Page 169 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Hungary

NOR THERN TR ANSD ANUBIA  167

family, who bought the town in
1534. Patriarch Tamás Nádasdy
brought in Italian architects to
create a genuine Renais sance
master piece, which, with
various additions, survives more
or less intact to the present day.
Much of the castle is given
over to the Ferenc Nádasdy
Museum, the highlight of which
are two series of frescoes:
17th­century works showing
the Hungarians in battle with
the Turks and scenes from the
Old Testa ment painted by István
Dorfmeister in 1769. There are
also exhibitions of the family’s
and town’s histories, regional
folk art and period furniture. One of the outdoor pools at the Bükfürdő Health and Adventure Centre
The castle is reached via a long
stone bridge over what was t Bük disorders, and the grounds are
once a moat. 24km (15 miles) northeast of Szom­ well laid out with grassy areas,
In 1961, during a search for bathely. Road Map A3. * 3,100. children’s play grounds, snack
oil (see below), hot springs £ from Szombathely, Sopron. @ bars and restaurants. A fair­sized
(44 °C/111 °F) were found in from Szombathely. n Tourinform, resort has also grown up around
Sárvár, and the Sárvár Spa Eötvös utca 11, (94) 55 84 19. the pool complex, and the
and Wellness Centre is now Greenfield Hotel Golf and Spa
one of the largest bath com­ Thermal springs were dis covered (see p293), a short walk from
plexes and, after its renovation at this village near the Austrian the thermal baths, is home to
and extension, the most mod­ border in 1956 during a search Hungary’s finest golfing centre.
ern in Hungary. It comprises for oil. Since then the Bükfürdő It is the only 18­hole course in
indoor and outdoor pools, Health and Adventure Centre Hungary to have hosted a
leisure and splash pools, a has grown to become one of professional golf tournament.
sauna and a treatment centre Hungary’s largest and most
offering various therapies. attractive medicinal bath  Bük Medicinal Baths
complexes. There are 32 indoor Termál körút 2. Tel (94) 55 80 80.
E Ferenc Nádasdy Museum and outdoor pools of various sizes Open winter: 8:30am–6pm daily;
Várkerület 1. Tel (95) 32 01 58. and temp eratures, offering treat­ summer: 8:30am–7:30pm daily.
Open Jul–Aug: 9am–9pm; Sep–Jun: ments for a variety of different & 7
9am–5pm. & 8
 Sárvár Spa and Wellness Oil and Water
Centre
Vadkert utca 1. Tel (95) 52 36 00. Many of the largest thermal
Open 8am–10pm daily. & 7 bath complexes in Hungary,
such as those at Bük and
Sárvár, have only been in
existence since the latter
part of the 20th century,
when the thermal springs
that serve them were
found during oil searches.
Desperate to fuel its
industrialization, Hungary’s
Communist government
hoped that the discovery of
the Nagylengyel oil field in
the west of the country in Indoor thermal baths in Sárvár
1951 would be the first of
many oil strikes in the region. Vast sums of money were spent
foraging for oil, though all that was found was what became known
as “white gold”: thermal water. Some small deposits of crude oil
were eventually located, but although Hungary does produce
oil (Zalaegerszeg is the centre of the industry; see p162), domestic
The Knights Hall in Sárvár Castle, with production accounts for less than 10 per cent of consumption.
superb battle frescoes

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