FenTiger

All my life living in the UK I have never lived anywhere more than an hour to the nearest beach or sea! As we're nearing moving to Hungary permanently it's dawned on me for the first time in my life I'm going to living probably atleast two days drive away from the nearest beach or the sea. That's excluding Lake Balaton which okay some people call the Hungarian Sea! I just mentioned to my wife I'm changing my mind and moving to Portugal ..... but she's sticking to her guns and moving to Hungary! It might mean some leeway in my wife agreeing to getting my dream car(s) .... haven't decided yet on what it will be ..... but defo on my list is an open topped VW beach buggy!
Still on the issue of cars ..... depending on the garage having sufficient space ...... I'd love to build a souped up trabant!

scrubbedexpat142

To be honest, no! Quite happy with the Duna!

I used to live 30 minutes from the sea but hardly ever went there.

FenTiger

To be honest I haven't been to the beach or sea for atleast a year! Main reason is the restrictions for dogs! Some beaches have no restrictions for dogs and others no dogs during summer months! There is one beach in Kent I'm not keen on because it's not stable, i.e. you start sinking so ..... not safe at all. Surprisingly, there's no warning signs about this!

I might just about be okay with Malyi-To which from one end to the other is about 1km long. Just up the road is a larger lake, Nyekhadlaza. Ah well, I'll have to join our local Hungarian friends on their annual holidays via coach to european destinations. Not surprisingly this year's has been cancelled!

Peter_in_Hungary

I guess it depends what you do when you get to the beach. If it is just a nice place to walk then Hungary has lots of (different) walks. If like me you went to the beach to enjoy the sea (25 years diving and instructing diving and boat use with some sailing thrown in) then there is more to miss but moving to Hungary was a life style change and giving up the sea was part of the package.

Yes the Blaton is called the Hungarian sea but I don't subscribe to this (standing joke in our family is that I take a salt cellar when ever I go to the Balaton) and I don't like swimming in the lake.

The nearest sea is about 8 - 10 hours from us (Croatia) but this is empty due to over fishing so not much to see but at least it is salty and has sea breezes.

Of course there are other things missing in Hungary but then lots of extras and pluses as well.

FenTiger

On one of my earlier visits to Hungary the sister-in-law and husband took us to Keszthely. I couldn't believe how long it took me wading further and further until the water was at waist level! 8 - 10 hours from Eger to Croatia. Well, atleast that's better than the two days I had originally thought it'd take me to drive to Croatia. One thing which there will be a guarantee is I won't end up drifting miles out to sea on my air bed compared to doing this at Malyi-To.

Peter_in_Hungary

Actually I was quoting the drive times for places I have been to in Croatia. If you only go to the top end of the Adriatic e.g.Rijeka then this is listed as a 6 hrs 40 mins drive from Mályi

hobgoblins

A no from me ! I lived a ten minute walk from the seafront in Southsea and the novelty wore off over time ... nice for an occasional stroll or to visit when the weather and sea were wild ... but it is like everything else ... familiarity breeds contempt ! Now when I go back to Southsea for a visit, it's nice to have a walk along the seafront again but would I go back there to live just because of the sea ... nope !! I lived in the tropical paradise of Bali for seven years and the beaches and sunsets are stunning ... but the same story ... it's always there and the visits to the beach get less and less as time goes by ....

FenTiger

That's interesting. I don't think I will ever tire of the view from Malyi-To towards where my wife's parents and sister-in-law live but who knows if I bought a weekend house there I might get bored of the scenery. But I would think I would spend less time looking at the scenery especially if had things to do. Funny enough where I live in the Uk it's all green .... but whenever I travelled into central London which is completely the opposite I always felt my mood lifted, probably because I saw some familiar sights and London being the capital of England! Even at the weekend if I was taking friends up to London I always felt the same but I don't venture into London if I can avoid it! The worse thing I hate seeing is the new buildings next to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. The flats, a yukky brass colour, built next to Battersea Power Station are bloody awful. It's an awful sight seeing what the tenants of those flats put out on their balconies! There's one building so close to Battersea Dogs & Cats home it's like one of the light fittings for that building is almost touching the Battersea Dogs & Cats home building! Even worse I suspect that building has cut an awful lot of natural light to Battersea Dogs & Cats home!

hobgoblins

There is truth in what you say .... I look out over the surrounding greenery here and haven't got bored of it ... the peacefulness and tranquility along with the changes in the view as the seasons change makes it a joy to see and prevents boredom with it. I think that you will find the same with Malyi-To though ... it will look different enough every time to make it a good experience on every visit ... but I guess I just got bored with the same old seafront in Southsea ... the weather changed but everything else just stayed the same ! It's hard to put into words I guess ... I have been here long enough for much of the novelty factor to wear off but every day I'm here just reinforces my view that I have made the right choice and I wish I had done it years ago ... I have finally found the place where everything feels right ... I have travelled the world and lived in places that are called paradise ... but everything here just ticks all of the boxes ...

PaulinEger

Yes, we miss the sea. We lived in the North West and were about 30 minutes drive from Blackpool () and an hour from the Lake District. We didn't visit the coast very often but it was there if we wanted to. We actually much preferred the East coast of Yorkshire.
Anyway, last year, after living here for 11 years we visited Lake Balaton for the first time and loved it! For us it felt like being at the seaside. I'm not a fan of putting my feet into fresh water as, for some reason, it scares me. I can swim well enough and the sea is fine but I have an irrational fear of rivers and lakes. However, when we went to Balaton it was no problem for me to go swimming. Maybe because of its size. We'll definitely be back but on the north shore. We hated Siófok.

Oh, and on the Trabi front, I've always wanted one. I saw them many years ago in England and loved their simplicity and quirkiness. I'm not bothered about it being customised, just a bog standard, good condition kombi. I also like the Wartburg estates, they have a huge load space. Have a look at the Facebook page for DDR Deluxe, they have some amazing cars https://www.facebook.com/ddrdeluxe/

wolfi

Re Trabant:
I don't want to brag, but 30 years ago a friend "imported" several Trabant "Jeeps" to the West and I bought one of them. Actually they are "Kübelwagen" (don't know the English word for it), they are totally open on the side, have no doors just a chain so you won't fall out ...
It wasn't the green army version, but the white one used in forestry eg.
They are used and shown in the famous fim "Üveg Tigris".
But as I got older I realised that driving totally open wasn't for me, my wife couldn't accompany me because of her eyes so we sold it to a Trabant fan ...

tooboocoo

HG, would you care to share a hint as to where in Zala you are?

hobgoblins

I'm very near to Lenti !

FenTiger

I saw my first trabant in Berlin in 1990. I think that was a year after the Berlin Wall came down. Strolling between the old east and west Berlin was how can I describe it ... nostalgic seeing Trabants side by side with Mercedes! I've still got a bit of concrete from the East Berlin side. When I went to Berlin I went there with a previous partner and a very good friend of mine with her Australian boyfriend. I was surprised as we went through security he was able to get through with hand luggage full of bits of the Berlin wall! Now, onto Wartburgs I had a work colleague who had one of those and I struggled to get round the idea he had to add oil when filling up at the petrol station! The reason I mentioned customising a trabant is so that if some fool laughed at me ..... I'd soon show him what was underneath the bonnet!

FenTiger