Rolling adventures in the Balaton Uplands

Itinerary

• From the railway station, head straight along Dörgicsei Street towards Dörgicse!
• In Dörgicse, turn left at the fork in the bend from the Main Street towards Nagyvázsony (Csicsói Street)!
• At Mencshely, upon reaching Main Street, turn right towards Nagyvázsony!
• Entering Nagyvázsony center, approach the castle by descending Vár Street.
• From Nagyvázsony, head back in the direction you came from (Kinizsi Pál Street), but after passing the last houses, turn left onto Vöröstói Road!
• At Vöröstó, upon reaching Main Street, turn left and cycle straight through Barnag to the end of the road, the Tótvázsony/Aszófő fork, then turn right towards Aszófő!
• Upon reaching Pécsely, turn right onto Main Street to pass through; at Vászoly, turn left through the village towards Balatonudvari.
• In Balatonudvari, turn right onto the lakeside bike path and just follow it to Balatonakali.

Detailed description of the route

The route starts from the shore of Lake Balaton at the settlement formerly named Akali until 1954. The village, with just under seven hundred inhabitants, can be home to up to twenty thousand people in summer (not counting the residents of ten youth camps), which is no surprise since, alongside the beach, three campsites and, of course, the waterfront await holidaymakers. This was not always the case: during the Turkish times, the settlement was completely depopulated, then re-settled by the Piarists after two centuries.

Crossing route 71, we pass a small park that was actually the old cemetery of Akali. Today, it is remembered by a distinctive red stone cross and a few gravestones around it. On the excellent asphalt, we begin our longest climb of nine kilometers to Mencshely. Although there will still be some ups and downs, the silver lining is that a significant part of the elevation is tackled on the first ascent. Along the way, the Dörgicse basin gradually opens before our eyes: vineyards, wine cellars, and holiday homes adorn the hills, and opposite, the Halom Hill massif, which borders the small geological unit from the north, appears.

Enchanted by the churches of Dörgicse

Upon arrival in Dörgicse, an immediate detour to the ruins of the Alsódörgicse church tempts you. (Dörgicse once consisted of three villages – Alsódörgicse, Felsődörgicse, Kisdörgicse – each with its own church ruin; moreover, around Kisdörgicse there is even a Baroque stone bridge by the road.) The former Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary may have been built in the mid-13th century; its tower, still impressively sized at 22 meters high and featuring three Romanesque twin windows, dominates the landscape on the side of Gernye Hill. The church was later reinforced and rebuilt, with two buildings erected beside it (their ruins are still visible today). The site features several tables and a barbecue area – a better place for a good cookout is hard to find, given the wonderful panorama over Lake Balaton.

The Felsődörgicse church ruin is the oldest among the three. The first written reference to the church, dedicated to Saint Peter, dates to 1082, although today's ruinous state reflects later expansions, enlargements, and additions. Due to the expansion, the church had two nave and two sanctuaries; the southern one is in better condition. Next to the ruin is the Dörgicse Lavender Manor, whose display garden hosts 30 kinds of lavender – it is especially worth visiting in June and July.

Rolling into Nagyvázsony

We leave Dörgicse towards Mencshely (the ruins of Kisdörgicse church and the Baroque stone bridge are missed but can be visited with a small detour). We climb steeply along the side of Halom Hill through well-maintained vineyards, wine cellars, and holiday homes. At the top of the hill, the peak of the Kossuth lookout tower is visible – a harder climb and a few kilometers detour allow enjoying a great panorama from the hilltop. After reaching Mencshely, the village with three churches of different denominations, an easier section follows, almost entirely downhill to Nagyvázsony on a very good-quality road, flanked by forest patches and wheat fields, with Kab Hill peak visible ahead.

Nagyvázsony is mainly known for the Kinizsi Castle, so the route heads directly to the fortress. The construction of this stronghold, also known as Vázsonykő Castle, began in the early 1400s after László Vezsenyi, the master of ceremonies for Queen Mary, ceased building the nearby Zádor Castle following several property disputes. Today, the castle is best known for its five-story, 25-meter-high medieval residential tower surrounded by smaller buildings and a wall, whose ruins remain visible. After the extinction of the Vezsenyi family, in 1472, King Matthias granted the castle to Pál Kinizsi, who, besides developing it (building a palace and barbican), decided to construct a Pauline monastery nearby as a family burial place. After three turbulent centuries, the fortress lost its importance: first abandoned by the owner Zichy family, it became a prison, then a distillery for pálinka. Today, the residential tower houses an exhibition presenting the castle’s former life. Nearby are the equestrian statue of Pál Kinizsi and a small Late Baroque Lutheran church built at the end of the 18th century. The ruins of the Pauline monastery are located not far from the castle, in the forest.

Among the Calvaries

Vöröstó and the Calvary at the edge of the village are the next places worth stopping. The stations stand in two rows opposite each other in such a way that the faithful walking the cross path pass from one side to the other transversely. Not visible from the street, a unique curiosity of the village is that it is surrounded by a continuous row of barns. These barns at the ends of the yards, occupying the full width, protected the village from the wind, from lost horses, and from thieves.

Near Barnag, there is also a Calvary: Veszprém county’s oldest Way of the Cross, preserving many archaic features, is worth a detour of a few hundred meters. On the right side of the dirt road departing behind the Catholic church stands the chapel of departure, followed on the left by three stations, then alongside a path turning to the cemetery, four more stations. Altogether, that makes only seven stations compared to the usual fourteen, representing the seven sorrows of Mary. Additionally, there is a small resting place in the village before the church, where you can try a small but charming barefoot trail next to the well.

From hearts to Lake Balaton

After a short ascent, from the Aszófő fork, it’s mostly downhill until the Pécsely basin opens before us. West of Balatonfüred, several separate yet similar small basins follow each other, including the Pécsely and the already visited Dörgicse basins. Around the basins, which cut into mostly softer marls, mountain ranges composed of harder rocks stretch out. The varying erosion resistance of the rocks created the rolling landscape, with its ascents and descents, some of which appear again in pairs after Pécsely and Vászoly.

Above Balatonudvari, we glimpse Lake Balaton again for the first time and enjoy a pleasant descent to the village and the lakeside bike path, where a right turn leads onward – unless you want to visit the local cemetery known for its heart-shaped tombstones, which is just a few hundred meters to the left from the Vászoly road junction. Two legends and a simpler explanation exist as to why the tombstones are heart-shaped: they were probably made by local stonemasons unskilled in stonecutting and spelling. After Balatonudvari, you only need to cycle through Fövenyes (and resist the lure of the beach in summer), then after one last short combination of ascent and descent, you reach Balatonakali.