Breakfast is available at the Kovirag from 8:30, but one should note that the Kovirag is only open on weekends. If you are not staying there, knock on the door of the kitchen from the road outside and they will open the gate for you. A good coffee, fresh bread, homemade plum jam, honey and what was probably homemade butter, plus 2 mushroom omelets only set us back 1000 huf each. 

Down, down, down into the kali Medence through Koveskali, Kovagors, Salfold and finally into Abrahamhegy, I fell  even in more love with the area. It did not hurt that the weather was superb. Beautiful houses, small food shops actually open on Sunday morning, friendly and helpful people…Wanting to at least reach Szigliget and the vineyards on this small spittle of land, we cycled on and up to the Istvandi Vineyard after trying unsuccessfully to get into the Szeremley Huba and Borbely Csalad Vineyards. Check it out, they even use Twitter in English, Hungarian and German. Again, middle of the harvest and not even officially open until afternoon, they were happy to serve us up a few wines to taste. Some guests had even ridden horses up there. The view and the terrace are something that just screams romantic torch lit evening.  The Tramini 2000 was buttery, lemony and very good, especially considering it is a 10-year old white wine. The Italian Riesling 2006 was too light, with a slightly musty aroma. The Cabernet  Sauvignon 2008 was a bit bubbly, with earth, and strangely enough, grape overtones. But it was very light with no body and was nothing special. The Szurkebarat 1999 had a great buttery color and great legs, but no body and was almost off.  We finished with the Szemelt Olaszrisling 2006. With tones of apricot, grape, and finishing with something green, maybe lettuce, this fine wine had beautiful color and was so sweet it might have been an aszu. We somehow peddled away with a bottle of this too.

Having somehow missed some other vineyards, and having determined that we would end our tasting in Szigliget, we popped into the Guns Vineyard. This friendly and multi-lingual vineyard (English and German also spoken) is a small operation, and though they have a website, they could do to add some info about their wines.  We had some fresh must to start, and immediately decided to buy some for the train. The traditional Olaszrisling 2008 was not very good, but that could have just been the lingering sweetness of the must. All of our wine tastings missed two basic but important characteristics - a spittoon and crackers or something to clean the palette.  The reductive Olaszrisling 2008 was very good, and we grabbed a bottle of that too. However, we went away with a feeling of being taken a bit, since both the wine and the 1.5 liter must were 1500 huf each. The wine was way overpriced, and the must at Odon would have cost us 600 huf/liter.

Many of the tastings are free, while some charge a cheap 200-350 huf/ glass (1-2dl). But guilt sells, and if you taste, you feel an obligation to buy a bottle, even if you are hiking or cycling. Of the many wines we tried, I think it was great that we found 3-4 that we really enjoyed.

The inevitable Hungarian return to reality set in when we went for lunch at the Huszar Vendeglo at the marina in Szigliget. Jon saw some spaghetti and ordered it. I asked if it was meatless, and the waitress said yes, so I ordered one too. Unfortunately it was full of meat, so I could not eat most of it. The waitress offered to get me a half-portion of plain pasta with cheese and sour cream which I gratefully accepted. Unfortunately, I got charged for both dishes, and the bill of 5200 huf was almost as much as our fabulous gourmet dinner the night before. A bit grumpy and not feeling like going over the hills again back to Badacsony to catch the train back to Budapest, we took the main road back to Badacsony. The tickets, with bikes came to 7000 huf for 2, but the cashier could not change a 10000 huf note at 3pm. Moreover, when  I asked for the receipt she said she was in a hurry to catch her train home, and she closes at 4:30 so she did not have time to write me one. I asked one more time and got a no. That train did not come for another 50 minutes, and that 7000 huf surely went into her pocket.

With 2.5 hours to kill we took a swim in the cold lake, read a little, and then moved to the marina restaurant for some good turos palcsinta and a cold beer. The 3.5 hour train home, even in the fancy new red trains, is a slog, but we met some nice people and finished off some nice Russian dark chocolate (csuccs csoki!) and the bottle of Guns.