Historical immersion around Márévár

Itinerary:

• We follow the P sign until Márévár.
• We make a detour to Márévár along the PL sign.
• From the castle we walk back briefly on the P sign to the valley crossing.
• At the valley bend we climb over the Köves-tető along the S+ sign.
• After descending to the Sín-gödör we turn right onto the P● sign and follow it to the main road.
• Crossing the main road we take the Z sign.
• On the mountaintop we keep straight and switch to the P+ sign.
• From a fork to the right, following the P sign, we return to the starting point.

Detailed description of the hike

Climbing to Márévár

We start the hike from Magyaregregy, Várvölgy bus stop on the P sign. At the junction, a wooden board marks the paved road leading to Márévár, on the left side of which is the Márévár campsite, and on the right side a forest bath can be found, open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the season. Near the starting point there are several dining options in the beach and campsite restaurants, as well as a buffet at the junction. The campsite also hosts a shop.

We warm up on the gently ascending asphalt road on the P sign. We pass by the first station board of the Vár-völgy geological nature trail, which informs that here Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary rocks alternate with Jurassic sedimentary rocks. Our route only touches this one board, but those interested can follow the nature trail for 3.5 km along a forest road to the Pásztor Spring at the valley's end. The entire route can also be a great cycling program thanks to the asphalt.

The P sign soon turns right towards the Textiles Spring. A narrow path cuts through the alder and willow "gallery forest." The alder (most commonly the black alder in Hungary) only grows in wet habitats, thriving best alongside oxygen-rich streams but also tolerating stagnant waters. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria live in its root nodules. It belongs to the birch family, its fruits are small false capsules. The wood’s color is yellowish-reddish with characteristic patterned heartwood patches creating interesting designs. Freshly felled wood is pinkish red. Nowadays, the fine-grained alder is a popular hardwood furniture material; its pleasant aroma during processing and in finished products makes it used also in the rising grill-BBQ culture for smoking. In the wet habitat around the trees, it is worth looking at other plants too. Among nettles, the rarer yellow nettle indicating valuable habitats can also be found.

Next to the abundant Textiles Spring, reminiscent of a lime burner’s quarry (which is actually just the overflow of the real spring), a wooden bridge crosses the creek. From here, a side valley starts, where following it the footpath rises through a beautiful old beech woodland, and on the right, on a flat area, the Textiles house can be seen, whose owners from Szeged promise to renovate it. The path leads at moderate steepness through an old beech forest, then cuts across the bottom of a small valley and almost levelly winds through the incisions of side valleys. Only the tall silver lindens typical for the Mecsek compete with the huge beeches. During the hike, we will pass several very nicely structured forests where among the old trees there are mixed young growths of beech and linden as well as young trees. In socialist forest management, it was typical to create forests of easily manageable, straight-trunked trees. This attitude is slowly changing - from a biologist’s point of view, mixed-age and mixed-composition forests are beautiful because wildlife feels good there and many herbaceous plants live under the trees, as the habitat is varied. The young growth provides hiding places, the adult trees nesting grounds for birds, and the insect larvae multiplying in the dead trunks serve as food. Such mixed forests have almost disappeared in Europe, especially in Hungary in recent decades, with foreclosure management favoring homogeneous, even-aged forests (often with alien species, like red oak and black pine). Recent snow and rain-induced tree falls and breaks caused huge damage to forest management and complicated hunting but in return created richer, more natural-like forest states.

Where the slope faces more south, the beech-linden forest is replaced by older oaks more tolerant to dryness. We have covered about 2 kilometers so far; from here, the paved road leading to Márévár is visible in the valley to the left. We continue almost level on the track lined by dark green, knee-high shrubs of spiny Ruscus. It got its name because the visible, nail-sized "leaflets" are actually flattened stems with red berries growing on them. Thus, it looks as if the fruits are sitting in the middle of the leaves. Leaf loss is an adaptation to dry habitats – instead, the plant uses flattened stems retaining water better for photosynthesis. It is no coincidence it thrives on sunny, exposed southern slopes.

Following the P sign, shortly after crossing over the asphalt road bending left beneath us, we cross the valley along which we will ascend after the detour to the castle. The P sign here is connected to a mining trail marked with crossed hammers and the Saint Martin road. At the bend, the spring marked on maps is covered by waterworks material, so no water can be taken from it.

