Attraction of the living Palóc tradition village

Itiner:

• We start from the village on the K trail marking up to the top of Gyertyános-side.
• The nature trail marked with T leads through Kis-Liponya to Gomb Hill above Hollókő.
• From Gomb Hill, we leave the trail on the KL marking towards the newly built fortress of Hollókő castle.
• From the castle, we return on the T marked nature trail back to the K trail on the slope of Gomb Hill, which takes us back to the village.

Detailed description of the route:

Our time journey starts from the border between the new and old village, from the village center, following the National Blue Trail marked K. A bronze statue of a Palóc couple welcomes us in the square in front of the bus stop. Although we see the nicely polished memories of the past along Kossuth Street, these are definitely living traditions of the region. On the cobblestone Kossuth Street, we pass a row of uniform, whitewashed, porch-fronted, hipped-roof peasant houses. A significant part of the buildings was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century after a fire disaster, but what was reborn from the ruins is lasting and eternal. The traditions of everyday life, crafts, and building habits have been passed down from father to son through human lives, and nowadays the village community consciously takes care of them since these results have distinguished Hollókő from the surrounding settlements.

From the western edge of the village, the medieval castle looming gloomily over the region from the hilltop already appears. For centuries, only ruins reminded of the past. Although it had no serious role in the course of history, during the Turkish era it was crucial to hold castles guarding the frontier of the occupation. As a consequence of these battles, the village was depopulated for a long time — in fact, the original core of the village was much farther west, between the ridge running along the Hollókő stream and the castle. The foundations of an ancient church found west of the village testify to this, which our route also touches.

The National Blue Trail route leaves the settlement westward along the meadow edges, then turns down into the valley of the stream towards the pre-Turkish village core. We walk in the shade of mighty oak canopies near the pastures. The centuries-old shade trees served as natural protection from sunlight for the grazing animals in summer. That is why the people call them 'noon trees' because the livestock rested in their shade at midday. On the steep hillside, the animals resting under the canopy have worn the ground, so thick bark-covered root webs twist at the trunks above the surface.

At the end of the descent, we arrive at the shady willow and alder groves of the stream valley. Formerly, the village's hemp retting ponds lined the stream, where they softened the now-forgotten plant used for everyday clothing, and washed the finished hemp fabric. The steps of hemp processing fit well into the yearly cycle of earthworks. The plant was sown late, in mid-May; harvesting took place in September, so they could work with the raw material for clothes in the breaks of food crop works. These hemp retting ponds have now filled in, creating swampy, marshy habitats for aquatic communities. Between the two world wars, a peasant bath was also built at the source of the stream, filled with water from the Várkút spring. However, the village’s increasing population made the bathing impossible, so the beach closed in the mid-1960s.

We cross a bridge laid over the stream next to a huge ancient willow tree, heading towards the hornbeam forest on the other side. The oak forests surrounding the village provided not only firewood and furniture wood but also played a significant role in the autumn fattening of pigs. The shady hornbeam-oak forest still produces valuable "forest fruits", namely extremely tasty porcini mushrooms, chanterelles, king boletes, and wood pigeons, which served and still serve as a delicious and nutritious supplement to the diet. One of the region’s forest peculiarities is the now protected emperor’s bolete, popularly known as the gentleman’s or egg mushroom, which prefers the local mild climate oak forests as a warm-loving Mediterranean species.

Above the forest, we reach the ridge. Following the green band of the nature trail along the meadows, we turn left back to the saddle above the spring. The meadows, rich with flowers, are a habitat for meadow communities. The spring-colored patches of hawkbits and pasqueflowers, followed by autumn crocus, color the waving meadows with their entire summer hues among the dark green oaks. Besides horses, cows, and sheep, wildlife from the surrounding forests also gladly feed in the colorful meadows. As we reach the saddle, we arrive at the watershed of the Hollókő and Zsunyi streams, thus the watershed of the Ipoly and Zagyva, i.e., the Danube and Tisza. Behind the meadows on the far side of the basin, the slopes of Tepke and Purga hills rise green, topped by a characteristic lookout tower.

The National Blue Trail also runs along the ridge of Tepke, joining our route from the south via a larger semicircle towards Alsó- and Felsőtold, so we now follow the K marking back towards the village in the direction of the castle appearing on the opposite ridge. The wide bulldozer road nestles into the forested, shrubby side of Szár Hill, gently leading up to the saddle of Gomb Hill. From here, along the KL marking, among juniper bushes we reach the Hollókő castle. The fortress, perched sharply on a rock standing out from its surroundings, utilizes the natural protection offered by its environment. Here, magma flowed upward along a deep fissure through the surrounding soft marine sediments and solidified due to the cooler rock along the crack. The resulting thin andesite band protrudes steeply from the rapidly eroding environment. Thus the castle owes its natural protection to this.

People have woven legend around the mystic atmosphere of the fortress. According to the legend, the castle was built by devilish sons transformed into ravens. The lord of the nearby fortress of the Kacsics family abducted the wife of a neighboring landowner as his lady and locked her up in his own castle. The woman’s mother was a witch who, consorting with the devil, called upon his sons to help save her daughter. The devilish sons, transformed into ravens, carried away the castle but cleverly built a new one from the stones in the nearby hillside.

The medieval building perched on the andesite rock had many owners: Máté Csák, Charles Robert, Tamás Széchenyi, the leader of the Hussites also owned the fortress; it changed hands between Hungarians and Turks during the occupation, and finally, after the Rákóczi War of Independence, the Habsburgs demolished it. Only in recent decades have the walls been rebuilt, and the glorious days of the former knightly life revived — so nowadays, instead of ruins, a bold knight’s castle welcomes tourists. Between the walls, we get insights into old times, knightly eras, as well as a splendid view of the surrounding landscape.

From the castle, we return once again on the level path marked by the green stripe of the nature trail to the K marking on the side of Gomb Hill, which after some descent leads back to the village, passing the central parking lot, the school, and the cemetery along József Attila Street.