Tihany, Hungary Tourism

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bank. As a result of its extraordinarily charming and geologically interesting scenery Tihany has been designated a nature reserve since 1952; the southwestern section of the peninsula has been closed to traffic and can be explored only on foot along well-marked paths. The tourist center is the little township of Tihany, with its 2000 inhabitants, nestling around the famous Benedictine abbey. On the steep east coast lies the "Inner Harbour" for passenger ships, while at the southern tip will be found the car ferry to Szántód mentioned above.

Topography

During the Late Tertiary and Quaternary periods of geological history the peninsula was the scene of much volcanic activity. At that time geysers at temperatures of about 100°C (212°F) forced their way up through the hard basalt tuff and formed "geyser humps". Subsequently the center of the peninsula sank to leave two hollows surrounded by "geyser cones". In the deeper southern hollow a stretch of water formed, not unlike a crater lake. The Belso-tó, or "Inner Lake", as it is known, lies 26m (85ft) above the level of the Balaton and today is an anglers' paradise; numerous waterfowl nest on the "Outer Lake", which is overgrown with reeds. The landscape is beautiful in spring, when the almond trees are in bloom, and in summer, when the fields are a sea of deep-blue lavender.

Tihany was inhabited in prehistoric times. Impressive evidence of a Bronze Age settlement is provided by the massive earth-fort (Óvár) in the northeast of the peninsula, which was later also used by the Slavs. Archaeological finds have also confirmed the presence of Celts, Romans and Avars. Andreas I, one of the first Hungarian kings, founded a Benedictine abbey on Tihany in 1055. Five years later the abbey was sufficiently finished for its founder to be able to find his last resting place there. The foundation charter, written in Latin, in fact contains some one hundred Hungarian words and suffixes and is thus the oldest known document in the Hungarian language. Today it is housed in the parent Benedictine monastery in Pannonhalma, with a copy in Tihany. In Andreas' wake immigrant Russian monks settled on the peninsula in the 11th C. Near the Cyprian Stream (Ciprián-forrás) under the Bronze Age earth-wall they carved out cells in the rock which can still be seen today. The monastery had already been fortified against Mongol attacks as early as the 13th C, and with the advance of the Ottoman armies it was converted into a fort, and the monks moved elsewhere. After the withdrawal of the Turks the Habsburgs razed the building to the ground so that it should not fall into the hands of the insurgents. The present monastery complex was built between 1740 and 1754, and a small fishing village grew up around it. It was only in the early 20th C that Tihany first attracted tourists.