Norm: We knew they were there, but it took us three try's to actually find them after many hours and many miles of hiking. Probably the oldest ruins in Hungary, hidden in the forest on top of Jakab Hill. The early Iron Age people of South Transdanubia built a huge earthwork fortress that dates back to pre-Christ time, but lost its significance by the end of the Roman Conquest. Remnants of the earthworks can be seen in the above photo rising on either side of the trail. The clean lush forest floors that you see here are quite typical of the forests in the Pécs area.
The earth castle remained uninhabited for more than a thousand years until one of the first Hungarian Paulite monasteries was built within its confines in about 1225. The hermite monks lived and worshiped here till 1334 when they moved to the village below the cliff to escape the intrusion of marauders.
If the hermit-monks had built in the village in the first place, they would have saved us a heck of a climb up this hill. Our car is somewhere down there in the village. Regardless, it was a fantastic adventure and we never saw another single soul the entire time.
And what a view they had of any approaching intruders.
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