Along the bishops' route from Pannonhalma to Veszprém

Itinerary

• The path from Pannonhalma railway station leads straight uphill to the abbey, from where you must follow the signs of cycling tourist route number 24 to Veszprém. From the abbey, descend along the eastern side of Castle Hill, then continue straight on the road to Nyalka!
• Upon reaching Nyalka, turn sharply right toward Táp/Bakonybánk, then continue without turning, passing through Táp, Tápszentmiklós, and Bakonybánk – after leaving Bakonybánk, at the first junction turn right toward Réde!
• From Réde, about six kilometers before road 82, turn left onto a forestry road, then immediately right onto a well-used dirt road! This leads through the boundaries of Bakonyszentkirály, where at the crossroads you must keep left toward the village.
• Continue straight through Bakonyszentkirály and the next village, Bakonyoszlop, then upon reaching Dudar turn right toward Zirc!
• In Zirc, at the junction after the railway crossing, turn left toward Veszprém! For a short section, ride on the pedestrian and cycling path, then on road 82 through the town—up to the Pápa/Bakonybél junction, where you must turn right.
• After cycling just over 6 km on hilly terrain, turn left toward Lókút/Hárskút! The route just touches the border of Lókút, passes through Hárskút, and then reaches Márkó. Cross Márkó straight through (although the Calvary is worth a slight detour). Passing under the viaduct of road 8, take the right branch of the Y-junction! After crossing the Séd, turn left at the first junction onto a dirt road!
• From Lókút to Veszprém, the route follows the Séd along a dirt road up to the city boundary, from where asphalt road and then a walkway along the creek lead all the way into the city center. From here, multiple routes lead to the railway station.

Detailed description of the hike

Between Pannonhalma and Veszprém, you can cycle approximately 90 kilometers on the cycling route designated first in 2018 (and you can add almost thirty more as signs direct the correct way all the way to Balatonfüred). Looking at the map, this is not a classic circular route, so the logistics needed for completion must be thought out in advance. Fortunately, the Győr-Veszprém railway line runs parallel to the route – the Bakony railway is a true mountainous railway with tight curves, tunnels, viaducts, and galleries, making the return journey anything but uneventful if you choose the fixed rails.

The Benedictine World Heritage

Looking east from the station, the block dominating the landscape of the Pannonhalma Benedictine Archabbey on the hilltop is already visible. From the town center heading toward the abbey, the climb becomes steeper – the first route sign is spotted at the recently built gate. Overcoming a few more meters of altitude and paying the somewhat pricey entrance fee at the ticket office, you can step onto the terrace of the former monastery, now an abbey, founded in 996 by Prince Géza with the settlement of Czech monks, with an audio guide around your neck.

Entering the library, visitors are greeted with an impressive sight: thousands of volumes arranged in breathtaking order on high shelves. By the end of the 11th century, the abbey held 80 volumes (which would be a small collection in a home library today, but was significant 900 years ago), today about 400,000 volumes are preserved here. From the library building built in the early 19th century, you can walk to the 13th-century basilica showing early Gothic features. During this time travel, it is worth stopping at the richly decorated main gate of the church, and closely examining the door through which we enter the church—snakes, lizards, frogs, and various other animals can be seen on it. The basilica creates an especially clear impression, thanks to the renovation completed in 2012. The transformation of the spacious three-aisled interior provoked considerable debates among preservationists and architects at the time — it can confidently be said that excellent work was done during the renovation.

After visiting the narrow but beautifully gothic column-headed crypt, you can reach the cloister from the church, where Gothic stained-glass windows shut out the outside noise for those wishing to meditate. The abbey surroundings hide many sights: heading south along the ridge of the hill, first the Millennium Monument, then the Chapel of Our Lady, and finally in the forest the Blessed Maurus lookout and the canopy walkway opened in 2018 are reached. The name is a bit misleading: walking on the 80-meter-long fish-shaped structure, you learn little about leaves but a lot about the nearby settlements by reading info boards.

From the abbey, roll toward the lavender field to begin your journey – the arboretum and tearoom (even a winery) also await here, but it is clear from the above that anyone wanting to see everything carefully must dedicate at least half a day to Pannonhalma. However, the road through the Bakony is long, so it is worth starting southward as soon as possible, following a more or less undulating route.

Most of the Sokoró villages along the way are quiet (fortunately, the traffic on roads leading there is accordingly quite low), but almost all hide a little something. For example, in Táp it is worth spending a few minutes viewing the mountain peasants' houses. The village website reveals that wanderers have been coming here for centuries: the village was connected by a road network to the Roman-era Arrabona and the Arrabona-Sopianae (Győr-Pécs) military road. In Tápszentmiklós, the unusually wide main street catches attention (wide enough for the village churches to fit in the middle). Continuing toward Bakonybánk, we cross the slowly decaying railway track of Tatabánya-Pápa line, then at the county boundary a vigilant cyclist can spot a century-old border stone. In Bakonybánk, fresh asphalt and a quite steep slope invite speeding, so inattentive riders might pass by the memorial room of Donát Bánki, the inventor of the carburetor.

The next village, Réde, also holds curiosities: the Eszterházy family estate’s manor was located here; today only the former manor park gateway in the middle of the park and the chapel built in 1767 remain. In the park near the gate, a playground and resting area invite a quick backpack lunch.

Before reaching main road 82, turn left to avoid the busy asphalt ribbon through a forest environment – it should be noted that this section is not accessible with a road bike, so you either have to briefly join the road connecting Győr and Veszprém or come with a bike suitable for mountain biking. From Bakonyszentlászló, a small detour leads to Csesznek Castle. The fortress, a product of the post-Mongol invasion castle-building boom, had its first walls built in the 13th century. Over its eventful history, it had many owners (briefly fell under Turkish rule in 1594), and was finally converted into a Baroque manor by the Eszterházy family, who abandoned it at the end of the 18th century. Following an earthquake and a fire, it fell into ruin. Today, adventurers can take via ferrata hikes here on routes of varying difficulty.

