Warning! Please do not leave travelbug & coins in the cache! Don't safe, sorry! Kérlek ne hagyj utazót a dobozban, mert másik játéktéren is regisztrálva van a doboz – így az utazó avatatlan kezekbe kerülhet!
You can access the village from the road number 3 via Tard leaving the road between Mezokövesd and Bükkábrány.
Cserépváralja is part of the well-recognised Mátra-Bükk holiday resort. The Hór valley makes the special feeling of the village. The so-called Ko-völgy (Stone-valley) is also a highly recognised territory. The most valuable thing in the village is however the landscape, it is a very nice experience. The range of "stones", the deep canyons, the plateau and it's wavy surface, it's meadows, it's deep forest and it's rich torrents are attractive for both the national and for the foreign visitors. The outlook of the Bükk hills - being analogous to the Dinari-Alps - are unique in the country: steep cliffs, visible layers of different geological ages make them special.
The Cserép-vár (The Tile-Castle)
The box is a 23 x 19 x 12 cm blue-hatted plastic box. It was originally targeted to the hive-stones, but those are already on the territory of the Bükk National Park. Therefore the cache is waiting for hunters below the ruins of the caste in the hole of a tree. Taking into account the number of hikers in the surrounding, please hide it back carefully. Should you arrive by foot, take the road near the catholic church and follow your GPS. Arriving by car, please park your vehicle at the parking waypoint then follow the red signs and your GPS to reach the target.
After the year 895 (when the Hungarian tribes entered this area) the genus Orsár settled themselves in the village. There is no written evidence about the procurer of the castle or about the time it has been built. Presumably it has been built between 1248-1350 following the order of Ernye Bán or his descendant. It belongs to king Zsigmond from 1387 to 1437 then to the Rozgonyi family from 1458 through 1480, finally to the Báthory family. It has fallen a few times under Turkish occupation, the well in the castle has been probably drilled by Turkish prisoners. During the Rákóczi-lead war of independence the Kuruc troops have occupied the castle, it is later occupied by the emperor's soldiers in 1710 and in 1711 Ferenc Huillier - captain of the castle of Eger - buys it and builds a residence using the rocks of the castle. The lordship transfers to the Coburgs in 1830, the rest of the castle is used for storage for a while. Nowadays only the little rocky ruins of the walls and some fortifications can be seen at the village boundaries in the valley of the Nádor stream, on the castle hill. the archaeological exploration of the ruins is under way.
The hive stones are on the territory of the Bükk National Park. It easy to find them, but please remember to take care and leave the crumbling bays intact.
Following the red sign, it takes 15 minutes from the parking place to reach one of the most spectacular sight of the area, the hive stones. The "hive stone" and the "hive bay" expressions come from the folklore, they refer to the apiary. There are however several theories to solve the secret of these stones: they were maybe used as niches, maybe they served religious or sacrificial purposes for a small ethnic group coming in together with the Hungarians at the time. We recommend visiting these stones by all means.
The half of the inhabitants of the village lived in tufa cavern homes during the first half of the 20th century. Many of them were comparable in size to the houses in the village. The shape and the furniture of these houses were also very close to the built ones. You need to pay an entrance fee to see the cavern homes inside, 50 forints for children and 100 for adults. You may need to chase the caretaker under number 14 on the Kossuth Lajos street.
We wish you a pleasant hunting!
[Translated by SocratesTheBlack (volunteer translator), original taken from geocaching.hu]