The Monk of Tihany Traditional Geocache
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The Tihanyi peninsula is the richest in natural and historical monument around the Lake Balaton. The peninsula diving far into the Lake, make itself notable with its historic relics such as the first document written in Hungarian, the Foundation of the Abbey of Tihany. Besides these, one can find a treasure here which is not so well known, but more interesting.
The cave-homes were created more than 800 years ago by Byzantine monks who were resettled from Kiev by I. Andrew. So, the cave cloister was built in Russian style and first Russian monks lived here. That's why this place got the name of Oroszkô (Russian Stone) and the source nearby Oroszkút (Russian Well). At the end of the 13th century the Russian left their cloister and monk from the Abbey of Tihany came here to live as hermit.
The Foundation of the Abbey of Tihany calls this place Petra, but in 1267 the letter of the Pope mentions it as Oroszkô (Russian Stone). The cave-homes of the monks is also first mentioned in this letter. The date of creation of these cave-homes are not known, but researcher proved that the homes were already created in the 1100s and that between the 12th and 14th century hermits lived in them.
The conditions of dawn of hermits are in the dark of the past, it's unknown why they left their homes, but probably because of the frequent collapse of the caves. Because of the collapses only four caves remained, but there are probably more under the detritus in the hillside. Go and see it before its total erosion.
On Road 71 turn left before Tihany, to the ferries. You can leave the car here: N46° 55.212'; E17° 53.270'. A footpath (marked with red cross) starting there leads to the caves and also to the cache, which is a 26cm diameter, 14cm long plastic box. After the hunt go up to the top of the hill to enjoy a breathtaking view of Lake Balaton.
The "password" of this cache is in two parts:
The first part is in the cache. For the second part you have to go to the guide board: N46° 55.3620'; E17° 52.7480'. The last word of the Hungarian text is the second part of the password. If you leave your car at the point mentioned above, you will pass this board first.
We wish you a pleasant trip and hunt!
Anikó and Miki
ps: The previous place of the cache was near to Europe's first dirt and trench fortress. Someone bought whole area and put a fence around it. Now there is a vineyard on Europe's first dirt and trench fortress. Weird.
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