Hungary · HU

Ranolder-kereszt

The Ranolder Cross (Ranolder-kereszt) is a 12-metre stone crucifix perched on the sheer southern rim of Mount Badacsony, about 400 metres above the north shore of Lake Balaton. Erected in 1857 by János Ranolder, Bishop of Veszprém, who was overwhelmed by the view, it has become one of the most celebrated lookouts in the Balaton Uplands—and, on a clear day, simply the best place to understand why the bishop was so dazzled. Below the cross a bastion-like rock ledge juts out over a cliff of vineyard-scored slopes, framing the whole lake against the Fonyód hills on the far shore, with the Tapolca Basin and the Keszthely Hills spreading to the west. Reaching it takes a short but brisk climb up the basalt crown of Badacsony; in return you get a free, open-air panorama that many travellers rate above the man-made Kisfaludy lookout.