Festival Summer
Summer means festival season
Summer in Hungary is festival season, just like elsewhere in Europe. And whatever your interests are, there’s a festival for you.
This year, for example, we’re welcoming guests from Malta who are coming especially for the Inota Festival in Várpalota, while guests from India are visiting Hungary for the famous Ozora Festival. And then there’s Budapest, home to the Sziget Festival, Hungary’s answer to Tomorrowland, attracting around 450,000 visitors every year.
Personally, though, we prefer the smaller and more alternative festivals.
Last summer we visited the Valley of Arts Festival in Kapolcs. The festival is spread across three picturesque villages, and walking from one stage to another means passing hundreds of artists who live there and proudly display their work. The atmosphere reminded us a little of Belgium’s Dranouter Festival, although with smaller stages and an even stronger focus on art.
This year we headed to the Everness Festival in Siófok, on the shores of Lake Balaton.
To be honest, I don’t know of anything quite comparable in Belgium or the Netherlands, and I’m not even sure such a festival would work there. Here, however, it certainly does.
Anyone who thinks Hungarians are conservative will be in for a surprise. One tent offered yoga classes, another echoed with Tibetan OM chants, while elsewhere people could join workshops on discovering their inner energy or enjoy a relaxing facial massage. On a small peninsula there was even an entire sauna area.
The visitors looked refreshingly ordinary: young and old, families, couples and friends. There were perhaps slightly more women than men, but overall it felt very welcoming and relaxed.
Of course, everything was conducted in Hungarian. That meant we had to cross almost every workshop off our list because we simply couldn’t understand them. Fortunately, you don’t need to speak Hungarian to enjoy the music, dancing, yoga or the sauna.
In the evening we watched a performance by Freddie, who represented Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016. As far as I know, he isn’t particularly well known outside Hungary, which is a shame. I’m convinced he could easily fill one of the larger tents at festivals like Dranouter. Like many Hungarians we’ve met, he’s incredibly down-to-earth and modest, and you can tell his music comes straight from the heart.
There’s a very good chance we’ll be back at this festival next year!
