Two Regions along one Road

 Komárovce - Slovakia

The inexhaustible time-honoured curiosity of a man leads him to explore more new interesting areas. The curiosity as an essence of human being urged us to take action in exploring yet undiscovered or abandoned parts of the world, to feel and admire its savours, colours and fragrance and with this admirable sensation find an inspiration for ordinary everyday events. One of those forlorn unknown territories waiting for tourists to travel to, is an extensive region stretching between the Tarcal in Hungary and the Moldava in south-eastern Slovakia, with its miraculous world hidden in shadowy woods, rivers and plains of the Bodva and the Tokaj valleys. Curious eyes reveal soon the richness of the natural and the cultural resources, and the close relation between man and nature. This is a territory with a hidden roots of natural affinity and kinship of various cultures for as more as one thousand years. Once the area of the river valleys was the last home of the Avars, where they moved and settled at the end of the 8-th century in a consequence of lasting droughts and the raids of war-like Kabar tribes. They had survived the aggressive Kabar raids and a subsequent chronicler could note that the local people of the area used their language. The evidence of this can be found in the still retained names of rivers, hills, village- settlement, etc. as for example the words „ tar, tor, tur” that denote the natural elevation – sacred mound (better sacrifice mound). Examples of the words with the prefix or affix „ tar, tor, tur „ of the Avar origin that are common as a local names in the region are: Turja, Turduna, Tarbucka, Tarko, Tarca, Tarjn, Szomotor, Latorca, Torna, Turuna,Toronya, Tarcal, Turzul, and others. The Avars after one hundred year migration as nomads settled in the region and found here new home for their future free development. The area of the originally settled Avar tribes was first limited by some appropriate natural barriers, later on power ambitions, crassitude and parochialism gave rise to a further division of the region. The extensive forests with fauna and flora, fields having a rich soil, rivers and streams alive with fish, and plenty of fresh air were guarantee of good living for local people. The philosophy of living closely related to natural conditions were and remained the greatest living and cultural values of the local people. Two main settlements, Tarcal and Moldava that had been developing and economically rising are located at the confluence of two rivers of Tisa and Slan with their tributary feeds of the rivers Samos, Latorica, Laborec, Uh, Ondava, Hornd, Murň and Rimava. While the town of Tarcal had its boast in developed viticulture, the town of Moldava nad Bodva was the centre and the background of the craft and industry. The town of Moldava gained the key importance in the 14-th century after the toll was introduced in Košice and so many waggonners ( furmen ) with the wine load heading north bypassed the town and stored their wine in the Moldava wine-cellers. Mutual dependance and necessity gained ground and formed close linkage between Tarcal and Moldava. Waggons, heavilly loaded with winebarrels at Tarcal, on their way to Poland had the pit stop (rest) in Moldava. The waggoners, on their way back traded with local craftsmen and bought products of well-known wheelwrights, cartwrights, tanners, shoemakers and potters (wheels, carts, tools, barrels, harness, boots, pottery etc.). The waggoners or coachmen occasionally took wayfarers, pilgrims and students on their way down to Srospatak, and so had contributed, beside the economic welfare, to higher educational background of this region. No wonder, the recipe how to prepare exquisite Tokay sweet heavy wine (known as „ as „ that stands for „ king of wines „ or „ wine of kings „) was elaborated by Szepsi Laczk Mt, the native from Moldava nad Bodva (Szepsi). The two regions are put together by the Hornd river basin of the common river. Though the direct distance from Moldava to Tarcal is only about 60 kilometres, the frontier between Slovakia and Hungary divides the former neighbouring districts (county) Abaj-Turňa and Zempln. Fortunately, the future European Union will not approve a separate state frontiers. Famous Tokay wine regions along the river Hornd made visible three historically dominant towns, Tokay, Srospatak and Storaljajhely, nevertheless more larger towns are to be found in the area of no more than 40 kilometres from Tarcal, such as Miskolc and Nregyhza. Visitors could find a nice view observing the plain of Bodrog river basin to the east and a silhouette of Zemln forest- hill range to the west. To reach the Hornd valley the tourists need to pass through the Zempln hills. Walking westward parallel to the state frontier, passing Szphalom and Gonc, one could reach the foothills. Among many possibilities the visitors are welcome to admire old castles, mansion houses, and small villages with a well maintened folk architecture and traditions. Shadowy forests as a good place for getting rest and gamekeeping-hunting, vital rivers full of fish, all that miraculous nature invites you to spend a leisure time, relax and to restore new powers of the vital functions. From close Csereht hills, and a good visibility the tourists could eventually observe the panorama of the Moldava town, with the silhouette of Kojšovsk Hola mountain (1246 m above see level) in the background. This part of a country could also be promising for the visitors. Eastward from Moldava, not far than 30 kilometres there is situated the town of a district – Košice (300,000 inhabitants). Walking westward from Moldava the tourists pass through the ruins of Turniansky hrad (=castle), then Zdielska dolina (=valley) to reach Soroška hill, which is a gateway to the Gemer area. The visitors are fascinated with a beautiful nature with abundance of touristic pathways and suitable conditions for camping and for various kinds of sports. Corners of a miraculous beauty with their incredible colouring are enough to induce the imagination. The place is entangled with legends and according to legends or stories the history comes alive, because many famous persons took refuge in this territory. One of these persons was the king Bla IV (Adalbert IV). During the Tartar raids and the Turkish invasions the local people took saveholds and shelters in nearby forests and caves. In the twelve century the Germans (so called Mantci) settled in the river Bodva valley and started to process iron ore and work up iron craftworks in the villages of Medzev and Šts. During the reign of King Louis the Great the most fertile land of the region was colonised by Croatians, Poles and Ruthenians and their descendants may probably have lived here up to now. Sense and respect of tradition and a cultural heritage are the basis for mutual tolerance of different cultures without loss of identity of these people. With the assistance of this touristic catalogue we invite you to enjoy the beauties, fragrance and flavour of nature that can be found in this region. Different people take relish in different things, so we wish to offer you this guide that possibly may be useful in trying to satisfy both your body and your spirit.