I like Gemenc

Itinerary

• Start from Béla király tér heading east: through Garay Square you reach Hunyadi Street, which continues beyond the railway crossing into Keselyűsi Road, and leads straight to the Gemenc forest.
• Upon reaching the dam, turn right and cycle all the way to Pörböly: after crossing the narrow-gauge railway track, after about 200 meters turn right and roll through the gate into the Gemenc Zrt. timber processing site – here you will find the Ecotourism Center and the terminal station of the narrow-gauge railway.

Detailed description of the route

From Béla to Babits

Szekszárd is the smallest county seat in the country by population and the third smallest by area. Located at the meeting point of the plain and hilly terrain, the city of just over thirty thousand inhabitants has had viticulture since Roman times and today is mainly known for its wine region. When hearing Szekszárd, red varieties come to mind nowadays, but this was not always the case. In the Middle Ages, the white wines of Szerémség were the "coolest", but as the Turks advanced northward, it became increasingly difficult to obtain wine from Dalmatia. During the Ottoman period, Rac people also arrived with the Turkish troops, and they were settled in depopulated villages by the occupiers. They brought their own grape-growing and wine-making culture, of which kadarka was an integral part – a variety that most likely originates from the area around Shkodra in present-day Albania. For those who want to learn even more about wine, it is recommended to stop by the Garay Experience Cellar found immediately within the first meters of the route, or with a 200-meter detour, visit the Wine Museum in the "Turkish Bath" building, where tourists can learn about the history, characteristics, and culture of the wine region and with the help of a sommelier can get to know Szekszárd kadarka, kékfrankos, and bikavér. (The building itself was never a Turkish bath; it was a public bath built on the Russian model.)

At the starting point of the route, in Béla király tér, you can get acquainted with Szekszárd’s history in depth: in the inner courtyard of the county hall, you find ruins of the Benedictine abbey founded by King Béla I in 1061. The pretty little square has long been the city’s main square where markets were held and the road connecting Eszék with Buda ran through it. It is no wonder that a castle was built around the abbey after the Tatar invasion, and the Turks also used the fortress. The building complex withstood historical storms very well, but it crumbled easily in a fire in 1794 – after which the new city hall was built, but only the ruins of the church remained, although some say that the founder king of the monastery was buried here.

From Béla király tér, we ride towards Garay tér and then on to the Gemenc forest. The statue of the poet János Garay stands in the middle of the square; let us remember him with a verse of the "Szekszárd Wine Song":

"Like the most beautiful blue maiden's eye,
Like the gentle autumn sky,
The eye of the Szekszárd grape cluster
Is so clear blue"

It is also worth mentioning the origin of the city's name before turning to another poet: supposedly it is linked to King Béla I, "because Béla was nail-colored and skinny, therefore he named Szögszárd after his condition, as well as his monastery" (Illuminated Chronicle), meaning the king had brown skin and was bald. For Mihály Babits the city is memorable for another reason; according to the well-known Karinthy verse line "I was born in Szekszárd, I loved an actress", his birthplace can still be found in the city, but we continue towards Gemenc.

Through the gate of Gemenc

We leave the city behind cycling on Keselyűsi Road, then up to the motorway overpass there is a short stretch with somewhat heavier car traffic than on the rest of the route. After leaving the highway behind, we head straight to the northern gate of Gemenc at Keselyűs. At a dusty bus turnaround, we reach a junction: going left with a slight detour, we can reach the floodplain forest managed by Gemenc Zrt. at the Keselyűs Reception Building, which is also the northern terminus of the Gemenc narrow-gauge railway. The reception building next to the platform is a resting and information center for visitors arriving from Szekszárd, cyclists riding on the Danube dam towards Pörböly, and hikers on the Alföldi Kéktúra trail. The building houses a ticket office and a buffet for visitors. From the Saros-alja birdwatching tower next to the Holt-Sió, we can peek into the life of birds, and walking along the Black Stork study trail, we can get to know the hardwood gallery forests along the backwater's bank. The Alföldi Kéktúra also touches this stop; the stamping place is on the wall of the reception center.

