„Sziget’s cultural diversity is immense, and there is so much to choose from if you go with approximately 60 venues to choose from specialising in different styles of music and the arts. We highlighted some of the best stuff in last year‘s review, and this year we are going to pull focus and mention the great staff and people of Sziget’s festival. From the Ability Tent (focusing on activities in sports and leisure for people with disabilities, to the Ambient Tent and chill-out area (which gives people at the festival a quiet place to relax after a hard day’s walkin’). The positive energy at this European fest far surpasses anything we’ve done before, and you know, we do a lot of festivals. Everyone’s friendly, and everyone’s got time to help (also, most everyone speaks English, so that’s pretty useful to any UK fans as well…). There’s loads of great quirks about Sziget too. Yeah sure, there’s the standard festival food stalls, but there’s also a tonne of healthy options in fruit and European dish stalls, and we personally love relaxing and the aforementioned Ambient Tent with a huge cup of Chai tea! Gotta love that stuff! Also, the Sziget Eye has been introduced this year offering festival goers the chance to view the whole island (it’s pretty massive, to be fair) from one spot; sounds cliched for a festival, but it’s definitely worth a go for those who might not get a chance to see everything.
What’s also interesting are some of the activities; from giant rocking horses (see an example above) to structures in the shape of a wolf (see above), there’s something to interest everyone at Sziget. What we found most interesting however, was the Luminarium (pictured above and, before the break and after the lovely intro complimenting Hungary’s weather this week). This beautiful piece of art was built by Brit architect of air Alan Parkinson (who currently works out of both France and Nottingham), and it’s a network of colourful bubbles, tunnels and rooms. Pretty fantastic to look at, really. Interestingly, the walls were hand-made of special, light-permeable plastic specially produced for this purpose, and the pressure of air keeps them standing. The walls of the Luminarium are thinner than 0.5 mm, so they are very sensitive, and you have to be careful when walking on ‘em, but if it makes a return next year, you definitely need to check it out. Oh! Oh! And we are always (you can tell reading our last review) that we are great advocates of the Tarot Labyrinth, which is really exciting! You go in and get your life story sussed out by a group of »fortune tellers« and basically go on a journey through this weird and wonderful maze and find your way out to the tower (usually, via a meeting with the devil). The figures that meet you (each representing different guides) ask questions designed to help you in your travels and self-realisation. It’s very interactive and great for those that fancy killing time in an innovative way; and the guides speak in broken English, so for our readers that’s very useful isn’t it? Yeah!”