The Good Life in Aggtelek National Park Part 41: Aggtelek National Park Winter Tour, Feb. 7

Finally, finally we were able to take part in one of the frequent guided tours at the Park. We almost did not make it though. We had spoken to the mayor about getting our road ploughed as well, and the day before Kata was able to get the car out. However, during the next day, unbeknownst to us, the wind had covered a 30m unprotected stretch of our road with about 40cm of snow. The situation did not become apparent until Kata tried to get to work at 7:30pm and got stuck. We worked feverishly for about an hour by headlight and a gorgeous orange full moon, and Kata eventually made it out to the main road.

I took the bus into Jósvafő and changed into my winter trekking gear with Kata at the Tengerszem Hotel. We met our tour guides and about 25 other participants at the Manor House Environmental Centre at 10:00. Of course we had to visit some of the Park's hucul horses in their stalls. Almost the entire herd is free-roaming, but these few were in the stable for various reasons. Edit Doman guided the tour, along with cave guide Maria, and Adam Szabo. The route followed the Tohonya Stream along the Tohonya Nature Trail (simultaneously a section of the National Blue Trail). The stream emits from the depths of the Kossuth Cave. Like the other four streams in Jósvafő originating in the caves, the water temperature is for some reason 3-4 degrees warmer in winter than in summer. The Tohonya was flowing strongly and loudly, and offered many photo ops for the shutter happy group. I have always found the voice of a babbling brook extremely soothing. The weather was gorgeous and the terrain was blanketed with a thick layer of fresh snow which was perfect for those looking for signs of some of the Park's resident wolves and lynx. Adam Szabo, the Park's expert on large carnivores and Large Carnivore Monitoring Project Manager, explained the situation of the wolves and lynx in the area. See here for more information about the project, and ANP's joint Adopt-a-Wolf Project with WWF.

Once we reached the head of the valley, the group split in two because only about 10 people can enter the Imre Vass Cave at once. Maria took us into the cave, while Edit and Adam took the other half of the group up to a point above Horse Head Valley to look for wolf tracks, then the groups switched after about half an hour. The Imre Vass Cave is truly spectacular and blessed with a wide variety of formation created by both calcium drip and flowing water. The cave is open year-round. During the summer, tourists can even choose to combine the cave tour with a horse and carriage tour and a picnic. Emerging 30 minutes later, we had some hot tea from the thermos and some homemade túrós pogácsa Kata had baked before heading uphill to join Edit and Adam. The view of the winter Aggtelek karst from the top of Horse Head Valley is truly magnificent, and Edit's personal favourite. Although there were many tracks, we did not spot any from either wolves of lynx. The area is particularly hospitable to deer, and therefore, also a good hunting ground for their predators as well. We did spot a fox in the distance. In fact, the day before, a fox came into our yard again and stole the apple off the back of the snow hedgehog Kata had built for me!

The return leg passed by some of the hucul herd. The 150 or so mares and youngsters are kept here, while the stallions are kept at pastures both in Szinpetri and Perkupa. A few approached and we were able to pet them as 3 cross country skiers passed us going in the opposite direction. This was the first time I had ever seen cross-country skiers in Hungary. I had just been talking about trying to get my skis over, since the valley between Szalonna and Perkupa would also be a perfect track. The group was offered the choice of a quick 15 minute steep descent back to Jósvafő or an easier and slower meandering route back. The weather decided it for us and we all chose to spend more time enjoying the landscape. There was hot tea and homemade pogácsa awaiting us back at Local Museum where the tour ended. A second tour started from here, led by local Berecz Béla who curates the Local Museum (which won the village of the year award in 2007) and also runs the Tiny House Guest House. Béla led us up to the old Calvinist church and separately constructed bell tower.

The western section of the church, dating from the original 1399 stone Calvinist Church, was built during the reign of Hungarian King Zsigmond (1368-1437) and is surrounded by an accompanying fortress wall. However, a medieval addition was made in 1793-1794, expanding the church to its present form. The interior of the church is set off with a painted coffered ceiling, choir and pulpit considered to be among the best work of rural painters and carpenters. The church is a major monument of Hungarian folk decorative art, featuring a rare wood carved and painted cassette ceiling

The helmeted Baroque-style bell tower was constructed in 1851. The bell tower was absorbed into the Parish of Jósvafő in 1882. Renovated and lit up outside, it rises above a regionally characteristic cemetery with carved wooden grave markers.

An introduction the village's history was made here, before we returned to look at some of the museum's permanent exhibits on caving, local agriculture, local life and education. We would have liked to spend much more time here, but it was just too cold by this time. We will return in spring for a closer look. Béla runs regular walking tours in Jósvafő.

By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and up until now we had only had the delicious pogacsa to sustain us. I needed something warm and solid in my stomach, so we made a stop at the Castello Pizzeria in Edeleny for a quick takeaway. I really wanted a pizza, but a gyros seemed the faster option. The "pita" bread seemed a bit sweet to me, but the gyros was good and only 650 Huf plus 50 Huf for the takeaway box. The service was very friendly, and I am sure we will be going back sometime to try the pizza.

We then headed to the Irota Ecolodge for a viewing of the film Adrienn Pál. The film won several awards a few years ago, and features some scenes at the end filmed in Irota. For this reason, our friends invited the village to watch the film together at their house. About 20 people arrived with homemade palinka and wine, and baked goods. The film is very slow and depressing, but well done and worth a watch. We ended the long day with several shots of palinka and a sauna. Our friends were kind enough to let us stay the night seeing as our house would likely be about 11 degrees by this time.

Following a big breakfast, we headed home through the better road via Edeleny where we stopped for some food shopping. The COOP in Szendrő is excellent, but it does not have good muesli. Last winter there was a power outage for some unknown period of time and some of the contents in our freezer partially defrosted leaving a big puddle of fruit juice under and behind the fridge. We decided it was time and pulled all the food out and brought it outside into the minus degree weather while Kata cleaned up the mess and I chopped wood for the week. We then inventoried the contents of the freezer and discovered that we still have a full drawer of mushrooms, quite a lot of fruit and herbs, and a ton of both basil pesto and carrot top-coriander pesto. Time to start using this stuff up - mushroom season is only a couple months away.

See Edit Doman's photo gallery of the winter tour here

                and Alexander Molnar's here