A Szob Story: How a trip to Visegrád Turned into a Fantasy RPG

Four nerds decided to go on a trip to Visegrad over the weekend, and just like that a simple trip turned out to be straight out of a fantasy RPG-- a veritable quest to reach a castle.

Getting to Visegrád is, I repeat, very easy. You buy tickets at Nyugati station for five bucks, hop on a train, ride just shy of forty minutes, then hop off and you're there! And you can begin the hike to the castle and see the sights.

Unfortunately due to a riveting conversation about category theory and a general lack of awareness, when Owen asked "where are we supposed to be getting off?" he immediately answered his own question-- "it's here, it's HERE!"

We rushed to the doors. They had already closed and as the train was pulling away from Visegrád, we saw a glimpse of the castle we were supposed to be hiking towards fade into the distance as we zoomed into the abyss. We had missed our stop. It was 9 am.

So we got off at the next stop and contemplated sneaking onto the next train in the opposite direction, which was conveniently just about to leave from the station. We hesitated-- what if we were fined? What if the train didn't stop at Visegrád? And in those two seconds of hesitation the train pulled out of the station and we found ourselves in Szob, a completely random village along the Danube.

We took stock of our situation: at least we weren't in Slovakia! And, of course, we whipped out Google Maps.

This is what we saw.

The best plan seemed to us to just walk along the Danube until we got to Visegrád. That way, we wouldn't get lost and it would be a pleasant walk by the river. The first mile or so was enjoyable. The day was crisp and clear, the river was blue, and we even stopped to share a steaming lángos at a small riverside stand and let the crispy, cheesy, bacon-y treat burn our fingers as we devoured it.

The clouds rolled in, though, and it got windier by the river. At the all-important crossroads at Zebegény, we decided to abandon our river plan and brave the woods. After all, we had Google maps. There was no way we'd get lost if we just kept heading in the same general direction. So we turned off from the river path and headed into town.

Welcome to Zebegény, young travelers. Stop by the local Spar to refuel with chewy candies and water and be on your way!

Unfortunately, we got sidetracked by the side quests (why does that always seem to happen?) There were a few trails marked in the back of Zebegény with interesting castle signs. So we walked up, saw a few nice vistas, and ended up at a memorial which after reading the signs is to commemorate (or lament) the splitting of Hungary after WWI. Which I suppose makes sense, as we were along the northern border of Hungary.

The view of Zebegény and a sliver of the Danube.

A memorial.

Here, again, we found ourselves at a crossroads. Our options: continue to a valley path which Google Maps told us would head straight to Visegrád OR head directly uphill to another, less travelled path which had a very indeterminate final destination.

We talked a bit about our options, then decided in Kevin's words "as long as we head in the same general direction it's probably fine." We headed uphill.

At one point (our thighs burning and our breaths heaving), we considered going off-trail and cutting back down the mountain to intersect the valley path, which we knew was large and flat and easy. But after a few scary moments of being almost lost in the woods, we decided it was too late to change our minds (no way do we turn around: that would be ludicrous) and we had to keep charging forwards.

So we ended up climbing up a mountain.

Natalia and Owen are confused because we are lost.

Ah, but what awaited us on the other side? At around 12:30 pm we finally arrived at Nagymaros, the town just across the river from Visegrád.

Welcome to Nagymaros, young travelers. Admire these yellow flowers, because it is almost spring. +10 happy points.

We walked through the town and passed many country houses, each of which had its own dog (or two) to bark at us for walking past their owners' houses. Finally, we had reached the Danube again. And just across the river, our goal the castle was in sight.

Back on the Danube, we can finally see the castle. It is 1:30 pm.

We had to get across the river. So we did what anyone would do in an RPG and asked around to get some information. A waitress and a shopkeeper were both unhelpful, but then a fellow hiker (and boys' camp leader?) took pity on us and told us about the ferry that was leaving from the dock in fifteen minutes for a small fee of 450 schmekels. I mean, forints.

So, after approximately six hours which included climbing a mountain, passing through multiple small villages, and fording a river, we finally arrived at our goal: the hike to the castle.

Of course, it started to rain. We considered turning back and hunkering down in a cafe, but Kevin with his indomitable attitude convinced us that the rain would be over in an hour. So we continued up the steep, steep, road (as it turns out, there is also a hiking trail meant for walkers without cars, but that would've been too easy) and into the mountains until we finally reached the castle.

We made it!!

The castle itself was interesting with a few small historical exhibits, a wacky wax museum, and some fun medieval torture devices open to the public to try (it's fun!)

Oh no, I'm trapped! My friends will probably have to go on a side quest to find the key.

One side of the fortress.

The castle was beautiful, and the views were also stunning. But as it turned out, there wasn't more than about 2-3 hours worth of sightseeing and hiking to do in the vicinity. So our RPG adventure seemed to be well timed. And we were all happy to have not been eaten by wolves along the way.

Happy travelers

But the adventure was not over. We headed down the mountain and saw a paper sign saying that the next ferry would be at 6:45. So we stopped for dinner, took our time, and returned to the ticket vendor at 6:20. The window was closed and dark.

Had we misinterpreted the paper sign? Did those lists of times not in fact correspond to the ferry times? We panicked (well, I panicked) a little bit as we headed to the dock to do some sleuthing. Luckily for us, a few other people were in the same boat (ha) who could actually read the Hungarian on the paper and who told us that the ferry would, indeed, be coming and that we could pay for the ride to the ferryman directly.

It was dark, and the stars were out (more stars than I had ever seen yet in Hungary). As the ferry quietly took us across the river, we shivered in the dark and pointed out Orion and the Little Dipper.

We got to the train station, and realized that the ticket booth here, too, was closed. Predictably so, I guess. We whipped out our phones and tried to buy tickets online before the next train came... and then the next train came. Another crossroads: do we hop on and try to buy the tickets on the train or stay off and catch the next one?

The warmth of the train beckoned. We hopped on. And realized, to our extreme chagrin, that once the train leaves a station, you can't buy tickets from that station anymore. The ticket man was coming. We had no tickets. So we got off at Kismaros, and realized NOT ONLY that the next train would be coming in an hour, at 8:30 pm, BUT ALSO that the train we had just gotten off from as well as the next train leaving from Visegrád would both reach Budapest before we got on the next train stopping at Kismaros.

This is what distress looks like. I am holding a carrot that I am stress-eating.

Of course, we did make it back to Budapest around 9:30 pm, which all things considered is not bad at all. And after a day full of adventuring around the Danube, I'm pretty sure the four of us collapsed in bed as soon as we got back to our apartments.

So our Szob story ended up turning into a wacky fantasy RPG adventure and with the strength of the paprika in our systems and a sense of "general direction" we had a fantastic day.