From the bus turnaround, we can continue on the dam or on the asphalt road running parallel at its foot; the key is that when reaching a road crossing perpendicularly, we must turn right towards the south. From here, you can cycle along the Danube dam all the way to Pörböly in the embrace of the Gemenc forest. On the left-hand side stretches the floodplain forest, which can mainly be explored by the narrow-gauge railway rattling along for 30 kilometers through the trees. The first simple horse-drawn railway was laid at the end of the 19th century in the Gemenc forest; later it was dismantled, then rebuilt according to needs, and again demolished. In 1955 it was revived: the Gemenc-Keselyűs line was built, followed by further sections, forming the backbone of today’s line. Following the route of the Danube and Sió, this unique forest railway leads entirely in the floodplain; besides passenger transport, it plays an important role in transporting harvested timber, meaning freight trains also regularly operate on the Gemenc Forest Railway.

The dam largely runs parallel with the narrow-gauge railway, but the latter better strings together the sights, with smaller or larger detours possible from the embankment towards the Danube, in which case you must prepare for dirt roads everywhere. Before reaching any of these, it is worth turning off the dam in several places. First, a building complex of a few houses and a strangely shaped wooden structure appear in the field. We are at the former settlement site of Szomfova – Asszonyfalva, where today only two forester’s houses stand; the older was built around 1830 on the ruins of the former church foundation (thus one of the oldest buildings in Gemenc). The old name of the village suggests it was a difficult-to-reach settlement in the former forest and swamp maze, where women and children could escape in case of danger.

Further on, the centuries-old building of the pump station at Lankóc appears, where, after prior registration, we can view a water management exhibition showing the work tools and objects of water engineers and workers, as well as old maps and memories of floods. The outdoor part of the exhibition displays mechanical equipment (camp blacksmith’s forge, pumps, lock devices), while in the pump house original century-old pumps made by Ganz-Danubius can still be seen.

Along the narrow-gauge railway line, we get a glimpse into the slightly older past and the region’s historical farming in several places. The name of Malomtelelő station is self-explanatory, recalling the past. Almost two hundred years ago near Baja 70-80 ship mills ground grain, which had to be towed in winter to a protected place against ice drift. At that time, the main channel of the river was the present Rezéti-Duna, in whose deep, bay-like offshoots these mills overwintered. Walking the Molnárka interactive study trail starting from this station, you can get to know the fauna and flora of the Gemenc forest and the changing riverbed of the Danube.

Lassi is a double-track station on the narrow-gauge railway line, located right on the banks of the Rezéti-Duna, on the route of the Alföldi Kéktúra. The station and its surroundings were a crossing place before the regulation of the Danube, where local boatmen, fishermen, and traders met in the inn. Today, the fishing exhibition can be viewed in the forester’s house close to the tracks and its annex, showcasing fishing tools, fishermen’s lifestyle, and floods. The smaller building also houses a fishing net-making workshop welcoming visitors. Next to the exhibition is a cool playground featuring a pole-climbing stork and a beehive worthy of a thorough inspection, and from here you can also start the Molnárka study trail.

Wildlife, bees, narrow-gauge railway

While cycling on the dam it is worth keeping your eyes open in both directions towards the forest, because smaller or larger wild animals may appear at any time. If you do not see wild boar, deer, or even a rabbit, just before visiting the Pörböly Ecotourism Center at the end of the route, take a detour to the animal observation park, which is a small game enclosure where wild boars, roe deer, and red deer can be seen up close. (Turn left from the dam after crossing the narrow-gauge railway track.) From here it is just a hop to the Gemenc Beekeeping Collection: an exhibition in a forester’s agricultural building, where with the cooperation of the Baja and District Beekeepers' Club Association, the material relics of beekeeping and the bees’ work are presented with glass-walled hives and real bee colonies.

Pörböly is the central station of the Gemenc Forest Railway and the southern gate of Gemenc. At the Ecotourism Center, you can learn about the local wildlife at the interactive exhibition titled "Treasures of Gemenc – life in the floodplain forest," and find a forest school, the narrow-gauge railway ticket office, and a buffet. On one wall of the ticket office, through open windows, you can see the resting place of the small locomotives and the engine house; in addition, the gift shop offers a selection of railway memorabilia. Pörböly is an ideal starting (or ending, as in this case) point for hiking, biking, and even water tours, any of which can be combined with a narrow-gauge railway ride.

From Pörböly you can return to Szekszárd by train, but the route can also be combined with a narrow-gauge railway trip, as the small train vehicles take you all the way to Keselyűs in summer, from where the county seat is only 7-8 kilometers away.