The diverse habitats of Southern Börzsöny

Itinerary

• We start from Zebegény railway station heading northeast on the S▲ trail, which passes the rock sanctuary, the Millennium Memorial, the Calvary Chapel, and the Károly Kós lookout tower.
• We follow the K+ marking all the way to Köves-mező.
• From Köves-mező, we proceed on the Z▲ trail along the edge of the plateau to Gubacsi-hálás.
• From Gubacsi-hálás to Törökmező, we take the P marking.
• From the intersection after the tourist house, the Z markings guide us back to Zebegény railway station.

Detailed description of the route

Zebegény

The settlement was first mentioned in a charter in 1295 under the name Zebeguen, but Bronze Age pit dwellings, fireplaces, and pottery fragments found on Calvary Hill also indicate that the area has been inhabited for a long time. During the Turkish occupation, the Hungarian population of the village was wiped out and only repopulated in the 18th century by Slavic settlers, then around 1735 by German settlers.

From Zebegény to Köves-mező

We set out from the village railway station on the S▲ trail. Soon we pass the Boldogasszony Parish Church, built in 1909 based on the plans by Károly Havas Kós and Béla Jánszky. Its bright interior is decorated with Art Nouveau frescoes and colorful stained glass windows designed by Károly Kós. We cross a bridge and soon head up the winding road of Calvary Hill. According to historical maps, the summit was used as communal pasture, where the wife of a local Székely farmer, Józsefné Fischer Zoller Borbála, had a beautiful chapel built in memory of her deceased son. Unfortunately, the chapel’s wooden shingle onion dome roof and the altarpiece portraying the Ascension of Christ were lost in a fire. To the right of the chapel, nine stations climbing the hill can be seen; below them runs the cemetery fence. The small niches of the stations show cast-iron images depicting Jesus's way of the cross. Stations 10-13 are on the outer wall of the chapel, while station 14 is inside the chapel.

Next to the Calvary Chapel stands the monumental Flag of the Nation monument and memorial site for the tragedies of our national heroes, built between 1935 and 1938 based on designs by Géza Maróti. Continuing on the S▲ trail, we reach the famous Károly Kós lookout tower, named after the renowned Transylvanian polymath, designed by Árpád Csóka. Its upper level offers a beautiful panorama of the Danube Bend and Pilismarót. The 2014-built lookout replaced the 1964 predecessor which was built on the columns of the Flag of the Nation monument. Its role was very important because while similar monuments were demolished, the Flag of the Nation monument was registered as a lookout tower at the time, thus escaping destruction.

Leaving the Károly Kós lookout, we continue straight through a small saddle and then switch to the K+ marking. In the Csizmadia valley, the chilly gorges mostly contain hornbeam-oak forests, while the cooler, shaded areas have beech woods.

From Köves-mező to Törökmező

Approaching Köves-mező, the rock beneath suddenly changes to limestone from the Miocene volcanic period marine deposits. This limestone plateau, stretching roughly from Köves-mező to Törökmező, is largely covered by drought-resistant Turkey oak forests. The spectacular Turk’s cap lily can often be found here. Along some forest crossing paths, wooded pastures known as 'hagyásfás csapásrét' are found—long, narrow strips originally parts of large driveways rather than grazing grounds. Their origin dates back to medieval times when Hungarian grey cattle were driven on foot as far as Nuremberg—the city even erected a statue honoring the cattle that arrived during a famine, saving the population from starvation. These path edges were formerly biodiversity-rich but have greatly declined, similar to the area's former sweet chestnut forests. According to tradition, Charles Robert's gardeners introduced varieties from Italy (Naples, Florence), which mixed to form the versions known at Nagymaros.

From Köves-mező, we continue on the Z▲ trail along the plateau edge, through dry oak woods over the Fehér and Kapu hills to Gubacsi-hálás. The Fehér hill is named after the white-colored sedimentary limestone formed during post-volcanic marine deposition, mined in several local spots. The forest here mosaics into silicate rock grasslands and rocky soil slope steppes on steep slopes, with downy oak woods. Along this stretch, we share the path with the Nagymaros Chestnut Nature Trail; we can see a large elevated hunting stand and several artificial nest boxes in the forest. From the steep, rocky Gubacsi-hálás clearing, we enjoy a fairy-tale panorama of the Danube Bend, with Nagymaros houses in the foreground. Our eyes can scan numerous valleys and depressions forming in the volcanic mountain's slope.

From the lookout point, we turn north at the base of the grasslands and proceed almost flat to the asphalt road. We follow the P marking to Törökmező, which initially winds beside the asphalt road, crosses it, reaches a small meadow, and finally arrives at Törökmező with the K marking. We pass through the adventure park and continue around the tourist house featuring a zoo. At the nearby intersection, we switch to the Z marking. After a few steps, it’s worth taking a detour on the Z● trail into the valley decorated with hills and bridges of the White Spring group. After a slight descent, we reach the Malom creek valley, where the summer-green surface fishing pond invites travelers to rest.

Back to Zebegény along the Malom creek

We leave the creek valley beside a tension cable. From here, the trail meanders on a wide path through hornbeam-oak woods, then returns to the shore at the Malom lodge and Nomádia yurt camp. True to its name, the accommodation is indeed nomadic: water can be drawn from the nearby creek, electricity can only be from batteries, heating is with wood—the cell signal barely penetrates the trees, so expect a genuine nature-close experience if you decide to stay here.

Continuing from the house, we cross the creek bed multiple times, balancing on giant tree trunks or stones. We experience an authentic babbling water edge atmosphere, especially during times of high water flow. We cross a dried reed marsh among willow trees, then walk among older single-flowered hawthorns. Two meadows away, mighty oak and field maples shade the edge of a marshy meadow. The Z trail joins a wider path at another creek crossing, along which we'll return to Zebegény. Along the way, we encounter an interesting andesite exposure and a small sign explaining the history of the Ferenc bridge. Our trail leads us among Zebegény’s charming little houses back to the starting point at the railway station.