From Telkibánya to Füzér – Rákóczi Route, Section 3

Itinerary:

• We follow the P marking all the way: from Telkibánya through Hollóháza to Füzér, then to the Füzér castle.

Detailed description of the route:

Telkibánya and the memories of its former wealth

From the center of Telkibánya, starting next to the town hall, we set off into Hegyköz along a gently ascending stream valley, following the main road leading to Sátoraljaújhely. At the fork of the Ósva stream valley, on the mountain ridge embraced by the two main valleys, researchers found trench remains of an ancient fortification, presumably from the Bronze Age. On the opposite hill, above the right bank of the watercourse, stood the St Catherine hospital built in the mid-14th century, the ruins of which were excavated and restored in the 1990s. Since then, the foundations of the medieval buildings, the hospital church expanded by the Pauline monks of Gönc, and the ruins of the sacristy built next to it have been visible.

Leaving the village, we pass by the former porcelain factory building, which houses an industrial history museum preserving the remaining tools and artifacts from porcelain production and from the old gold and silver ore extraction. In the museum's courtyard, sculptures depicting the miners' lives and ore processing can be seen from the road. After exiting the village, we follow the main road for another kilometer, from which a gravel road branches off northwards on the Patak-dűlő. This is where we start the climb across the Kánya Hill, passing open fields on the hillside, then a grove, and finally continuing through older and denser oak woods. Above us on the right towers Kánya Hill, into the depths of which miners carved veins hiding treasures. Máriabánya, the ruins of the modern mining settlement, as well as the wooden structures of shafts and waste heaps, are hidden in the dense forest a few hundred meters from the trail.

Upon reaching the saddle, we cross the northern shoulder of Kánya Hill among planted pine forests, then descend long and steeply on the other side toward Hollóháza from Hármashatár, shielded by the beech forests of Nagy-Pál Hill. The comfortable forest road initially maintains level, traversing sideways, then after crossing a shoulder-shaped ridge, it turns down with increasing steepness into the valley of Nyíri stream.

Hollóháza, the stronghold of artistic porcelain production

We arrive in Hollóháza through a modern village part built above the porcelain factory; rows of terraced and apartment houses stretch tightly against the forest. Like many other Árpád-era settlements in the region, Hollóháza was depopulated during the Ottoman conquest due to Turkish and German raids; later, in the mid-18th century, empty lots were given to Slavic settlers, encouraging relocation with tax exemption privileges. Life in Hollóháza restarted with forest logging and forest work – a glassworks was operating in the settlement about a decade later. Due to poor quality raw materials for glass, they switched to stoneware production, as high-quality kaolin was found near Telkibánya and later by Füzérradvány. Leaving the Telkibánya factory behind, numerous families moved to Hollóháza. In the 1950s, the factory switched to artistic porcelain production, whose products have since enjoyed great fame.

The memory of the post-war rapid construction era is preserved in the reinforced concrete part of the village, which we cross by following the brook southeast beside the factory building. After a long row of houses, we exit the village and reach the border area of forests and pastures through a narrowing valley basin along alder and willow groves. At Toroki forest house, at the edge of an oak forest, we turn onto a rutted cart road to cross the southern, gentle nose of Vas Hill. The forested basin of Hegyköz gradually opens up as we ascend through meadows replacing the oaks. At the pass leading to Füzér, the imposing view of Füzér castle unfolds in front of the Milic block opposite us. The proud knight’s castle soaring to the sky, crowned by mountains, exudes a true medieval atmosphere with the village houses clinging to Castle Hill, which is why it is so popular.

In the attraction of the medieval knight's castle

We reach Füzér at its lower end, in the valley of Bisó stream. Crossing the watercourse among charming, wooded gardens, we climb steeply to the center to the Catholic church. The village is dominated by the rocky Castle Hill towering above it. We bypass the conical volcanic neck on the left on a medieval cart road, climbing as gently as possible. On the edge of the inhabited area, a visitor center and large car park have been established – further ahead is the atmospheric basin of the Castle Spring, although the road turns right back to the saddle under the castle.

We approach the castle on a spectacular, rocky, well-defended terrain; despite its ruggedness, this is the most accessible side of the wild rock ridge. The fortress was built with good strategic sense on the back of natural protective knolls. Although no records remain, Byzantine coins found in the castle courtyard suggest that the landowning Aba clan built it as one of the country’s first stone castles before the Mongol invasion. During its history, the Holy Crown was kept here, and in the Middle Ages, it was considered a serious stronghold; its significance diminished only by the end of the 17th century. For centuries it was owned by the Károlyi family, whose seat was the castle of Füzérradvány, and the castle's condition deteriorated until the early 20th century; at that time, only preservation work was done. Archaeological excavation took place at the end of the 20th century, while restoration was done in the mid-2010s, when the walls were reconstructed to their medieval splendor.

Through the gate tower and the murder passage, we enter the newly built castle. Besides the impressive exhibitions and descriptions telling the castle’s story, it is worth taking a few glances at the panorama. The full view of Hegyköz from the 552 m high rock cliff is truly stunning. Below us, the houses of Füzér surround the foot of Castle Hill, while to the north, behind the village’s groved meadows, rises the densely forested block of Milic. To the south, networks of roads and meadows stretch to the Bózsva valley, beyond which lie the largest contiguous forest areas of the mountain range. Noticeable on the eastern edge is the somewhat separated group of the characteristic conical peaks of the Sátoros Mountains, beyond which the Great Plain extends up to the foot of the mountains, visible as the floodplain of the Bodrog river.

Although the Rákóczi route ends at the castle, we return on foot through the village by the way we came, turning left before the church to the K+ marking to find the bus stop.