From Aquincum to the city of Serbs

Itinerary

Starting from Óbuda's Main Square, follow the bike path north – the route is marked better or worse all the way to Szentendre.

• The route leads along Laktanya Street, Folyamőr Street, Bogdáni Road, and Ladik Street to Filatorigát HÉV stop, where you must cross the tracks, then turn left and continue on the pedestrian and bike path.
• Cross Mozaik Street at a traffic light and turn right, then immediately left onto Leányfalu Street. At the end of this street, turn right again onto Reményi Ede Street – this leads to the bike path running alongside Ángel Sanz Briz Road; turn left again here.
• After passing the hypermarket, follow the bike path at the traffic light intersection towards Gázgyár Street, which leads all the way to the Danube bank. Passing under the Újpest railway (Northern connector) bridge and crossing the Aranyhegyi stream, you reach the southern end of Római-part. From here, just go straight on the bank, then proceed on the dam. (If you want to avoid the riverside crowd, you can take the parallel Nanási Street - Királyok útja route.)
• After leaving Római-part, follow the promenade built on the dam, then cross the Barát stream bridge and return along the stream to the Danube-side promenade.
• Follow the bike marks on the asphalt and then the bike path leading all the way to Szentendre, sometimes winding through the floodplain, sometimes passing by Lake Lupa or right on the Danube bank.

Detailed description of the route

We start our easy 18-kilometer ride from the atmospheric Óbuda Main Square towards Szentendre's Danube promenade. The main square of the district is one of the few preserved pockets reminding us of the area's turn-of-the-century face. The town hall fits into this row, as it was built in the mid-1900s; in front of this pretty building stands statues of Óbuda's first mayor after Budapest's unification (with Pest, Buda, and Óbuda merged in 1873), Pál Harrer, and the literary hero Szindbád by Gyula Krúdy. Krúdy could still see old Óbuda, which he wrote about: “The narrow streets of Óbuda were like those in Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s birth. The houses bent together or burrowed halfway into the ground, as if each held a great secret. The smell of aged fur coats and the feminine scent of mint swirled alternately from the courtyards...” Today, housing estates dominate the area, built in several waves, but one in particular is noteworthy. The dimensions of the Flórián Square Village House are astonishing: 338 meters long, stretching across 15 house numbers, housing about 3,000 people in 886 apartments.

However, the district's history goes back much further, especially when considering the Romans, who around 89 founded a garrison here called Aquincum. It later developed into the center of the Pannonia Inferior province. The legion camp for about 6,000 soldiers was built roughly opposite the Hajógyári Island, with the first troops settling in specially from Britain, the Legio II Adiutrix. Camps for the legion and its auxiliary units were built southward, forming the military town (including the Nagyszombat Street amphitheater), while northward the civilian town expanded. There are many tangible remnants of nearly 2,000 years of history: at Flórián Square under the overpass, you can see the ruins of a large bath, nearby is the reconstructed southern gate of the legion camp, and heading north you can even see the aqueduct in the middle of Szentendrei Road during the route, which carried spring water to the Roman baths, or visit the Aquincum Museum, where everything about this era can be learned.

Later periods have left much fewer traces in Óbuda: it is less well known that the second royal castle was built here, later owned by the Hungarian queen. The castle remains, built in the early 13th century, are found beneath today's Kálvin Street Reformed Church and have been partially excavated. King Matthias’s Pauline monks built their church and monastery complex above the traditional grave of Árpád, and King Louis the Great founded the country's second university here after Pécs.

After this cultural history detour, it's time to get on the saddle and head north from the cobblestone Main Square, not least because you can get to know the district's recent past better by passing preserved pockets. At Szindbád Square, we ride past the Waiting figures sculpture group (also known as Umbrella Ladies by Imre Varga), then continue along Laktanya Street. Crossing a green island, we could stop immediately at a street workout park for a pleasant stretch, but there is also a running track, football pitch, and teqball table here. Returning to Laktanya Street, we actually pass in front of a barracks: the Óbuda naval barracks housed the Austro-Hungarian Navy's Danube branch between 1870 and 1918, a Budapest naval unit. According to the memorial plaque on the wall, the Austro-Hungarian Danube Flotilla started World War I on July 29, 1914. The building itself was the barracks of Hungarian riverine warships until 1953.

