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The odd white horse charged
onwards as the fresh breeze adjitated the trees
to rustle and bustle. In the early morning light
the false lights on the far shore stood out as
a brazen beacon. The laser lighting from the nearby
disco silently smashed into the foliage above
me. I contemplated the world through a euphoric
mind. The world's realities dispersed by the works
of brewer and distiller alike. The driving beat
of the disco was less demanding, now that I was
over fifty yards away from the dance floor, and
thus I heard the squeal of delight from my friend
the tern as he dived down towards me. When he
was sure that he had my attention he dived, looped
and pirouetted in the air. 'Show off,' I called
in friendly banter. 'Not half as much as that
lot,' he countered as he dived over a line of
the finest products of the German automotive industry.
He was right, of course, my friend the tern.
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| With the recent visit
of Lord Toad, complete with goggles and large car,
I have made a few early season sorties to Siofok.
It is now virtually fully opened up for the season
and with his lordship departure with half the British
press in pursuit I was able to complete an assessment
of the crass, the naff and the dire. |
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| Siofok should be an
easy hours ride down the M7. Unfortunately as the
summer traffic builds up, the combination of old dears
doddering along at 50 kph in trabbies and reckless
cowboys speeding in ageing 150 kph mercs, makes concentration
and defensive driving essential. This year I have
noticed a new breed of road hog, which will surely
lead to real carnage as the summer goes on, the Magyar
motorcyclist who believes that riding a bike at over
150 kph is fun. Suicidal would be the word I would
use! |
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With the opening up of the various holiday homes as
pensions there is no end of options for accommodation
around the Siofok strip, Petofi Sétnay. The
main block of hotels, in the middle, operated by Pannonia
Hotels are best avoided as the bedrooms are awful,
the service resentful and the prices the highest.
I was pleased to see that one of these hotels has
not opened this year; it seems that with an occupancy
rate of 25% during the last season the customers are
voting with their dm’s. In contrast the Nápfeny
Hotel at the harbour end of Pétofi Sét
is supposedly a worse hotel, but the rooms and service
are vastly superior. The one drawback is the two discos
opposite competing for business with megawatts. If
you do not like music to sleep to, take ear plugs
or a large sleeping draft.
Once the night bars and clubs start opening Siofok
it is easy to party to dawn and beyond. Pétofi
Sétany is the summer bit and is firmly closed
out of season, as is the area around the harbour.
The pick in this area is the Csiko Disco featuring
saddles as bar stools in an old barn and the Paridiso
Disco which seems to be the in-place with a tremendous
sound system, every conceivable lighting gizmo and
four bars. The 69 club is a shady, black light, topless/massage
joint featuring very bored girls, but it has one saving
grace, as nobody seems to go there, to drink, the
beers are ice cold. One of the best bars in town is
Cocktail bar under the Nápfeny Hotel, opposite
the Paridiso. This was a silly little bar last year,
however the owner either made a lot more money, than
he should last year, or he forwent the upgrade in
the motor this year. A substantial was spent and has
really turned it into a worthwhile operation.
The centre of Siofok is open most of the year round
and features two main discos. The Flort (Sio utca)
has a midnight show that features a less than adequately
clothed go-go dancer. The mainly male German customers
were climbing up the pillars to see what was happening
on the stage. Why they went to all that effort I do
not know. The stage has a glass floor, and in the
reception downstairs, providing a little neck ache
is not a problem, all is revealed. The Galeria (Kalman
Imre sétány) is very popular with the
locals and always seems to have a party of avid dancers
enjoying themselves.
A new place on the scene this year is the Tropicana
(Fo utca) which is in a pleasant new development in
the centre. The entrance is uninspiring down some
concrete spiral steps. Once the curtain is drawn aside,
the club area is revealed as a comfortably well laid
out cabaret arena. Everything is new which helps,
and accept for the plastic palm trees it is almost
tasteful. There was a reasonably innocuous band, deep
banquet seating, low lighting, a small dance floor
and a pleasant modern bar. I sat at the bar looking
at the clientele, who were generally middle aged,
and decided that somebody had a smart idea. There
really is nowhere for frau and frauline to go in the
night. Then the band stopped. The singer pulled out
an extension stage onto the dance floor. It was then
that I realised what was going to happen. I started
giggling because it was all so ridiculous. The go-go
dancer appeared to gyrate to music that was still
subdued, and worse came to a silence between numbers
on the badly recorded tape. The dancers were clearly
older than the pretty little things that do their
number in the other discos. Still when the bras came
off the fraulines did not walk out. But then things
are different in Hungary.
This is the fourth year that I have visited Siofok,
and there is little doubt that the general standard
of the private businesses, which now dominate the
scene, has improved dramatically. The sound and light
systems in the discos are the best. The bars are modern
with reasonable service; and there are several reasonable
private restaurants. It is not a place for a romantic
holiday, but for a few nights out with plenty of fun
to be had. There will be no whoppers this year which
suggests that profits are hard to make in this very
short season. The prices are much cheaper than Budapest.
Never the less no aspiring entrepreneur could show
his face without a product of the German automotive
industry.
C YA |
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