Once an important destination for families split by the Iron Curtain, Hungary’s Lake Balaton is on the brink of a renaissance.
If there’s one common Hungarian childhood memory that spans generations and geography, it’s summer vacation at Lake Balaton. Swimming in the shallow, freshwater lake and snacking on corn-on-the-cob or lángos (fried dough topped with sour cream and cheese) are hallmarks of a classic Hungarian summer.
Photographer Zsófia Pályi captures this wistful Balaton spirit in her photo series, “Balaton: The Hungarian Sea”.
“Many Hungarians have the same memories about their childhood holidays. I always have positive feelings associated with Balaton,” Pályi says. When Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its citizens had access to coastal areas now part of Croatia and Slovenia. “But now we are a landlocked country, so we really appreciate this lake.”
As Central Europe’s largest lake, Balaton holds a special place in the Hungarian soul. During the 1960s and 1970s, over 100 miles of grassy shoreline were filled with East and West Germans as families split by the Iron Curtain reunited on vacation.
“It was a high season for the lake,” Pályi says. Though Balaton is now the second most visited Hungarian destination (after Budapest, naturally), tourism there has changed considerably over the past decades after losing its status as Germans’ favored vacation spot.
