Nyírbátor – Kisvárda (AK-12)

Itinerary:

Throughout the route, we must follow the K marking.

• We leave Nyírbátor heading north, then pass through Nyírderzs and Kántorjánosi to arrive at the Vajai-őstó.
• Continuing northward, we pass the small village of Rohod, then arrive at Nyírkarász.
• In the center of the village, we turn east, then returning to the northern direction, after Gyulaháza and Anarcs we reach Kisvárda.

Detailed description of the route:

Nyírbátor – Vaja

We begin the 12th section of the Alföldi Kéktúra with the discovery of Nyírbátor's inner city, woven with legends, historical memories, and sights. We start right from the building of the Franciscan monastery, where the stamp point is also located (if arriving by train, stamping is also possible at the railway station). The originally 18th-century, single-story building hosts an exhibition about the life of the Báthori family, which marked the city's golden age. Besides the listing of historical facts, original artifacts can be viewed, such as the noble family's dragon-adorned red marble coat of arms stone, István Báthori's saber, and Gábor Bethlen's ceremonial sword.

The city's defining Catholic Minorite Church also stands here, next to the Papok rét (Priests' meadow). The beautifully renovated building, with its pointed-arched windows reaching to the sky, a tower added on the north side, and its impressive height, is a gem of the city. Research suggests that István Báthori built it, and after his death in 1493, the Transylvanian voivode was buried here as well, although his sarcophagus can be found in the Reformed Church, which the Alföldi Kéktúra also passes.

The city's two significant monuments, the Reformed and the Minorite churches, are connected by the city history promenade, where a short walk leads to the other medieval church, beside the monumental building of which stands Hungary's largest and oldest wooden bell tower. The church was built by István Báthori but was only completed after his death in 1511, while the separate bell tower was constructed over half a century later, modeled on those in Transylvania. The oak beam, skirted structure with four corner towers is nearly 30 meters high and carries one of the country's largest bells. Next to the Reformed Church, we find the Báthori castle, expanded from a 14th-century manor. Currently, it houses a panopticon presenting the legends and tales of the Báthori family.

We leave the city center northeastward, past the industrial park, where we pass parking lots and lightweight buildings, stepping onto the sinking sandy region of the Nyírség. The deeply cut dozer road rises gently with a slight slope, crossing a mixed forest patch of acacia and poplar trees anchored in loose soil. On the other side of the forest, we reach the road leading to Nyírderzs, and shortly after, we arrive at the village.

Nyírderzs is a typical small village of the Great Hungarian Plain, depopulated during the Turkish occupation. It was repopulated by Greek Catholic settlers in the 18th century. Its church dates back to the 13th century and was rebuilt by the settlers in the 18th century, remaining a cozy center for the community of just a few hundred people with decorated carved benches and painted glass windows.

In the village center, next to the Greek Catholic church, we find the stamp on the Blue Trail direction signpost. It is worth resting and consuming something in the nearby small shop because the next stamp point is located on the edge of Vaja, and after that, we only encounter another stamp in a pub nearly 30 kilometers away in Nyírkarász.

We march on asphalt to the next village, Kántorjánosi, following the village's main street for a long stretch. Here too, hospitality services can be found if we haven't stocked up in Nyírderzs, making it possible before a long more nature-close section. After Kántorjánosi, we still follow asphalt roads, but the traffic is already negligible. Most cars use the road turning off at the village edge and the nearby highway, which we cross via a bridge. The highway section provides connection toward Beregszász and Ukraine, but it has only been completed up to Vásárosnamény by the Tisza River.

Vaja – Kisvárda

We follow the asphalt strip leading to Vaja for a long time, passing the holiday area at the village boundary. The houses along the shore of Vajai-őstó mostly hide the natural aquatic habitat, but before and after the holiday area, we can approach the shore of the lake surrounded by dense reed beds and admire one of the few remaining marshy water surfaces of the Nyírség. This is an „oasis” in the otherwise dry sandy region, where water birds can always be seen, but the marshy environment also hosts glacial relic species such as peat fern, cebadilla, crawling nettle, and the crested shield fern, known in Hungary from only three locations. The aquatic world preserved in the depression of Vajai-főfolyás guards the region's ancient diversity like a small island. The furrows between the sand ridges were once occupied by wetlands, but farming was difficult on the sparsely fertile sand, so the humus-rich marshes and swamps were largely drained for arable land. The lake surrounded by dense reeds was left for recreational purposes.

We leave the lake northward, and the asphalt road follows the watercourse leading to the next village center. Here, we find the Vay Castle, the ornament of the village, built at the end of the 16th century. The building, repeatedly rebuilt and extended with towers at two opposite ends, was made romantic in style with peaked windows in the 19th century, but the restoration in the 1960s only partly preserved this. The Vaja castle was an important place for negotiations during the Rákóczi War of Independence, and the museum established inside presents precisely this period and the history of the Vay family. The Alföldi Kéktúra marking does not enter the village but bypasses it through the orchards and fruit gardens beside the houses. If we want to visit the castle, we must make a detour of just over one kilometer toward the center on the P marking from the Vaja stamp point.

The next village is Rohod, which we cross without much excitement. Mainly orchards surround the village, particularly scenic in mid-spring and early autumn. Slaloming among sand dunes, we cross a mostly forest-covered ridge for a long stretch. In the center of the next village, Nyírkarász, we pass the Tölgyfa Presszó, which indeed offers refreshment in the shade of a huge oak in the middle of the sandy ridge walking. The stamp can be found at the entrance adjacent to the pub door; it is worth lingering a little, resting on the benches under the oak canopy.

The next forest crossing to Gyulaháza is not different from the previous one, slightly shorter. Upon entering the village, a surprise awaits visitors at one of the farms: a MIG-21 fighter jet points skyward next to the birthplace of Bertalan Farkas. Here was born Hungary's first and (until 2025) only astronaut, who flew into space in 1980 aboard a Soviet-made Soyuz as part of the Interkosmos program, spending eight days orbiting Earth on the Salyut-6 space station. Next to the renovated farmhouse, an exhibition was set up introducing the life of the astronaut who started as a fighter pilot and also displays an aviation history and space museum. We can see original space suits and models of spacecraft and space stations, as well as artifacts of one of the defining figures of Hungarian aviation history, a local native. Somewhat surreal in the community farming the sandy soil is the exhibition opening interstellar perspectives. About a hundred meters further, we can stamp before a municipal building.

We cut straight through the northern part of the village along Kisvárdai Street, indeed heading to Kisvárda, although the short connecting section also touches a small settlement, Anarcs, where two mansions can be found immediately, though one is already in a ruined state. Next to the village's two churches is the region's jewel, the Czóbel Mansion and its attached park, nicely renovated, offering insight into the everyday life of the Reform Era aristocracy with period furniture and art exhibitions. László Czóbel built the mansion in a classical style in 1826, and the family's poetess, Minka Czóbel, lived here; her grave is located in the castle park. Of the originally 14-hectare English park, 6 hectares remain, where centuries-old oaks grow alongside ferns, tulip trees, ironwoods, and plane trees.

Crossing the park behind the castle and leaving the village by the sports field, we reach Kisvárda's industrial area via a winding forest edge road. Crossing the railway tracks, we arrive at the regional center, where all important public institutions can be found. Its atmospheric center offers a swimming pool and beach, restaurants, and guesthouses for refreshment, rest, and relaxation. The settlement's landmark, the eponymous castle, can be found on the northwest edge of the city, next to a small lake and the beach.