Standing on the top of the hill we must not only look towards Lake Balaton. From bird’s-eye view we can admire the town’s buildings and water facilities, but the Obelisk and National Reservation Tátorján are also close in walk distance.

The famous poet’s father was a multilingual lawyer, his mother used to live here. He fell in love with the Kenese landscape during his common visits. He was a sensitive melancholic man who wrote much praise poetry about the beauty of this area. After losing his mother and also suffering from love grief he fell into deep depression. He had marked out the place of his own grave before he committed suicide by his gun in 2 July 1902 in Budapest.

We can find his red sandstone tomb on the Balaton side of the Calvinistic cemetery by the hill. This was the spot he wanted to ‘see’ Lake Balaton even after his death. His memorial pillar stands next to the belvedere. It was built on the highest point of the hill (175m) which got its name after the poet. On the Balaton side of the obelisk, a poem of his can be read.

Kisfaludy belvedere and the tunnel

The belvedere was built among huge trees on Akarattya’s Magas-part. Visitors can look view the landscape from the height as a twenty-floor building. Eye or camera can wander through the northern and the southern shore of Lake Balaton, the horizon ends at Tihany peninsula (which divides the lake) prominently with the abbey on it. In clear weather the hills of Badacsony and Fonyód are also appear.

This is a remarkable place to spend our summer nights: sitting by torch light listening to chamber orchestra.

We can get down to the lake-shore on the romantic wooden stairs, but on halfway we can meet a railway piece of art: the only tunnel in the area. During its construction many problems occurred, it even broke in several times. The biggest problem was the loess ground that made the construction very difficult, so the constructors had to underpin the area with stones, concrete and by domiciling a locust grove.

However, passengers will receive a very enjoyable viewing experience emerging from the tunnel and admire the shining surface of the lake from the train windows. The Gate of the East Lake slogan can be really understood here.