihany Peninsula are available in Tihany Village at Tourinform, Kossuth u. 20
( & /fax [phone]; www.tourinform.hu). The office is open May through October
only, Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 7pm and on weekends from 8:30am to
12:30pm.
EXPLORING TIHANY VILLAGE
The 18th-century baroque Abbey Church is, undoubtedly, Tihany Village's main
attraction. The church stands on the site of an earlier 11th-century Romanesque