Apropos of Lake Balaton [antikvár]

Travellers journeying from Keszthely towards Badacsony are confronted with a striking view as they pass Balatongyörök and negotiate the steep hillside. Károly Eötvös (1842-1916), a solicitor turnéd successful man of letters, called it the "most beautiful spot in the world". In his A Journey Around Laké Balaton he wrote: "I had no idea of the kind of beauty that was awaiting me there. I hardly noticed the slight northward turn of the road. Suddenly, I looked ahead and saw this wondrous collection of beauties in their infinity. What is this? I stood as if rooted there. A cry escaped me. Then Ijuststared fixedly ahead. My soul was filled with awe, pleasure, inspiration, an unspeakable feeling. I had never dreamed of such overwhelming beauty. Never had I seen, heard or read about such a phenomenon. Cones with gleaming peaks, verdant vine-clad hills, black spots of forests, green meadows, golden fields, a hundred villages, thousands of dwellings, inns, mills, trees lining the roads, streams, canals, high hilltops, white houses, magnificent castle ruins, the solemn majesty of Szentgyörgy and Badacsony. It was as if Laké Balaton smiled at me; as if the reeds whispered and beckoned to me specially, and at the outer edge of this vision the sky, land, Bakony, Tihany and water blended sweetly in an indmate embrace, while disappearing changing, chasing each other and playing together, splendidly attired in the golden rays of the sun setting behind my back; this was the picture that rushed to my soul. Every sign of life of the present, all the shadows of many centuries, the primeval creations of Nature, all that was made by humán hands, side by side. Is there another spot as bright in the whole universe? No, there is not!" Károly Eötvös was one of the first "explorers" of Laké Balaton to make a trip around the laké with his friends and he published his reminiscences 25 years later. His journal, which evoked the past but spoke to the present and encouraged for the future is an "instructive" book. He felt prompted to probe and discover the central quality of the beauty of that region. His answer, which he typically extracted from a story current in the district, reveals an inexpected crack on the face of this magic vision. No doubt despite his intention but in a manner not alien to the landscape. "About fifty years ago, he begins his story, the young and beautiful wife of the director of Balatonfüred Baths became insane never to recover from that condition. Taking a walk in the park one day, she took off her clothes and walked naked to the fields, raving in her fit of madness. Her tender feet were slashed and bloodied by the gravel and the cut stems in the field. The beauty of her figure matched the dreams of sculptors and painters. Many people gathered to watch her in the field. I was one of them. All of us admired the stunning perfection of her body." Eötvös, who liked to teli anecdotes, here calls in evidence one of the most prominent historic figures of 19th century Hungary, "the Sage of the Nádon". "In the company of distinguished visitors Ferenc Deák too saw the scene and it was he who summoned the servants of the shooting gallery to get a drape and cover her, and take her home. He alsó sent for a doctor immediately." "There ensued a lively debate in Deák's company about where the secret of the female body lay. Not in the formation of its lines. Because painters and sculptors were able to model perfection, yet works of art nowhere came near the impact a female body could make. Nor did the secret have anything to do with colour. The radiation of the skin cannot be reproduced on canvas yet painters triumphantly produced the most perfect body colours. "A living female body is warm", suggested one of them.