The dragon and the organs

Itinerary

• From the bus stop, we head northwest along Kossuth Street following the Z marking.
• We take a short detour on the ZL marking to the Holy Cross Chapel.
• We continue our journey on the Z marking.
• From the Kaán Károly lodge, we head towards the basalt organs on the K marking.
• At the Kasza Béla shelter, we climb up to the peak of Szent György Hill on the K▲ marking.
• We return to the shelter and continue our hike on the K marking.
• By bypassing the Lengyel Chapel on the left, we return to the lodge on the S marking.
• From here, we descend back to Kisapáti on the Z marking.

Detailed tour description
Through vineyards to the Kaán Károly lodge

From the bus stop, we head northwest along Kossuth Street following the Z marking. After the school, we turn left and begin a slow climb through the vineyards towards the hill's famous basalt organs. After 300 meters, under the white acacias, we take a short detour on the ZL marking to the hill's oldest chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross. Kisapáti was a property of the Pannonhalma Benedictine Abbey in the 13th century, where in 1244 Abbot Salamon built the small chapel. Inside its sanctuary, a late medieval altar and remains of medieval frescoes can be seen. Besides this, there are five more chapels and one chapel ruin on Szent György Hill.

Even from in front of the building, there is a beautiful view towards Csobánc, but continuing on the Z marking, the panorama opens further, revealing among others Hegyesd, Tóti Hill, and the witness hills of Gulács as well as the shield volcano of Kab Hill.

The cliff called Vércse-szirt on Szent György Hill is clearly visible, whose current face was formed during a landslide. Since the hill's base consists of Pannon layers less resistant to erosion and deflation than basalt, material loss occurs at the edges of the basalt cap (and underneath because of its cracks). The weight of the basalt cover caused these layers to slip out from beneath the huge basalt masses. This process was strengthened by the fact that the Pannon layers became wet, and their clayey layers acted as "slipping surfaces" for the dislodged basalt bodies. In the winter of 1757, a massive basalt mass slipped from Vércse-szirt, burying 24 press houses, but there is no knowledge of human casualties.

The Kaán Károly lodge and its surroundings

Winding among charming cellars and small forest patches, we soon reach the Kaán Károly lodge under the basalt organs, built in 1934 through community cooperation. It was the first continuously operating tourist lodge in the Balaton Uplands. Nearby hides the 32-meter-long Szent György Hill Dragon Cave and the Kis-Dragon Cave, named ice pseudo-caves. Their formation is due to fallen basalt columns trapped between rubble blocks, creating narrow, labyrinth-like cavities. Thus, they cannot be considered true caves because they formed not in the Earth’s solid crust but in rubble. Their icing happens when the cold winter air flows into the permanently wet passage, melting its ice formations. Due to the large surface area of the rubble passage, air then flows outwards, and the extensive evaporative surface removes enough heat from its surroundings (further cooling the cave air) so that parts of the passage remain ice-covered most of the year.

Local tradition tells that long ago a dragon arrived at Szent György Hill and settled in a cave on the north side. The beast terrorized locals and demanded a beautiful maiden every summer solstice. The villagers obeyed helplessly. One time, the dragon became ill, and the girl sent to him healed it with the help of a herbal woman in exchange for the dragon no longer harming villagers but protecting them. For example, when a wolf preyed on the flocks, after killing it one morning, the dragon threw the animal's corpse onto the church steps. At its death, its last breath forever froze the cave air. Another version says Saint George fought the dragon and killed it along with its entire family.

The hill and the formation of the basalt organs

The hill’s most famous sight, the basalt organs, can be reached by stairs on the K marking, steeply climbing alongside the ruins of huge, fallen columns resembling "money bags." The last major collapse occurred in the winter of 1999/2000 when two organs, popularly called "kűzsák," fell.

From the hill’s foot, ascending a conical hill, we traveled across sedimentary layers accumulated by the Pannon Lake, where volcanic activity began with a 4-5 m thick layer of pyroclastic deposits around the eruption channel—though this layer is rarely visible on the hill since the basalt cap is mostly covered by rubble. This formed a tuff ring, roughly 4 million years ago, filled later by lava flows from huge lava-emitting eruptions, creating a lava lake. The remnant today is a thick basalt layer, whose lower coarse-grained section forms the basalt organs’ material. After the lava flows, a longer pause occurred with volcanic activity ceasing. During this, the cooling lava lake volume shrank, and a hexagonal fracture network formed. After the tuff ring eroded, erosion and deflation increasingly affected the basalt body, widening cracks and sculpting the columns, smoothing them as well. This formed the famous pipe organ row of Szent György Hill, with several small caves among the pipes. However, cooling was interrupted by further explosive eruptions shaking the hill. These produced the so-called upper tuff layer visible on the surface in several places (e.g., above Vércse-szirt), yellowish in color. Finally, gas-rich lava erupted, creating the cone of vesicular-basalts forming the hill's peak.

