Siege of Visegrád

Itinerary

• We walk along the K sign in Visegrád, which leaves the main street.
• From the sign we immediately turn left at the very beginning of the forest section onto the unmarked Viktorin promenade.
• The promenade returns to the K sign, which we follow to the left until the big Villám parking lot.
• From the parking lot we seek out the Zsitvay lookout on the K▲ sign, then return to the parking lot.
• We turn right on the K+ sign and follow it to the Visegrád ferry, which is the end point of our walk.

Detailed description of the tour

On the country's first tourist promenade

Our tour starts on the street heading to the town opposite the ferry, our guide is the National Blue Trail K sign crossing the Danube. "High castle", that is the meaning of Visegrád, and the namesake fortress proudly sits above the steep, bare slopes. We soon leave the central street of the former royal seat to the left and, just a few meters ahead, step onto a path climbing uphill.

We do not stay on the sign for long, as soon we turn left off it. Despite the lack of tourist markings, we walk on the decisive path of tourism in the mountain range: the Viktorin promenade, opened in 1869, is the country's first walk designed for tourism. The namesake, József Viktorin, a Slovak-origin priest from Visegrád, noticed the crumbling and gradually disappearing remains of the walls in the mid-19th century - at that time, the Viennese court often suggested that the ruins had no value, encouraging the growing population to freely carry stones away for construction. To halt the decay, Viktorin persistently and ingeniously lobbied to draw attention to the significance of the Visegrád castle ruins and their tourism potential. He involved ministers, politicians, and public figures within the country's economic elite to achieve his goals, and partly with his own funds created the promenade. His irreplaceable merits are memorialized on the steep hillside below the castle (on the upper, also unmarked section of the old promenade). The promenade is truly spectacular: it cuts across the steep slope mostly level or with gentle rises, winding just above the houses. From its curves and finest points, resting places with benches offer panoramas of the Danube entwined among the mountains and the town sprawling on its banks. Finally, a serpentine bend reconnects us with the National Blue Trail, where the K sign now follows the old promenade route.

Occasionally, from the path, we can step right onto the narrow ridge hillside, offering views of the dense forests in the mountain range's central part. The relentless climb is occasionally bordered by huge rock formations — the smaller to larger blocks forming them are faithful witnesses of the ancient dormant volcano’s activity, explosive fragmentation, and deposits. On the shallow soil covering the steep slope, sparse rock woods open onto panoramas of the increasingly lower river bend. The trail becomes rockier just as a parking lot abruptly replaces the greenery: we arrive under the gate of Visegrád castle.

Next to the inn opposite, we descend stairs back into the woods, where the wide promenade, often colored by beeches or pines recalling higher mountains, winds densely across the hillside. This gentle sloping path comfortably skirts small valleys; from the wind-beaten beech woods we sometimes glimpse opposite mountain ranges. On a path with easing slopes, we arrive at the parking lot, from where we set off on the access road to the hilltop (K▲ sign). To the left, a fantastic location hosts an upscale restaurant among the trees. Built as a tourist house in the 1930s by the Budapest Doctors’ Tourist Association, this high-quality complex fell into disrepair and ruin after World War II under the care of the Tourist House Management Company. It was renovated in the 1970s during mountain development and has since offered marvelous views as a restaurant.

The world of Nagy-Villám

A bend on the steep road brings us face to face with the massive, neo-Renaissance bastion of the Zsitvay lookout. From its top opens one of the country’s most beautiful views — a stunning, comprehensive panorama of the Danube Bend landscape. In one direction, the Visegrád Mountains' rugged, forested contours rise, with the Danube’s ribbon curving at their foot. In a picturesque location, the Visegrád castle sits like a spacious eagle’s nest above the river. We can also "look across" the Danube Bend: both the pre- and post-horseshoe sections sparkle, so we see exactly how the mountains greet and then release the river on its course. In the opposite direction, the Börzsöny rises like the most stately wooded range of the Carpathians. The heights seem much larger than in reality, since despite its modest size, Nagy-Villám significantly "rises" above the Danube shore, which Börzsöny surpasses by over 800 meters opposite. Although we observe from a higher position than the former, it is from a lower vantage point compared to the latter. Up to Csóványos, the mountain waves rise in a stepped manner, almost respectfully, seemingly "lifting" the highest peak in the Budapest surrounding area. If the air is not too hazy, the silhouette of Mátra is also visible in the distance.

The lookout was built in the 1930s as part of a wide-ranging tourist development affecting the small mountain group, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Hungarian Tourist Association. At the inauguration, the top floor (due to lack of a roof) was still missing, but this did not diminish the enthusiasm of visitors: thousands arrived (partly via special boat services started for the event) to admire the tower. An important consideration in the design was to harmonize with Visegrád castle and the Salamon Tower’s appearance. The namesake, Tibor Zsitvay, a prominent figure in contemporary tourism, who initiated the lookout’s construction, was a Hungarian Tourist Association president, later a representative and minister, and later again head of the Association. He played a key role in opening the mountain range, mostly closed off from tourists at the time, and in establishing the hiking trail network.

Through the lower castle area

After descending from the lookout, it is worth walking out to the top of the ski slope (which can serve as a "replacement" for the tower if it is closed); from here, the mountain’s shockingly steep drop and the full mass of Börzsöny unfold. We descend back to the parking lot, where we turn right, then again right onto the K+ sign, which a few meters later again turns right off the Blue Trail. Under the canopy ride cables, on a wide forestry road, we follow the mountain’s contours, then turn left and descend a serpentining path. A hunting stand resembling a raised lookout stands on one bend, but the forest has grown over it, so climbing up is not worth it. Above us, the massive silhouette of the castle becomes visible, and at a fork, we turn left (continuing to follow the K+ sign). Opposite us is a large, dark (andesite-built) rock block — the Görgey memorial, as the elderly general lived his last years in Visegrád. The path soon follows the second mountain-range hiking trail, after the Viktorin promenade. We leave a fork in the tangled forest and continue down gentler terrain, approaching (but not touching) Sibrik Hill, where the ruins of a Roman fort protecting the limestone can be seen. (This was the site of the 11th-century castle district where Solomon was imprisoned, whose name the lower residential tower inherited.)

The left-turning path, however, leads to another important historical sight and unusually for a hiking trail, passes through the lower castle area of Visegrád. The so-called Salamon Tower, a former residential tower built at the same time as the fortress (13th century), was part of the lower castle area, which controlled the road along the Danube and navigation routes but also served as ispán’s (county head’s) residence and royal lodging. We pass through the castle gate and circle the tower among the walls, with views over the now much closer Danube above the collapsed sections. The cobbled promenade passes under another castle gate. We reach the town on a uniquely atmospheric, narrow corridor winding downhill. We cross the villa district, including, for example, shortly the Latinovits villa, where Görgey stayed for a long time, until he moved one villa down to the building now operating as the Castle Hotel. The street finally reaches the Danube level and leads back to the center alongside the royal palace.