The glass-producing forests of Eastern Mecsek

Itinerary:

• We start from Óbánya on the Z+ trail heading southeast.
• At the village sports field, we turn onto the Z▲ trail, from where we visit the Belátó lookout in Óbánya along a short path.
• We climb up to the ridge on the Z▲ trail.
• At Hosszú-tető, we join the yellow trail of the Hungarian Pilgrimage Route on the level dozer road, which runs together with the Z trail for a while.
• We connect to the Z+ trail, which leads down to the Réka valley.
• In the Réka valley, we turn right and follow the P+ trail to the Réka hut.
• From the Réka hut, we return on the K◼ trail to the edge of Kisújbánya.
• At the edge of Kisújbánya, we turn right onto the K trail, and follow it back to Óbánya.

About the tour in detail:

Óbánya, the former glassworks, the center of Eastern Mecsek

From the center of Óbánya, at the triangle formed by the pub, church, and bus stop, we head down the valley following the Z+ trail. The characteristic valley-floor, one-street mountain village was founded by German settlers in the early 18th century. The bishopric of Pécs wanted to use its until then unused mountainous forest areas to fuel glassworks. The glassworks, which operated for over half a century, produced mainly round window panes and bulbous wine bottles but was also the basis of 20th-century ceramic production. After the glassworks closed at the end of the 18th century, inhabitants remained, and the surrounding dense forests provided an inexhaustible supply of wood, so they made tools and household items. The pottery from Óbánya, made from noble clay found at the village border, also became famous. With the boom in coal mining in the Mecsek, mining became the main industry among the residents.

After the small church, we turn right onto a cart road leading into a side valley, crossing the Óbánya stream. We turn up beside the sports field to the Z▲ trail, which after a short climb reaches the saddle above the village, under the Belátó lookout. We make a short detour, climbing barely 100 meters to the tower standing in the dense forest. A strip of missing trees faces the village, giving a view of Óbánya's houses and its small church. From here, we can observe most of the village nestled between the mountains. On the opposite gentler slope are the cleared grazing lands and mountain meadows from pastures that add a true mountain atmosphere to the landscape.

Along the forests of the Réka valley

Returning to the Z▲ trail, we climb the neighboring Hosszú-tető, where we join the yellow Hungarian Pilgrimage Route (and Z trail) coming from Réka castle to the right. With a few kilometers detour, we can visit the former fortress where according to tradition, Saint Margaret of Scotland, granddaughter of Saint Stephen, was born, though now only barely visible ruins remain. On the two trails, we continue west but skip the section climbing to the summit: at the junction, we cut the steep detour on the southern side along the level trail of the Hungarian Pilgrimage Route and connect to the Z+ trail leading down to the Réka valley on a forestry road. Through the clearings on the hillside, we catch views from the trees, allowing us to look around the central forests of Eastern Mecsek, the Kecske ridge framing the Réka valley, and the northern side of Zengő.

The Réka valley was named after Rékavár, and so was our destination, the mountain hut on the upper part of the valley, the Réka hut – both names originated from the stream's former crayfish population, as the valley was earlier mentioned as Crayfish valley. On the valley floor, the P+ trail joins, which we follow right to the Réka hut. In the secluded valley, silver lindens, ash, and hornbeam mix with oak and beech forests. Occasionally small forest clearings open, but the defining feature remains the dense forest's atmosphere. The southern side of the valley steepens increasingly, and the stream speeds up as it flows towards its source area.

At a crossroads, we reach a mountain-like forest clearing, on one side old beeches and pines surround the Réka hut, while on the other side stands a building used as both a rain shelter and bivouac accommodation. This idyllic resting place has a terrace hidden in the pine grove with benches and tables. On the opposite clearing is a bivouac house with a rain shelter below and a nighttime refuge in the roof space. The Réka hut was originally built as a hunting lodge but was converted by the local forestry into a mountain hut, so overnight stays are possible deep within the forest. The shady valleys send a gentle breeze towards the clearing in front of the hut; from the adjacent Etelka spring flowing from a granite formation, cool drinking water can always be taken. The valley floor lies on a geological boundary where Mecseknádasd sandstone and Óbánya aleurolite (mudstone) meet, so the waterproof mudstone brings groundwater seeping through sandstone from the Zengő massif to the surface.