Climbing the summit

Climbing above the rocks, a short detour to the right is worthwhile, offering a beautiful view of the organs and the witness hills bordering the Káli Basin north from Tóti Hill. Looking farther, the towering Kab Hill dominates with the small cone of Hegyesd before it, then Agártető, followed by the view over Tapolca city, behind which is the mined block of Haláp and Cseket Hill. Nearby stand Somló and Rendek Hill, the latter near the Sümeg Castle Hill, closing the panorama with northern basalt hills of the Keszthely Mountains.

Following the K marking, we proceed through the hill’s northern valley to the Kasza Béla shelter, from where we climb to the Szent György Hill peak on the K▲ marking. Until here, we came through secondary woodland, but now the trail passes through more shrubs mainly of blackthorn, hawthorn, and wild rose, regrowing on the hill's former pasture. The benches below may be especially useful in harsh weather, but if possible, we should climb at least as far as the next ones, from where a nice view opens southeast. The fullest panorama is obtained from the red slag mound built of iron ores forming the hilltop, to which a last steep path leads. The view extends from the Keszthely Mountains, over the Szigliget pyroclastic hills, across Badacsony to Hegyestű on the eastern edge of the Káli Basin, and on clear days, we can spot Csúcs Hill towering over Sajkod.

Descending the hill’s slope

From the viewpoint, we descend back to the shelter, where we proceed right along the K marking above Vércse-szirt. Along the route, the upper pyroclastic layer formed during the volcano’s third active phase emerges at several points. In the past century, vineyards grew here, now only a few wild overgrown plots remain. Soon we reach another viewpoint offering a panorama towards Lake Balaton, then pass by the garden terrace of the former Mennyország buffet. The sunken road is bordered by silicate grasslands, home to the region’s most special plant species, the southern spleenwort (Notholaena marantae), a remnant of the Tertiary flora found only here in Hungary. Among the fauna, highlight is the saw-legged bush-cricket (Saga pedo), the largest insect species in Europe. Further down at an intersection, we continue straight, turning left onto the hill's southwestern side.

Sights along the upper vineyard road

After leaving the former winegrower’s house, our marking leads first to the Lion-headed Well built in 1901, known for its excellent soft water, attracting people from afar—definitely worth tasting! The spring water reaches the well via a pipe.

About 200 m further, we reach the hill’s two most famous peasant-barque style buildings: the Tarányi press house built at the end of the 18th century, which some believe was built on the foundations of an Árpád-era chapel, and the adjacent Lengyel Chapel built in 1775. Both finely decorated with sculpted stone figures, these buildings were erected by the Tóti-Lengyel family. The former has stone putti depicting Roman gods on its three-axled gable wall; the latter features niches in its tower with statues of Saint George and Saint Emeric, and in side niches Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Anthony, and Saint Joseph, while Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislaus statues adorn the gable. Before the chapel stands a stone cross erected in 1834.

By bypassing the chapel to the left on the S marking, we continue. The route offers beautiful views of the southeast Tapolca Basin and Balaton. Suddenly our marking turns sharply left to the Ify Chapel below Vércse-szirt.

The Ify Chapel

A stone crucifix beside the hiking trail marks the arrival. Its inscription reads "Ludovico memento morti," meaning "Louis, remember death." The chapel was named after Lajos Ify, a former parish priest of Fonyód who sheltered many during World War II. After unsuccessful attempts to recruit him as a peace priest, he withdrew from politics, joining the Premonstratensians until they were disbanded. He then retired to the property he built at Szent György Hill. He celebrated mass there and hosted visitors, mainly priests, signaling readiness to receive guests by hoisting a Hungarian flag.

On the plot stand five ruined buildings: the Emmaus Chapel and the former parish priest’s residence. Ify Lajos was skilled in organ building; one of his works still stands in a crumbling building though unusable, in a gutted state. The Nectar served as a press house; animals lived in the Animal building. The Nazareth and Hermit’s Lodge were residences, the latter for the housekeeper. In the secluded back part of the plot lie three graves; the middle one holds the late priest, who supposedly made his own coffin and annually replaced the year of death. Finally, in 1967, aged 74, he was buried here in fulfillment of his last wish.

The privately owned, officially inaccessible chapel with a neglected environment is being preserved by a group of locals, but unfortunately in winter 2019, much of the Emmaus roof structure collapsed.

Return to Kisapáti

A few hundred meters from here is the Orthodox chapel and hermitage of the Annunciation belonging to the Viennese metropolitan, born from the conversion of a ruined press house by a stone sculptor monk who built it himself. From here, our winding path leads through a black pine forest and over small rubble slopes, where in spring the blooming purple wintergreen flowers create a beautiful sight. From the Kaán Károly lodge, we follow the Z marking back to Kisapáti, where the hike began.