The Márévár

The PL sign leads to the castle gate, where fairy tale and reality meet, and visitors can choose whether they want to search for traces of historical knowledge or enjoy the world of legends. Those in the first group can study the castle’s development based on chronologically reconstructed pictures or visit the castle’s local history collection, while lovers of fairy tales will be enchanted by the 15th-century gate tower’s three-headed, ore-swallowing dragon. The dragon, made by Gábor Baráth, a mask carver from Mohács, is a truly imposing example: its body is built on a metal frame from 800 kg of recycled car tire rubber. If the dragon wasn't enough for kids’ imagination, upon entering the castle they can find further inspiration in re-enacting the eternal struggle between good and evil from the Keleti-Mecsek legendarium.

The building of Márévár can be dated to the time of the great castle constructions after the Tatar invasion. Its first written mention is from the 12th century, when according to a charter it was donated by King Charles Robert to István Bogár, then it almost continuously changed hands: it was the subject of pledges, extinction, civil wars, and sales. In the 16th century, it underwent Renaissance-style reconstruction, mainly affecting the palace wing, and at this time also the gate defense was built. This castle was besieged for the last time in Hungarian history: after the suppression of the 1956 revolution, a group of local revolutionaries called the "invisible ones of Mecsek" barricaded inside the walls, two of whom died heroically on November 11 in Soviet tank fire. Their names are preserved on a memorial plaque on the building’s wall. The local legend became connected with reality: the supposed treasure hunt saved the walls from destruction by tanks. The castle courtyard was dug several meters deep, and the excavated earth was piled up by the walls, protecting them from detonations.

In front of the castle, a roofed seating area and a freely usable campfire site are available, with firewood stored under the castle stairs. The building managed by Magyaregregy has truly become a hiker’s paradise.

After the detour, we walk back on the P sign to the earlier valley crossing, then head uphill to the left on the S+ sign. A relatively steep climb follows on a wide footpath through a beautiful, old oak-mixed beech forest, the ground of which is covered with fragrant wild garlic meadows in spring. Soon we cross the Z sign, with which we will meet again at the end of Sín-gödör near the road to Komló. Descending lower, a dirt road branches right toward the Tető Spring shown on the map, but this is inaccessible due to a fence, so we cannot take water from there.

In the Sín-gödör

After a longer descent, we reach the Sín-gödör, where several creeks merge to create a picturesque, meandering candle maple floodplain with a relatively wide stream valley. It is worth resting or even picnicking here, although no built rest area is found. From this point, we continue along the P● sign following the flow direction of the creek in the Sín-gödör, where historians say several villages belonging to Márévár were located.

The path often breaks through a relatively narrow trail among waist-high beech saplings in the streambed. Pay attention to ticks! We have to cross the creek countless times, often on muddy, sinking soil among debris. Closed shoes and a pair of trekking poles are useful in this section – due to this stretch, the route is more recommended for experienced hikers. After a few hundred meters, the fresh valley begins to close and narrow, young trees disappear, and the creek straightens. At one place, the path is diverted right into a hill covered with youngsters for about 150 m, but it is worth staying in the creekbed because above there are many fallen trees across the path and a 4-meter-deep side valley cuts the path. Unless the water level is very high, it is worth staying by the creek because there are beautiful stepped cascades in it.

At the valley entrance, we arrive in a spacious area with enough parking spaces for many cars, although there is no campfire site or infrastructure. The Z sign we crossed earlier arrives here from the right side from Márévár, along which we continue, crossing the Komló road. Be careful here because many car and motorbike drivers go this way.

From Barna-kő to the destination

After crossing the road, we can cross the relatively wide Völgységi creek, edged by dogwood, on solid laid stones flowing at the foot of Barna-kő. In the novel "Egri csillagok" (Eclipse of the Crescent Moon), Gergő observed the marching Turks from here – today it would be difficult because the hilltop is densely forested.

After crossing the creek, the Z sign leading on the footpath turns left below the rock and goes around Barna-kő from the south, starting to ascend. We are already on limestone surface and about 90 meters of elevation gain awaits us. Along the path, there are many lilies of the valley whose leaves must not be confused with wild garlic because they are highly poisonous. Fortunately, the former’s leaves are smaller, appear later, less shiny than those of wild garlic, and of course lack the characteristic garlic smell.

At the end of a climb, we cross the P+ sign, turning right onto it, then later continue on the P sign. After a more significant descent, we reach the Völgységi creek in a logged area. The sign crosses this surprisingly clear stream here. It is worth wandering a bit because giant butterbur and other indicator plants grow on the banks downstream.

The most unpleasant and dangerous section of the hike is the last 600 meters, where the sign must be followed beside the road. Due to traffic, we must be careful! Our hike ends at the entrance of Vár-völgy, at the bus stop opposite the buffet.