Kőszeg – Tömörd (OKT 2nd day hike)

The second one-day stage of the National Blue Trail from the west leads at the flattened foot of the Kőszeg Mountains from Kőszeg to Tömörd. The first sight of the hike is the downtown of Kőszeg, which together with the Jurisics Castle can even occupy you for a whole day. The Blue Trail stamp can be found on the outer wall of the Tourinform office, next to its entrance.

Kőszeg's historical downtown is one of the best-preserved medieval city centers in Hungary. Its center is Jurisics Square, surrounded by charming Baroque and Renaissance bourgeois houses. Here stands the Town Hall and the Saint James Church, built at the beginning of the 15th century, whose Gothic tower is one of the city's symbols. Near the square is the Jurisics Castle, where Miklós Jurisics held back Suleiman's army in 1532. The downtown was once protected by city walls and gates, remnants of which – for example, the Heroes' Tower – are still visible today. The city’s several centuries-old past is preserved by winding small streets, arcades, and atmospheric courtyards.

But not only the built heritage is worth seeing in Kőszeg, shortly after departure on the left stands a huge plane tree, the „giant plane tree of Kőszeg”. The tree, protected since 1960, has a trunk circumference just shy of 9 m and is about 200 years old. Approaching the edge of the city, the tourist trail along the Gyöngyös stream is also atmospheric, and the cobblestone Kiss János Street exudes an authentic small-town historical atmosphere. Here, at the end of the park, stands the „school at the border”, i.e., today's Dr. László Nagy Institute of Special Education, the former non-commissioned officer training school, where Géza Ottlik also studied. Drawing on his experiences, he wrote one of the most important novels of 20th-century Hungarian literature.

From Kőszeg, we say goodbye after crossing the busy road 87 and continue walking straight up a small incline toward the forest. The asphalt ends, but the path remains excellently walkable, mostly a dirt road paved with gravel and crushed stone leading northeast. Soon we reach the state border, where the Iron Curtain has vanished; only well-placed white border stones indicate Austria’s proximity. Oaks and forest pines alternate, the dense forest giving off a great atmosphere and scent, and occasionally you can also encounter the native sweet chestnut of the Kőszeg Mountains.

On the mostly straight forestry road after roughly one kilometer, we turn sharply right, followed by an almost 5 km long completely straight section, unique along the entire Blue Trail. This can be interrupted by a moderate detour on the K● mark to the beautifully built Őz spring, where there is a rain shelter and fireplace spot – however, the potability of its water is unfortunately uncertain.

A road crossing is the only disruption to the monotonous walking, and soon we can notice the right branch to a hiking trail marked K⩍, which is not shown on maps. Just because of the turn alone, it’s worth seeing the memorial stone located about 250 meters away, erected in the morning of July 27, 1914, in memory of Imre Auguszt, representative of Kőszeg.

Returning to the Blue Trail, the far end of the long straight is already visible, but before it, we pass through a tall and dark forest mainly consisting of pine trees on a charming path. The long straight ends in a T-junction, where a lovely sight of the section stands: a miraculous deer painting framed in bark and enhanced with a wooden cross on a wooden post. The carefully crafted picture shows the white miraculous deer majestically leading the ancient Hungarians.

After the left turn, we pass through another intensively cultivated forest for a few kilometers; at one point, due to clear-cutting, there is even a view to the left over the fields around Tömörd. After some bends, we finally enter a natural hornbeam-oak forest, which is a real refreshment in many respects. The wide straight road is replaced by a classic trail, and we walk through a varied-aged, beautifully wooded forest. Bypassing the almost unrecognizable remains of the former Ilonavár, we reach the most interesting sight of the hike, the Gradics spring. The spring set into the limestone provides reliable water flow; even in summer, fresh water is available from it. Next to it is a rustic resting place with a wooden table and benches.

Soon we reach another sight: after turning left from the Blue Trail, at the end of the barely 50 meters long tourist trail marked K⩍, stands the Statue of Saint Ilona. In the Árpád era, there was a wooden or earth fort near here, the aforementioned Ilonavár, and at the statue’s place, the church of the former (destroyed during the Turkish era) village of Tömörd stood. The Baroque statue of Saint Ilona was erected around 1680.

Leaving the statue, after about a kilometer walk, we arrive at the outer street of Tömörd, passing first a cozily decorated bus stop arranged as a reading corner, and shortly thereafter arrive at the Saint Ilona Church. The Blue Trail stamp is located on one of the columns of the resting place next to the church.