Megyer Hill Quarry Lake

For centuries, millstones were cut out of the volcanic rock on Megyer Hill above Sarospatak. When quarrying stopped, groundwater filled the pit and left a small lake sitting inside a bowl of worked rock faces, with the tool marks and half-finished stones still visible in the walls. It is a modest place - the water is perhaps a hundred metres across - but the combination of vertical cut rock, still green water and forest closing in above gives it an enclosed quality that flat photographs miss. The site is protected, swimming is not allowed, and the surroundings are Zemplen hill forest of oak and beech. Marked trails continue past it deeper into the range and towards the villages of the Tokaj wine country below.

What you actually see

• The quarry walls - vertical cut faces with visible tool marks above the water.
• Abandoned millstones - unfinished stones left in the workings and along the approach path.
• The lake itself - deep green still water enclosed on all sides by rock and trees.
• Zemplen forest trails - marked routes continuing into the hills from the quarry rim.

When to go

May to October, with autumn giving the best colour around the rim. The path is unsurfaced and gets muddy and slick after rain, so pick a dry spell. Morning light reaches into the bowl better than late afternoon, when the walls throw shade over the water. Summer weekends are the busiest, though this is never a mass-visitation site.

Honest expectations

It is small, and the whole visit including the walk takes well under three hours. The uphill approach is short but steep in places and rough underfoot. There are no facilities at the site, no cafe, no toilets and no reliable signal. Swimming is banned and enforcement is inconsistent, so you may find people ignoring it. In dull weather the water reads as grey rather than green.

Nearby

Sarospatak with its castle lies below, and the Tokaj vineyards spread south along the Bodrog valley.