On Ancient Trails - Historical Military Parade in Tata Castle
There has hardly been a week since the end of August when I haven't gone anywhere. Less than a week after my trip to Lake Balaton, I had to go, this time to Tata. This was last Friday (23 September), because I had attended the premiere of a film screening in Tata that evening, and then stayed there until Saturday afternoon.
If there are Hungarian cities to choose from, Tata is one of the top ones for me. As far as I know, there is no other city with a huge lake in the middle of it, surrounded by a nature reserve.
The last time I was here was in mid-summer, and the time before that was exactly a year ago, in September. I've written about both, but the place is inexhaustible!
See my recent posts about Tata:
@fairyberry/on-ancient-trails-tata-castle-surrounded-by-waters-english-garden
@fairyberry/on-ancient-trails-geological-garden-of-tata
@fairyberry/fishing-paradise
@fairyberry/missed-pictures-of-my-favourite-city-taken-in-september
Now I'm trying to show you other things that are just as interesting and beautiful as the previous ones.
On Friday afternoon, my friend and I walked around the lake, the distance was about 7 kilometers.
I didn't take many photos at that time, but I managed to capture some nice moments.
We still had 2 hours until sunset when we looked up at the sky and saw this miracle.
The next morning, I said goodbye to my friends, who had other things to do, and went for a short walk in a place that is a real speciality. On one side of the Calvary Hill is the Geological Park, which has been turned from quarry, and on the other side, facing the lake, is another very ancient quarry with different type of stone.
The Calvary hill
The ancient "soft stone" quarry.
The rocks here were formed by freshwater limestone and deposits from thermal springs. Around it, archaeologists have found a wealth of prehistoric artefacts from the Pleistocene period, including tools used by the prehistoric people who lived there.
Porous stone was once cut with simple hand tools and used for construction work. It was also used to build part of the artificial ruins of the English Garden opposite.
Walkway on the shore of Öreg-tó (Old Lake) in Tata
Ducks are happy here
Statue of John the Baptist
More than 200-year-old sycamore tree - not the oldest one, but so big and beautiful! There is a café nearby where you can buy very tasty ice cream. You just sit on the bench and enjoy the view!
The castle I intended to go to is not far from here. Last Saturday was a spectacular traditional event, a historical military parade, with craft demonstrations, a fair and evening concerts.
View from the Castle Café
I was delighted to see my sculptor-craftsman friends, a couple who often attend such events.
My sculptor friend, Gabi, and her limestone carvings
Gabi carves her sculptures from soft limestone. Besides copies of architectural carvings, she also makes her own ideas come true. Such is the case with this sun-faced Jesus relief.
Medieval musician
Bird-headed griffin with the body of a lion
Celtic horses
Gabi's husband, Csaba shows how to prepare the sand mould before bronze casting.
This is a special, extremely fine-grained loess sand that preserves even the finest details.
Bronzes for sale - all are unique pieces, from individually prepared mould, chiselled.
Bronze earrings
Time passed quickly and the spectacular parade in costumes from different eras began. Of course there was also old music, with bagpipes and drums!
Parade in old-time military costumes
Medieval musicians
Medieval instruments of warfare
The military history exhibition also included various combat equipment and a battlefield demonstration. The younger children fought with foam swords.
Unfortunately, I had to travel home in the afternoon and couldn't see the evening concerts. Maybe next year...