About Lake Tisza and the Puszta
Lake Tisza
A few dacades ago people had an extraordinary idea, and conjured up a
lake right in the middle of the steppe, the Great Hungarian Plain. This
extraordinary area of 127 square kms, created by damming the River Tisza, was
given the name Lake Tisza.
We rightly called it extraordinary because it is
not even strictly speakin a lake, because of the river current that flows
through it. At some spots, where we see the sailboats and windsurfers skimming
over the choppy waters, or the colourful cavalcade of guesthouses and
restaurants, or when we hear the merry hubbub of bathers, we could imagine
ourselves at a smaller brother of the Balaton.
A few kilometres farther
we are enchanted by the miraculous beauty of undisturbed nature. Here we can see
Europes largest field of blossoming water lilies and fringed water lilies, the
uninterrupted green carped of water chestnut ("Red Listed" in Europe as
specially protected plants), the willows bowing on the banks, the tents of
campers hiding underneath the foliage and the birds taking wing in alarm from
the reeds.
It may seem a contradiction to call a lake an island, but it
is not. In these days we have to make an effort to find the rare places where
nature is still intact. This is what makes Lake Tisza unique. Thanks to its
fortunate hydrological nature it can survive unharmed any environmental damage,
and the same favourable circumstances make it possible for lovers of tumultuous
water life, bathers, sunbathing vacationers, anglers longing for silence and
watchers of bird life and fauna, regardless of whether they are scientist,
naturalists or simply curious, to coexist without being a nuisance to each
other.
Lake Tisza offers relaxing, harmful vacation, with its natural
surrounding and natural sounds. No matter of you choose the nice guesthoues with
warm hospitality or high standard wellness hotels you get a close to nature
holiday in one of the last remaining natural habitat in Europe.
If you
like water sports activities, like kayaking, canoeing, jetskiing, sailing...than
you are in the right place.
The bay at Abadszalok which
is the only place in Europe where use of motor boats is allowed.
You can
choose kayak or canoe tours all the way down on river Tisza from Ukraine border
to szeged in southern hungary.
The shallow water near the shores is just
perfect for bathing. In the towns and villages in the are you can learn about
the unique folk arts and crafts and way of life of the people of Lake
Tisza.
Lake Tisza also a good starting point to discover the hungarian
puszta, hortobagy, try the famous thermal baths like Hajduszoboszlo or Tiszaujvaros or Egerszalok, to get know the cultural city of Debrecen and visit the world famous eger wine
region
Hortobagy the Puszta
is the Hungarian steppe. This area is now an extensive plain important both as a physical feature and a memorable sight. It is the land of hot summers and bitter winters, the land of shimmering mirages. The region is cut by river Tisza, the 2nd largest river and river Tisza makes a large man made lake the Lake Tisza. Lake Tisza is the heaven for all kind of water sports, fishing and bird watching.
Small villages with thatched-roofed houses and storks nesting on chimneys again dot the Hortobagy. About 40% of the steppe was preserved as grassland and is now treasured as Hortobagy National Park. We can find here much of the wildlife that used to roam the steppe.
9-arcs Bridge The 520 sq km Hortobgy National Park offers some of the best bird-watching in Europe: over 310 species have been spotted here in the past 20 years. Among the fragile wetlands, marshes and saline grasslands are many types of herons, egrets, spoonbills, storks, warblers and eagles. The park is also home to the great bustard, one of the world's largest birds, which stands a metre high and weighs in at 20 kg.
Once you are in Hungary, hortobagy is a not to miss place, to see the traditional tourist sights as puszta program, with wild horse riders, long horn hungarian cows, eat an unique hungarian gulash or fish soup and have hungarian music in your ears.