In the footsteps of the Captain of Tenkes

Itinerary:

• We start from the bus stop at Siklós (Máriagyűd), social home, following the P trail towards the hill.
• At the bottom of the steps leading to the pilgrimage church, we turn left onto the S trail and follow it up to the Tenkes ridge.
• Here we turn right on the K trail.
• At the shelter, we switch to the S+ trail and go left.
• At the northern base of Tenkes, we turn right and follow the Z trail to the bottom of the Kistótfalu wine cellar row.
• From here, the K marks guide us back to the ridge and then to the previously visited shelter.
• From the shelter, this time we choose the P▲ trail and walk down it to Máriagyűd.
• From the bottom of the church, we return to the bus stop on the familiar P trail.

Detailed description of the hike

On the Csodabogyó nature trail, on the southern side of Tenkes

We start our hike in the center of Máriagyűd, just a stone's throw from the famous pilgrimage church. To experience spiritual deepening as well, it is recommended to save the visit to the church until the end. We walk uphill on the P trail, then at the bottom of the stairs, near the crucifix, turn left onto the S trail. Along the way, we can recall the history of the picturesque village lying at the foot of Tenkes. In Roman times, the road connecting Pécs and Eszék ran here, and next to its branch at Vókány, according to tradition, a statue of the Virgin Mary was later erected on a tree stump to watch over travelers. Also, according to tradition, during the Hungarian conquest, Etu (Etel), son of chief Eudu (Győd or Győdő), chose a shelter here near the spring — from this likely comes the village's name, Gyűd, which only received the Mária prefix in 1934. Another theory traces the name Gyűd back to Princess Gyeücsa (Géza), as the first chapel here was supposedly built by King Géza II when the army of King Louis VII of France marched through Hungary on their way to the Holy Land. Whatever the truth, Máriagyűd was administratively independent until 1977, since then officially part of Siklós.

Following the S trail, we pass the pilgrims' shelter (rain shelter), then the rarely used Reformed church, turn north, and climbing a loess hollow path, leave the houses behind. Here our route coincides with the Csodabogyó nature trail. Established in 1998 and originally ending at the Pyber hut, it was extended in 2021 to a 6.5 km long circular thematic trail with panels showcasing the wildlife of Tenkes, focusing particularly on tree species. The sub-Mediterranean flora unique to the Villány Hills is clearly observable. Near the Tenkes ridge, we find mainly oak and hornbeam associations and karst scrub forests; here on the hill’s southern slope, rock grasslands and slope steppes flank the ascending path.

The hill base is covered with loess, but on the steeper parts of Tenkes the limestone surface of the Villány Hills emerges in many places. We soon observe one such area as we reach the lookout tower of the nature trail, opened in 2003. The wooden structure's covered terrace does not offer a 360-degree panorama as it stands on the hillside, but the landscape spreading beneath is magnificent anyway. To the east rises the almost perfectly shaped cone of Szársomlyó, in front of it, the elegant towers of the Máriagyűd pilgrimage church reach the sky. To the left and higher up, we can spot the slope steppes of Felső-legelő where we will descend at the end of the hike and look back at the lookout. We see the Dráva plain and among the trees, the houses of Siklós and the impressive castle on a limestone ridge geologically part of but separated from the Villány Hills.

Where the Captain of Tenkes chased the Habsburg soldiers

Although hidden by trees, vineyards stretch below, and not far is the limestone quarry under the peak. At least six mines operated through time on Tenkes, including the Rózsa quarry on the eastern side of Máriagyűd, famous for its pink marble-like Triassic limestone. The high-quality, easily extractable "Siklósi rose" was popular as a decorative stone, but the quarries greatly disfigured the south side of Tenkes. A mine opening request was still submitted to the Baranya County Government Office in 2019 but fortunately rejected due to environmental protection reasons.

Standing at the lookout, we wouldn't guess that just a few dozen meters away in a loess gorge on the hillside is a natural cave. The approximately 45 meters long and 20 meters deep Gyűdi Cave, consisting of several chambers, is lined with dripstone and stalactites, although most formations were extracted for decorative and memorial stone in 1872. The Villány Hills also have smaller fissure caves formed by rock displacements, but Gyűdi is rarer as a thermal cave formed by hot water dissolving the rock.

According to the story, during the Rákóczi War of Independence, Máté Eke, the hero of The Captain of Tenkes, who was hiding from the Habsburg soldiers, also hid in one of Tenkes' caves. The first Hungarian Television series, produced in 1963 with 13 episodes, took place around here. Eke Máté, with his companions, constantly troubled Colonel Eberstein's plans in the narrative. However, the outdoor scenes were actually filmed near Budapest, and the crew only traveled to Siklós for a month to shoot the castle-related scenes.

From a forest ranger’s hut to karst scrub forests

Leaving the lookout, we climb a slightly steep path to the base of the peak, where we can rest at the Pyber hut, originally built as a forest ranger’s cabin and named after Ivan Pyber, a former district forest ranger (father of the current one). Today it serves as the forest workers’ "office" and a shelter for hikers, although it is not open to the public. It’s a fairytale little house with a fire pit, tables, benches, and even a separate toilet.

From the hut, a short ascent leads to the long East-West ridge of Tenkes, reaching the saddle at the Felső-legelő junction. From here, the summit of the Villány Hills' second highest mountain is close, where a decommissioned but still protected locator stands. We continue east along the K trail on the narrow ridge path through dense karst scrub forests dominated by kermes oak, downy oak, and flowering ash. Here we first encounter the nature trail's namesake, the spiny burnet, a sub-Mediterranean shrub whose red berries seem to grow directly from the leaves, though actually the leaf-like, lanceolate, dark green structures are stem modifications. It blooms April-May with pale greenish flowers, offering a remarkable sight — hence the name.