In the northern side valley branching off, we continue on the K◼ trail on a forestry road climbing through dense oak and beech forests. A path cuts off a bend of the forestry road, eventually leading to the highest point on our tour, the Donkey rest (Szamár-pihenő) at the junction of forest roads in the pass below Somos hill. At the edge of the dense beech forest, there is a narrow view south over the winding Réka valley and surrounding mountains.

Óbánya’s little brother, the uphill glassworks settlement, Kisújbánya

Halfway down the descent on the other side, we reach the clearings above Kisújbánya where the landscape first truly opens up on our route. Kisújbánya, sitting higher at the valley head, is bordered by gentler slopes and ridges than Óbánya. From the wide meadow appear the opposite mountain tops over 500 m: Csalános hill and Dögkút-tető. Near the edge of the meadow, we also pass an old barn before turning into the valley, reaching the first houses; we descend alongside nicely renovated, tidy farms. Similarly to its big brother Óbánya, Kisújbánya was a clearing settlement with a Swabian population founded for the exploitation of the forests of the Óbánya valley. Once the forests around Óbánya were exhausted, the glassworks settled a level higher, in today’s center of Kisújbánya. In the 20th century, Kisújbánya slowly depopulated and transformed into a holiday village where the population around Pécs found an idyllic resting place.

We barely touch the village: after the first farms, as we reach the Óbánya valley, we turn right on the K trail into a gorge valley closed by a wooden barrier and strictly protected. After only a few hundred meters, following the cart road cutting into the steep slope and crossing the stream, we reach a charming small meadow where a renovated rain shelter, benches, and tables await next to the abundant Bodzás spring – here the forestry has established a quality picnic spot. In the Mecsek, well-maintained forest rest areas are spectacularly common, and near the campfire places, the firewood is usually pre-cut, waiting for hikers. Due to the heightened nature protection status of the popular Óbánya valley, this is the only location where such a facility has been established.

Descent in the Óbánya valley along the geological adventure park

Already at the streambed below the meadow, the stream strengthened by the water of the Bodzás spring drops down stone steps, and just under 100 meters away is one of the mountain’s largest and most spectacular waterfalls, the Ferde waterfall. Its uniqueness comes from the steeply tilted limestone slab base, where water cascades sideways along the tilted layers, then sharply curves back under the road between the rocks. Utilizing the stream’s fall, a mill operated here until the 20th century; the ruined foundations can still be discovered beside the waterfall.

Just below the Ferde waterfall, we cross a bridge and arrive among knobby, strange rock blocks along the cart road. These peculiar rocks come from the hillside, where a karst spring emerges from deep, building thick freshwater limestone layers on the steep slope. The wet limestone wall called Csepegő-szikla is an excellent habitat for mosses and ferns, which heavily cover the stones. Looking closer at the shapes, we can see folds, small pools, and stalactite formations typical of caves and freshwater limestone. The process actually evokes a cave environment because pressure release from the karst water escaping to the surface causes immediate precipitation of dissolved lime, creating attractive forms. We can also follow how the valley’s incision makes the spring recess lower and lower; higher on the right, only mossy, broken, dry spring limestone remains, some of which has already fallen into the streambed.

The narrow gorge gradually widens as after Csepegő-szikla, the cart road skirts the water flow. We can see a few more spectacular waterfalls in the next kilometer: as the valley floor cuts deeper, exposing the limestone slabs composing the mountain, a few-meter high cascades form on the rocks. On clearings around forest houses, the dense gorge forest opens up, and a former mill building and residential house stand nicely restored beside the stream. Kremer mill was one of approximately 30 mills using the stream's water energy from Kisújbánya down to Mecseknádasd.

The path bypasses two forest ponds below the houses. The oxygen-rich water of the stream creates an excellent environment for trout farming. The trout raised here are served fresh and crispy in season under the pond or on the terrace of the village’s central pub. An artificial channel, the mill race, bypasses the pond; it once led water to the wheel at the end of Óbánya.

Below the trout ponds, we reach the one-street mountain village. From the Saint Margaret statue, we descend on asphalt among the houses to our starting point, the center marked by the church, pub, and bus stop.