Beautiful View: Witchy Hike on the Medves Plateau

Itinerary:

• we start from the parking lot of the Tatárárok Sports Centre on the hiking trail marked Z 
• after climbing the mountain, there is a resting place before Salgóbánya, here we make two short detours of just under one kilometer each on the PL marked path: one north to Salgó Castle, the other south to Boszorkány-kő (Witch Rock).
• returning from these, we continue on the Z trail through Salgóbánya up to the border of the settlement
• after leaving the settlement, another approx. one-kilometer detour on the S● marked trail to the Zagyva spring and back
• then continue again on the Z trail, out to the grassy Medves Plateau, all the way to the border of Somoskő
• at Somoskő the Z trail ends, from there turning south you can reconnect on the P+ marked trail, then the plain P marked hiking trail back to the start of the Z trail on the mountain, and from there descend back to the parking lot where we started

Description of the hike:

At the northeastern edge of the city, we park the car at the Tatárárok Sports Centre parking lot and set out along the Medves Green (Medvesi Zöld) trail. The path follows alongside an increasingly widening ditch, parallel to which runs a mountain bike trail. We climb about 200 meters mostly in the shade of beech forests until we reach the edge of the mountain’s broad plateau. Here the forest still dominates, crossing at most small clearings. On one a wooden hare watches us.

We approach the fork where turning left from the Medves Green leads to Salgó Castle, and right to Boszorkány-kő. The path here widens into a comfortable forest road, and the number of hikers increases, as many come from the nearby Eresztvényi or Salgóbánya parking lots, mainly to visit Salgó Castle, the main attraction of Medves. We also head there first. After a 300-400 meter walk, we arrive at the castle where a board provides information about everything you need to know about it:

The castle was first mentioned in sources in 1341. Its builder was likely an ancestor of the Kacsics clan, owners of the area. It had its greatest importance in the border defense wars against the Turks. In 1554 it was occupied (you can read about the cunning trick of Kara Hamza bey in the Szép kilátás blog's earlier post), but fortunately it was recaptured in 1593. Unfortunately, the siege cannons heavily damaged its walls and towers, which were not rebuilt, as nearby castles under Hungarian control (Somoskő, Fülek, Ajnácskő) took over its strategic role. In 1845, Sándor Petőfi passed by the castle and wrote a poem about it titled Salgó, deeply moved.

Steps lead up to the castle, and you can enter its courtyard through a small pointed stone gate. The terrace offers a very good view, especially towards Salgótarján and Karancs, and from the tower standing 625 meters high you can really enjoy a full panoramic view. You can clearly see north the Somoskő Castle near the Hungarian-Slovak border. After admiring the views, we head back to see the 571-meter-high Boszorkány-kő south of Salgó Castle, from where you can almost look at and photograph the castle as if from a box seat.

Salgó Castle stands on huge basalt blocks, and Boszorkány-kő’s peak is also a spectacularly layered basalt peak. These two prominences serve as witness hills marking the approximately 50-meter-thick basalt cover that blankets the Medves Plateau. Due to the grass carpet of the plateau beginning 2 kilometers from here, this special layer is not visible, but it is good to know that we are wandering on Europe’s largest basalt plateau, nearly 13 square kilometers in size.

But let's stay a bit at Boszorkány-kő, which was earlier called the less mystical Kis-Salgó. According to the blog of local researcher Szilárd Drexler, the name probably migrated from a nearby rock to the peak, and now it has become so established that the information board there states: according to legends, witches once danced on the strange basalt slab. The view around is also 360 degrees, you don’t want to leave it.

From Boszorkány-kő we return to the Medves Green, which leads into the small settlement of Salgóbánya located to the east. The lucky village is currently experiencing the second wave of transformation into a mountain leisure spot. The first wave’s mementos are places such as the somewhat shabby and worn Medves Hotel, but it is visible in the village that it can overcome this legacy. Next to the hotel, we have to go if we decide to visit the Zagyva spring 500 meters away. It is quite rare for a larger river (Zagyva is in Hungary’s top 10) to originate in Hungary. The spring itself is not particularly spectacular, but it has a cleanly built arrangement and iron-flavored water. After the detour, we continue on the Medves Green towards the grassy plateau, which we soon reach.

I understand Salgó Castle and I tip my hat to Boszorkány-kő, but what truly captivates me in Medves is the softly rolling green grass-covered plateau. You can clearly feel that you are high: at first glance, it looks almost like the Great Hungarian Plain, but it is about 500 meters higher. In the distance, silhouettes of hills emerge, and even only the peak of Kékes is visible. From one point you can also see the distinctive shape of Bél-kő in the Bükk Mountains.

At first, we still meet a few hikers, but further in hardly anyone goes. The steppe meadow of the plateau is nodding with thousands of flowers in the wind, insects buzzing, birds chirping – the whole scene reminds one of a slightly overdrawn painting by Pál Szinyei Merse, with its cheerfully bucolic atmosphere. The Medves Plateau does not have large forests but sporadic patches of oak, beech, and gallery forests. The area is rich in herbaceous plants, including black pasque flower, hollow-rooted celandine, crested toothwort, spring pea, wood pigeon flower, and velvety lungwort. Various irises, forget-me-nots, sages, and large bellflowers can also be found – according to the online encyclopedia.

The namesake brown bear became extinct in this part of Hungary in the 1850–1860s; in the subsequent century and a half, only sporadic instances occurred, but since early 2014 its presence has become permanent again. We also encounter a warning somewhere in the forest notifying not to be surprised if one appears.

A longer walk awaits us further to Somoskő. To the north, from some points, you can see far away, with the peak of Krizsna in the Great Fatra emerging in the distance. Near Somoskő and the Slovak border, there are very good spots for photographing the castle. This is not part of the hike, but optionally you can visit the nearby Somoskő Castle, which takes an extra hour, and those who have not yet been there should not miss it!

The Medves Green ends at Somoskő. From there, on the wide road marked P+, descend to Eresztvény, then continue on the P trail to the part of the Medves Green we have already walked, where the wooden hare welcomes us again. From there just a few kilometers downhill to Tatár-árok and the parking lot where we left the car.

Conclusion: The Medves region is now easily and quickly accessible by car. It is a relatively small micro-region but sprinkled with beautiful forests, spectacular basalt peaks, castles, mining courtyards and lakes, and of course a magnificent grassy plateau, so there is a lot to see around here. Our hike is 20 kilometers long with about 500 meters of total elevation gain, which is not considered too difficult, although it is advisable to break it up with smaller children. Those who want to stay for the whole weekend will find plenty of accommodation both in Salgóbánya and Somoskő, not to mention the wooded hotels reminiscent of the Kádár-era.