If you happen to visit Füred, you cannot help but face the history of the past centuries. Castles, villas, temples and cellars of the aristocracy are signs of the daily life of local people, recount their struggles and traditions taking you back some two hundred years in time. That’s where the first steamboat of Lake Balaton departed from in 1846, where Mór Jókai wrote his famous novel The Man with the Golden Touch and where the first Hungarian sailing association, Stefánia Yacht Club was formed.
Today, the old villa of the counts Dőry welcomes its visitors as a hotel, and Lujza Blaha, “the nation’s nightingale” also took a rest here. The first inn, Anna Hotel, built in 1748 is still open to travellers showing a nice example of continuity in this ever changing world. The round classicist temple presents also a typical picture of Füred. This church, a small scale replica of the Pantheon in Rome, was consecrated in 1846 by the Abbot of Tihany, Béla Bresztyenszky. A distant relative of the writer of these lines, Prince-Primate Kolos Vaszary also retired here at the dusk of his life and today his villa provides an exhibition venue for the works of one of the most remarkable painters of the 20th century, János Vaszary.
The shade trees of the Tagore Promenade do not only remind us to the great minds of the past but contemporary artists, found worthy of it, also planted trees here. Climbing higher and higher between the rows of grapevine, having rested a little in the cold of the cellars, the dripstones of Lóczy cave lead us to the memories of an even more distant past. And, those who, beyond the above, wish to feel the vibes of the present are recommended to enjoy not only the boiling heat of the beaches and the cool touch of Balaton but the wine-related festivals, the Fish and Wine Festival, the Wine Weeks or the Harvest Festival with their traditional yet timely celebrations.
Those who are only interested in wines...
...should also come here. The members of the wine route warmly welcome thirsty travellers, wine lovers, wine experts and professionals alike. Then having a chat with the wine maker either in the cellar or in the tasting room with a glass of local white wine in our hand, we will anyway learn what we wanted to. What else would a glass of vino tell us than the local history. The vineyards may have seen more than we did, they may remember even more of the times of bloody wars and the age of quiet peace than we would ever be able to. All these are swirling in the glass and in the fragrance of the wine giving us a certain sensation as we are sitting with the Houses of Füred in front of us and the azure of the lake glimmering behind and with the vineyards on the gently rolling slopes while listening to the chiming of noon bells. Let’s pay attention to the wine and listen to what it tells about Füred. That is all we can do.
