Pilgrimage to Nagy-Eged

Itinerary:

• We follow the K trail across the Donát-tető to below the Tiba Well, where the last few meters are marked by the K● trail.
• From the Tiba Well, we climb up on the P● trail to the Eged saddle, from which the P▲ trail leads up to the Nagy-Eged peak.
• On the western side of Eged Hill, we descend on the K/ nature trail markings, then from the foot of the hill we return to Eger on the P trail. 

Detailed description of the hike:

Above Eger in the vineyard-covered hills

Starting from the Egervár railway stop, we proceed north along Zoltay Street beside the tracks, accompanied by the K trail marking. At the end of the street, we turn right onto Donát Street, which climbs alongside garden houses leading out of the town to Donát-tető. Saint Donát is the patron saint of winemakers, protecting the crops from hail and lightning. From here, the wide gravel road winds among orchards and vineyards on the gentle slopes at the foot of the Bükk Mountains.

The city of Eger owes its fame to the struggle against the Turks and its status as a bishop's see, as well as its wines. In fact, the bishopric founded by King Saint Stephen inspired viticulture from the beginning, as wine symbolizing the blood of Christ is an essential element of Christian liturgies. The city’s first cellars were also carved out to store the bishop's tithe. The arrival of Walloons after the Tatar invasion boosted viticulture, and the Serb refugees fleeing from the Turks brought their favored grape varieties and techniques. Viticulture persisted even during the Turkish era. Although alcohol consumption is forbidden by Islam, wine trading was still a significant source of income. The phylloxera plague almost wiped out the vineyards, but they were successfully renewed by grafting original grape varieties onto resistant American rootstocks. Red wines dominate; the best-known is the Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood of Eger), the flagship of the Eger wine region, of which the largest quantity is sold abroad from Hungary. Originally, it is made from a blend of several red grape varieties, with no single variety dominating, and is based on Kékfrankos.

Above the vineyards, the steep cones of Nagy-Eged and Várhegy appear first, then on the northern horizon behind the hills, the central block of the Bükk Plateau reveals itself framed by the white stripe of southern viewing stones. We walk carefully on the nearly straight path, because about one kilometer from the city edge, we need to turn right onto a dirt road into a shallow valley surrounding the Nagy-Eged block. Even here, hobby gardens and vineyards predominate, as the sunny slopes of the hills create a particularly favorable microclimate for the ripening of fruits. It is no coincidence that the hills around Eger are known as one of the main strongholds of viticulture in Hungary. Here the warm weather arriving from the Great Plain, the slopes increasing the angle of sunlight incidence, and the rich volcanic soil all contribute to the quality of the crop. The hills surrounding Nagy-Eged are mainly made of rhyolite tuff, that is fossilized volcanic ash, although the Eged block itself consists of Triassic and Eocene limestone, where the vineyards climb higher than anywhere else in Hungary.

Climbing through the oak forests to Nagy-Eged

We circumvent Nagy-Eged with a large curve around a flattening small valley, where the oak forests at the foothill already begin. Opposite us, the sharp forms of Kis- and Nagy-Tiba and the Nagy-Oltár rising in Várhegy dominate the landscape. The cart road turns into the oak forest, where on a path cut into the rising slope, we reach the valley nestled among the hills. Here, we depart from the K trail to approach the Tiba Well on the K● trail. At the end of the erosion, a small stone construction marks the former location of the well, which has long been filled with sediment, so do not expect a drinking water spring. Above the well frame, a ruined bench recalls better times. We turn back onto the dozer road climbing along the hill side, now on the P● trail, which continues along the back of Nagy-Eged in the gentle forest.

On this nearly two-kilometer climbing road, we reach the summit with the gentlest slope. Moreover, we cover most of the elevation in the oak forest, where the dense canopy protects us from the summer sun's heat. At the saddle behind Nagy-Eged, we intersect the P trail, but reach the summit via the right-branching P▲ trail from the saddle. Here the forest thins, and the rocky summit area is home to a dense oak forest with a rich shrub layer. After a rest at the summit, we reach the former Dobó István lookout tower erected at the highest point. Instead of renovation, it has been sacrificed to telecommunications for now, but plans exist to rebuild the tower in a safer, more modern form.

Below the summit, from a widening clearing on the edge, the view opens even without the tower to the city spreading at the hill foot, the valley of the Eger stream, and the surrounding hills and vineyards. Beyond the hilly region, the dark volcanoes of Mátra rise with the highest point of Hungary, Kékes Peak, in the center. In the northwest distance, in good weather, the volcanic region of Karancs-Medves is also visible, while toward the southern horizon, the humid endlessness of the Great Plain extends out over the hills at the foot of the Bükk. If we look north from the fan-shaped clearing at the summit, we can see the Bükk Plateau from Nagy-Eged, which perhaps reveals itself most completely here, at the southern end of the massif. The white stripe of the viewing stones can be followed from Három-kő to the truncated Bél-kő, with the highest Tar-kő and the rockiest Pes-kő well distinguished.

Descent among Turkey oaks and hobby gardens

The onward route runs on the steepest western side of the hill through bushy Turkey oak forests. At the foot of the meadow, the barely visible track of the nature trail marked K/ branches off to the left, where we descend among stations of panels presenting the hill’s history, wildlife, and curiosities down to the weekend gardens. In places, the path is cut into the shallow soil and rainwater runoff washes stones onto it, demanding increased caution during descent. The difficult terrain is compensated by views opening up in several places and the many interesting details learned from the nature trail’s signs.

As the slope of the hillside softens, we reach the line of weekend houses and join the P trail coming from the left, which meanders through gardens, circumventing the rounded block of Kis-Eged. Interestingly, one of the ancestors of cultivated vines, the 30 million-year-old Vitis hungarica, was found fossilized in the hill’s rock here.

At the beginning of our hike, we crossed the lower deepening part of a shallow valley, after which we climb one last ascent to the Ciglé-domb. From here, we can look back at the highlight of our hike, the imposing Nagy-Eged, which, with its unrealistically steep slopes and rounded, forested summit, truly gives the impression of the last bastion of the Bükk. At the edge of a pine forest, we bypass the former clay pit on the town’s outskirts, where many snail species were discovered, unknown to science until then. Descending sharply from the steep slope, we return to Eger through the industrial park next to the town. After some time walking on the sidewalk alongside the Noszvaj country road, our circular route closes as we arrive back at the Egervár railway stop.