Not far from here, with a very short detour, you can reach the exotically named Silk Winder building at Miklós Square. To promote the Hungarian silk industry, Emperor Joseph II commissioned an Italian silk expert to establish a silk winding factory in Óbuda, built in 1785 with an oval floor plan. Earlier, there were operators such as linen weavers, hosiery knitters, cloth makers, cord makers, rope makers, textile dyers, hatters, tailors, and trouser makers here. Based on these traditions, Óbuda developed its textile industry. The cotton industry was represented by the Goldberger Textile Printing Factory, Cotton Finishing Factory, and Textile Dyeing Factory; the silk industry by the Silk Finishing Factory; the linen industry by the Csillaghegy Linen Factory (later the Weaving Factory); and the knitting industry by the Óbuda and later Budapest Hosiery Factory. Thanks to the Silk Winder, the names Filatori-dűlő and Filatorigát came about: the word fondera means spinner in Italian, which is why passengers of the Szentendre HÉV still meet this odd name almost 250 years later every day. Before reaching the mentioned HÉV stop, we also pass the former hosiery factory building. It is also clear that the brownfield area, where factories once stood, is undergoing transformation; for example, a residential park was built on Folyamőr Street in 2020. In any case, the Goldberger Textile Collection is maintaining the memory of this slice of local industrial history in the district.

After crossing the HÉV tracks then Mozaik Street, we immediately turn left into a small street (Leányfalu Street), although there's the possibility of a small detour via the K-bridge to Hajógyári Island. The bridge got its name from the K-rivets and was built to provide a direct railway connection to the Óbuda Shipyard, with tracks still present in the bridge structure today. The shipyard was founded in 1835 and operated until the regime change – passenger ships, freighters, barges, floating cranes, tugboats, pusher boats, and icebreakers were built here for 150 years. Today, neither the shipyard nor the industrial siding exists, but the bridge has become iconic via the Sziget Festival, with hundreds of thousands trampling its tracks on their way to and from the festival. Reasons to visit the island with family and children include a cool playground and large green areas inviting for picnics – though we're still just at the start of the route.

Leaving the K-bridge behind, we soon pass another piece of the district's industrial history. The huge towers of the Óbuda Gas Factory testify to the former importance of an old technology. In the 19th century, cities began producing gas on an industrial scale, primarily for lighting (then gas lamps gave public places their evening light). So-called city gas was produced from coal by dry distillation at 1100-1200 degrees Celsius, and the purified gas was delivered to users, street lamps, and households through a pipeline network. The Óbuda Gas Factory was commissioned in 1914 and operated until 1984; today, part of the buildings are occupied by Graphisoft Park. A special feature of the factory is that it was surrounded by its own housing estate and other service buildings – you can still take a short time trip to the gas factory's heyday among the standing houses of the workers' and cleaning estates today.

Leaving behind the grand towers, the Római-part is just a hop away. The center of Buda water life began forming in the 19th century (the first domestic rowing race was held in 1842), with boathouses, inns, restaurants, and public beaches appearing along the bank. From the mid-20th century, company, association, or even private boathouses welcomed lovers of rowing or kayaking in increasing numbers; company holiday resorts were built, and water life flourished on the Danube bank. The first blow was probably the closure of bathing areas (in 1973 due to poor water quality), then the regime change, which brought about the closure of many associations due to the collapse of large socialist companies. Later, hotels and residential parks grew in place of the ownerless boathouses. However, today it is still possible to go on the water in a few places, so the bank is characterized by a strange duality. This also applies to gastronomic venues: from the seemingly shoddiest lángos place to the trendiest waterfront spots, you can choose if you want to stop for a bite or just a refreshment at the late successors of inns. Naturally, you can also go down to the shore to feed ducks and stop at several playgrounds if cycling here with children. (However, if you want to go faster and avoid pedestrians, it is recommended to choose the parallel Nanási Street - Királyok útja route.)

Where the Római-part ends, continue on the dam to the Barát stream bridge – the Pilis hills can be seen in the distance. After crossing the bridge, return near the Danube alongside the stream, cycling through a resort area and then a floodplain forest to reach Lake Lupa. From the Barát stream to the Dera stream, you can ride on a brand new bike path section opened in autumn 2020, which is part of the Eurovelo 6 international cycling route.

Szentendre deserves a whole day: everyone knows its open-air museum, old town, and the Danube promenade, but the Urban Public Transport Museum and the city's thriving cultural life have also become well known to many. This settlement, once inhabited by Serbian, Dalmatian, Slovak, German, and Greek settlers, today mostly encounters memories of these peoples. Examples include the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Ecclesiastical Museum, which houses the most significant Orthodox collection in Hungary. Of course, you can also find a Serbian restaurant among the many catering units on the Danube promenade.

In summer, there is also a public beach here next to cool playgrounds, but regardless of the season, it is definitely worth wandering into the winding little streets to experience a genuine small-town atmosphere of the 18th-19th centuries, at least regarding the built environment. The open-air museum is located farther from the city center and requires overcoming some elevation difference, but the Urban Public Transport Museum is really close to the Danube promenade, and you can get acquainted with many interesting vehicles in the former HÉV depot.

On the way back, you can even take the HÉV if you just wanted a very easy ride or the kids would have too much in the way back on the family trip.