Our route continues through Bakonyoszlop, Dudar, then toward Zirc. Until Zirc, one must climb one or two small hills before triumphantly rolling into the capital of Bakony. The respectable block of the Cistercian Abbey of Zirc truly looks like the capital of a small region in the town center. Getting to know the complex and its surroundings is probably best started in the basilica. Its interior is a sharp contrast to the dignified semi-dark Gothic column hall of the Pannonhalma basilica: we are visiting one of Hungary’s most beautiful Baroque churches. The main altar of the church is Hungary’s largest altar construction made in Baroque style, and the building—like Pannonhalma’s—is home to a living monastic community’s liturgy. The church and the library are accessible only by guided tours, which depart every half hour. The home of books impresses differently than in Pannonhalma: smaller but special due to its marquetry, the great hall is where, with professional guidance, one can discover the history of the 65,000-piece collection. The storytelling continues in the interactive visitor center set up in the abbey’s former orangery, where besides the artifacts, members of the order talk about their vocation and lives, allowing the tracing of Cistercian monks’ history from the abbey’s 1182 founding until today.

Besides the built environment, it is worth spending time on the surrounding natural environment too, and retreating a bit into the Zirc arboretum. The English garden-style park is crossed by the Cuha stream, on which two stone bridges were built; they have withstood time since 1759. The first significant plantings occurred in the early 19th century; then came the 400-meter-long tree avenue, which according to legend is a remnant of the Roman road connecting Győr and Veszprém.

It is worth complementing Zirc’s refreshment with food and drink, as Veszprém is not reached by the shortest (nor least climbing) route. We head toward Bakonybél, then set course for Lókút-Hárskút. Despite the road surface quality, quite heavy traffic burdens the roughly single-lane asphalt strip in places, and after Lókút you have to tackle a serious climb. From Hárskút, it is mostly downhill to Márkó, where the village’s Calvary is notably worth mentioning. The roadside cross is impressive on its own, but what makes it truly special is that the Calvary is split by the Székesfehérvár-Szombathely railway line, above which a small pedestrian bridge connects the stations before and after the Calvary.

From the village, we roll down to the valley bottom by the Séd. From here to Veszprém’s boundary, the designated route follows a dirt road by the watercourse. We cycle over better or worse quality sections toward the city of queens in a fairly adventurous setting on dirt roads, testing already tired legs. As with the section before Bakonyszentlászló, at least a trekking bike is needed here; otherwise, an “alternative route” might only involve taking the train (it’s advisable to study the timetable carefully in advance, as trains stopping even at Márkó are infrequent).

The city of queens

So we reach Veszprém along the Séd, where—before entering the city—you encounter a rich spring, the Laczkó spring. Rolling on the northern side of Gulya hill along a nicely built promenade, we reach one of the city’s symbols, the viaduct. The 37-meter-high Saint Stephen Valley Bridge—which briefly bore the name of Mátyás Rákosi—was completed in 1937 as part of main road 8 connecting Székesfehérvár and Rábafüzes. Under the viaduct is the entrance to another Veszprém landmark, the zoo (more precisely, the Kittenberger Kálmán Botanical and Wildlife Park). Inside, in Fejes-valley and on top of Gulya hill, we learn which animals hide behind amusing names such as the brush-eared pig, kookaburra, rosy spoonbill, or the flag-tailed colobus.

Those seeking more elevated experiences must climb up to the castle, home to the Veszprém archbishopric, the Salesianum, and the Gate of Heroes among others. The area has been inhabited since the 5th millennium BCE, but became really significant during the time of Prince Géza. One of our first castles stood here alongside Székesfehérvár and Esztergom, then during the early reign years of King Saint Stephen, it became the country’s first bishopric. Veszprém county was also among the first established, and was Queen Gizella’s favorite residence. For centuries the bishops of Veszprém crowned the Hungarian queen consorts and bore the title of queen’s chancellor – thus Veszprém became the city of queens.

You can reach the castle via Old Town Square; on the square—formerly a marketplace—it is worth lingering before some Art Nouveau facades, admiring the statue of Saint George the Dragon Slayer and the Fire Tower towering over the north side of the square, whose balcony offers a 360-degree panorama over the city. Continuing along Castle Street, you enter the archbishopric palace through the Gate of Heroes. Along the atmospheric cobblestone street, you can walk to the Saint Michael Basilica Cathedral. A church may have stood here in Prince Géza’s time; and not far behind is a perhaps even older building: the ruins of Saint George Chapel from the 10th century lie behind the cathedral. The oldest still-standing building is the Gizella Chapel, which has withstood the ravages of time since the 13th century.

At the end of Castle Street, looking down from the statues of Saint Stephen and Gizella, you see the Séd valley and the viaduct, with the Bakony forest rising in the background – yes, we came from there, leaving behind about 90 kilometers. In the castle, it is worth visiting the archbishopric’s visitor center, the Salesianum: inside you find Baroque rooms as well as liturgical collections, a herbal room, and a violin maker’s workshop.

If you are not exhausted yet, you can continue the hike toward Balatonfüred, as the green arrows lead all the way to the northern shore of the lake – soon, they will also show the way from Győr to Pannonhalma to cyclists. The hike is considered moderately difficult, as you hardly encounter flat road surface, but it is precisely the undulating terrain’s variety that makes the route pleasantly exciting, which has been successfully signed along low-traffic roads throughout.