At a shelter, we reach another junction with benches, tables, a fire pit, and a covered shelter for comfort. Near the end of the figure-eight route, we will return here, but now turning left on the S+ trail, begin descending into the Tenkes forest. Tectonic pressures pushed sedimentary layers creating characteristic "scales". Reflecting their direction, the northern side is much gentler than the southern side throughout the Villány Hills including Tenkes. The hill range, more a marked hill than a mountain by elevation but rightly called a mountain for its topography, lacks a real valley network, so the S+ trail simply follows the flat northern "back" of the hill, basically heading towards a tower.

Strolling on the northern side of Tenkes

At the wild garlic meadow, a sunny hayfield base, we reach the hill's foot, where turning right we change trails again, now following the Z marks. (Taking a short detour and going further up the steep sandy side road to the house opposite, we get a northern view of Tenkes in the Bisse meadow. From here, the mountain’s long East-West stretch is most visible.) The dirt road winds east through a forest that shades the thorny burnet occasionaly appearing from time to time before sharply turning south toward the Kistótfalu wine cellar row.

Only a few mostly dilapidated press houses stand here now, but local vintners still retreat here to escape the world, with lush vegetation-covered, verandah buildings creating a romantic atmosphere deep in the forest. The Villány wine region’s well-known wine cellar rows (Palkonya, Villánykövesd, and Villány itself) are famous tourist attractions, yet wandering in the mountains, such abandoned, simultaneously uplifting and melancholic ensembles are found in many places. Although on the verge of decay, as long as they stand, they tangibly convey a not-so-distant past when home vineyard cultivation was popular. The peculiarity of the wine cellar row we visit is that it stands in the original location of Kistótfalu. The first military survey map from between 1782 and 1785 shows the village here, which moved slightly northeast in the mid-19th century expanding toward the then built railway line.

Passing through a tunnel-shaped purple-flowered acacia thicket and along the edge of a meadow, we join the K trail, turning right to start the climb back to the ridge of Tenkes. We must overcome a vertical difference of 200 meters practically heading towards the tower along the Kopasz ridge. At the top of the climb, near a hunting stand, a doorway-like gap opens among trees where we re-enter the karst scrub forest on the ridge near the Csukma peak. To the left, the P trail joins us; for a while, we follow it alongside the K trail through a familiar terrain of oaks, ashes, and linden trees encountered at the hike's start. Then we stay on the K trail as the P trail breaks off to the left and we approach the Csodabogyó nature trail’s shelter from the east, at the center of the figure-eight route.

Sacred site under the protection of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary

From here, we follow the P▲ (and initially the S+) trail south, i.e., left. The few hundred meters ahead may be the most spectacular section of the hike: the path, often on rocky surfaces, descends steeply toward Máriagyűd. Exiting the ridge forest onto sparser slope steppes, the landscape suddenly opens before us, and we look almost bird's-eye at Siklós below, and the Dráva plain with wooded patches. To the left in the distance, behind the monumental cement factory buildings, we notice the Beremendi-rög, a limestone ridge partly mined and separated from the Villány Hills similarly to the Siklós castle hill. To the right, we can spot the red-roofed cap of the lookout visited earlier, peeping through the foliage.

Remaining on the P▲ trail, we tread carefully as the rocks can be slippery, especially in rainy weather! Reaching a planted pine forest, we still must overcome a distinctly steep drop before arriving at the statue of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary erected in 1860. In a strikingly beautiful setting before a stone wall, the Pietà acquired its current form in 1937, shaded by a huge linden tree, a favorite retreat for locals and pilgrims. Sitting on the benches surrounding the clearing, we can also feel the peaceful atmosphere.

As we visit one of the country's most important Mary pilgrimage sites, our hike thus gains a spiritual character. We can descend to the pilgrimage church by a small detour following the P↺ trail east — passing the Calvary Chapel built in 1780, the stations adorned with Zsolnay ceramics, and arriving at the outdoor altar beside the cemetery. However, now we prefer to stay on the P▲ trail, which leads more directly to the church.

The twin-towered building, 37 meters long and 22 meters tall, dedicated to the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was granted basilica minor status by the pope in 2008. Tradition says the Pécsvárad Benedictines built a small chapel here in the 11th century; its remains can be seen today in the St. Michael Chapel connected from the south to the sanctuary. Certainly, a stone church already stood here in the 14th century. It had a turbulent history: from the 16th century it was a Turkish mosque, then a Greek Orthodox and — since the lord of Siklós castle converted the population to this faith — also a Reformed church. Due to recurring Mary apparitions, Catholics successfully reclaimed it in 1689 after the Turkish rule. The current building was constructed in 1739 with original restructuring and expansion, along with the adjoining Baroque Franciscan monastery, now used as a pilgrims' house.

The church interior is also dominated by Baroque elements; the statue of Mary and the Infant Jesus on the main altar is a replica made in 1713. The original was brought from Kapronca by Franciscans in 1689 but was taken to Eszék during looting by Reformed Kuruc forces and is still kept there. Leaving the church, on the left side, we find St. Paul's well, artificially created after the Gyűdi spring dried up at the Roman road fork. From here, stairs lead close to the outdoor altar surrounded by arcades.

As we descend the steps before the church, let's look left and bid farewell to St. Francis, whose statue locals affectionately call the "chocolate statue" due to its brown color. From here, it is only a few meters along the P trail to the start and end point of our hike, the Máriagyűd bus stop.