Adventures around Solymár on the northern edges of the Budai-hegység

Itinerary:

• From Solymár train station, follow the Z◼ mark, then leave the village eastwards on the Z mark.
• With a detour, on the ZL mark, we visit the Solymár castle.
• In the saddle behind Alsó-patak-hegy, we turn onto the Z+ mark until the S mark, which we follow for the rest of our route through the gorge, Zsíros-hegy, Antal-árok, reaching Pilisvörösvár.
• We make a detour to Sziklás-hegy via the K▲ mark from the side of Zsíros-hegy.

Route Description:

Strength of Solymár

We start from Solymár train station at the edge of the village, along the flow of Paprikás-patak towards a nearby elevation. We soon switch from the Z◼ mark to the Z mark, which passes under the peak crowning the castle. The ZL mark with a short detour turns to the renovated fortress, entering through its eastern gate.

Impressive but evidently newly built walls were erected here at the beginning of the 21st century. We only know the original fortress at its foundations; its gate was not necessarily here in the past. It likely deteriorated during the Turkish rule, a fortress of questionable function that German settlers used as a quarry, stripping the walls of all movable stone blocks.

We do know that the building was the residence of the Lackfi family in the mid-16th century; it likely had no major military significance during history. After siding against Sigismund of Luxemburg, the Lackfis lost all their properties as losers, and afterward, the fortress had several royal owners. With the Ottoman Empire's conquest of Buda, the garrison fleeing the Turks probably set it on fire. Excavation was privately funded; between the two world wars, Arisztid Valkó researched the foundations, and from the '70s, professional archaeological salvage was conducted, culminating in restoration starting in the '90s.

The wooden watchtower offers a splendid view of Solymár and the surrounding mountains: the Kevélyek, the Pilis, and our next locations on the northern edge of the Budai-hegység.

Returning to the Z mark, we arrive at the base of Patak-hegy at the edge of the forest along fields and pastures. From here, we cross a characteristic slice of the former oak forests among old trunks, until we join the Z+ mark descending westward from the pass on the far side of the hill, leading with a short connecting section to the forest clearing of the stream valley at the S mark.

Exploration in the depths of the gorge

From here, we follow the S mark all the way, only detouring slightly on Zsíros-hegy for a view. Crossing a clearing bordered by forests, we reach the stream, the entrance to the gorge unfolding between the hillsides. The oak forest changes here to the dark, rocky mixed forest typical of gorges, with the defining elements of the view being the babbling stream and its stony bed surrounded by steep rocky terrain.

The gorge was shaped by the continuously carving and destructive nature of flowing water. During the wet periods between ice ages, the ancestor of today's creek roared loudly with high flow, leaving a deeply incised basin. The streambed's meandering shows its former destructive and now rather constructive intent; around the waterfalls, many deposits and tufa formations are visible. The lime dissolved upstream redeposits itself from the stream water rebuilding the waterfalls' breaks.

This is a spectacular and atmospheric section of the route, very popular. The hiking trail is well built, wide and established, and we have no trouble following the path traversing the steep terrain. As the gorge narrows, the road connecting Pesthidegkút and Solymár gets close, which we cross by a wooden bridge and then ascend. For a few hundred meters, we have to follow the sidewalk beside a busy road, which we leave in a lovely candlelit grove to re-enter the forest belt bordering the settlement. We cross a side branch of the stream's bed, and then face a significant ascent near the edge of the city gardens to Zsíros-hegy. Over the next few kilometers, we make the biggest climb of the hike, ascending along a forestry path cutting through oak woodland to the highest part of Budai-hegység. In the summit area, the road cut becomes rocky, revealing the rock layers building the mountain, Triassic Dachstein limestone.

The tourist life of Zsíros-hegy

Approaching Zsíros-hegy, the previously consistently steep hillside is replaced by a gentle summit region; we walk close to level past the outermost houses of Nagykovácsi. The path is popular with the village residents and dog walkers, and we almost always encounter company here. The excellent location was utilized for about half a century by a mountain refuge, of which only bare, decaying walls remain now in the forest clearing below the summit. The sad sight of the ruins recalls good cheer and an active tourist life. After the Trianon border changes, local representatives of the then flourishing tourism, members of the Friday tables society of the Hungarian Tourist Association, built a two-story, 40-bed accommodation and restaurant by their own means at the end of the '20s. Besides hiking, skiing also shaped the house's position, as the completely barren mountain by grazing was an excellent downhill ski area. Nearby spelunkers exploring the Solymári-ördöglyuk also used the house as a base camp at one time; the cave key could be collected here after the cave's closure.

With nationalization, the building came under the Hungarian Tourist Supply Company, but after the regime change, it was acquired by the national translation office, which despite grand plans, went bankrupt and neglected its condition. In the early '90s, due to a damaged roof structure, it began rapid decay, and usable parts were taken away; only the walls remain in place.

We make a detour from the sad spot to the mountaintop for the view from the northern subpeak of Zsíros-hegy. The K▲ mark leads up to the now alien pine-covered summit, where on the eastern edge, we find a monument honoring the former founder of the mountain refuge. Crossing a wave towards the northern rocky cliff of Zsíros-hegy, we reach the subpeak, Sziklás-hegy, home to a strengthening young pine forest, with an astonishingly wide panorama opening only on the rockiest northern part.

The rocky cliff opens the pine-framed view northwards, mainly on the Pilis range and the nearby steep, rugged block of Nagy-Szénás. Below us, the Pilisvörösvár basin with houses extends its settled waves towards the western horizon, beyond the limestone hills of the Pilis Mountains the island mountains of Gerecse frame the view. The worn path evidences the site's popularity, and Sziklás-hegy is one of the easiest accessible mountain viewpoints near the capital.

Descent into the Pilisvörösvár basin

Returning to the S mark, we continue walking at the forest and settlement boundary, now descending from the summit region. We turn into the passage below, the Antal-árok wedged between the peaks, following the pass and descending energetically to Pilisszentiván. The deeply cut dry valley bottom is rocky, covered in gravel dolomite surface, giving an insight into the pre-afforestation local conditions. On the broken, stony surface, it is advisable to tread carefully and thoughtfully, lest we slip and erode like the debris on the rock surface.

At the bottom of Antal-árok, we arrive at the former mining area between Solymár and Pilisszentiván, where only majestic buildings remind us of the former work life. There is a memorial stone on the first cross street near Jóreménység-táró; coal was mined here from the sandy sediments accumulated at the foot of the dolomite hills for a long time. The settlement here is partly a result of this economic engine, which started the urbanization of the Pilisvörösvár basin.

After the mining area, crossing a slight ridge, we descend into Pilisszentiván, surrounded by forests from the south. Turning onto the main street, we see neat Swabian houses and homesteads lining up towards the church. At the main square, stairs lead above the church to the opposite streets; leaving the mining monuments and the square, we pass almost unnoticed into a similarly settled garden suburban area of Pilisvörösvár. We reach the Main Street by stairs to the busy asphalt lane of Route 10, which immediately crosses the railway; to the right, the Pilisvörösvár train station appears, our route's end.