Across Countries - Circular Route at Hármashatár

Itinerary:

• From the center of Felsőszölnök, we follow the P trail to the Jánoshegy district.
• From Jánoshegy, we proceed along the Z trail to the border point at the border guard tower (C123),
• From here, we continue on a gravel hiking trail winding on the Austrian side that connects Vashegy (Eisenberg) to Hármashatár-hegy, up to the summit of Hármashatár-hegy. (We can also follow the Z trail to the C 123/4 border stone, i.e., to the Z trail branch heading towards Hampó valley. In this case, from there we follow the Austrian hiking route leading towards Hármashatárhegy.)
• From Hármashatár-hegy, on the Slovenian side, we descend to Türké (Trdkova) to the old oak tree along the forest nature trail and the Goricko Nature Park marked with a red circle hiking trail.
• From Türké, we continue on the road, bypassing Magasfok (Martinje) from the north, heading north-northeast along the border of the Vreje district, and reach the Z trail again at the border stone A 53 placed on the country border.
• We follow the Z trail up to the junction with the Z+ trail at the border stone A73/8.
• After briefly following the Z+ trail, we switch to the P trail, heading northwest back to the center of Felsőszölnök.

Detailed tour description

In the center of Felsőszölnök

Our hike starts from Felsőszölnök, the westernmost settlement in Hungary. The valley of the village, surrounded by mountains and hills near the meeting point of three countries: Hungary, Austria, and Slovenia, is cut through by the Szölnöki Stream. On the other side of this border, in Slovenia, the stream originates near the village of Türké — they call it Türké Stream after their village.

From the starting point of the hike, a short walk leads to the site of the Saint John the Baptist Church, where a baptistery chapel stood as early as 1377. The beautifully renovated building’s main altar was made by Lewisch Róbert, an altar builder from Szentgotthárd. Interestingly, the first Hungarian-language mass in the church took place on September 23, 1898, the day of Queen Elisabeth’s funeral. Not far from the church, at the sports ground, there was once a priest’s fishpond, which is still reflected in the Slovenian name Póposki ríbnjek. Like other settlements in the Vendvidék region, the village is inhabited by a large number of Slovenian speakers. After the Hungarian conquest period, this area belonged directly to the "gyepűelve" (border zone), which delineated the border strip. At that time sparsely populated, much of the area was impassable, forested marshland with defensive structures fortified with ditches, called gyepűs, built between parts of it.

During much of the Árpád era, Felsőszölnök belonged to the Dobrai (now Neuhaus) estate and later became part of the Cistercian order’s authority, settled by King Béla III in Szentgotthárd. The Cistercians interrupted the continuity of the border zone and, following the rule of their founder Saint Bernard, made much of the borderland arable and habitable. From this period, a folk song called “Beautiful Plain Meadows,” still sung by locals, has survived. The Széchy family became the lords of Felsőszölnök during the Anjou period, and by the 17th century, the Batthyány family held the village. The village life was significantly impacted by the Turkish occupation, the hajdús of Bocskai, the harrowing moments of the Battle of Szentgotthárd, as well as the devastations by Kuruc and Labanc troops. The chronicle of the August 1, 1664 battle of Szentgotthárd mentions the burning of the Szölnök farm by Tatar vanguard troops. A 17th-century census records a watermill with one wheel operating on the Szölnöki Stream, and viticulture on the hill. At the end of the 18th century, the village had 692 inhabitants.

The village’s famous native son is József Kossits (1788-1867), a poet, linguist, historian, and ethnographer, who wrote his regional monograph titled “On the Slovene-speaking People of Hungary.” It’s worth looking at the memorial plaque on the church wall and remembering that the local school also bears his name. Opposite the church, in the Slovenian homestead, we can see preserved belongings and photographs of the building’s last resident, János Kühár (1901-1987), a Slovenian dean. The exhibition features church history relics, and the former stable building displays agricultural tools. The village and the surrounding area inhabited by Slovenian speakers had long been called “Tótság” before Maria Theresa founded a new diocese in Szombathely in 1777, uniting Slovenians in Hungary. This gave rise to the name Vendvidék. (The term “vend” is the German-origin Hungarian name for Slovenians in Hungary.)

A further interesting fact about the village is that each house and the families living in them bear a name that is always the name of the house’s first owner — automatically inherited by new residents. Residents call and refer to each other by their house names. The village’s 25 old house groups collectively inherit nearly 150 house names.

Reminiscing on Jánoshegy

After visiting the homestead, we cross the Szölnöki Stream bridge and continue along the P trail in the valley, then climb the hillside toward Jánoshegy, the oldest part of the settlement. Along the way, leaving behind the tightly grouped farmsteads in the valley bottom, we experience the scattered nature of the village’s house groups and the mosaic pattern of cultivated lands, orchards, pastures, and forest patches, which naturally form a continuous pattern. Everywhere, we are greeted by the harmony of people living in tune with the landscape.

In the native hay orchard of Jánoshegy, we can still find old varieties of apples, pears, and plums. Among the apple varieties are mosanszky, batul, and bőralma; among the plums, the long, red, and yellow varieties can be found. In the winter period, a former income supplement was “rigázás,” the catching of various thrushes (fieldfare, spruce thrush, yellowhammer) with twig traps, sold later to gourmet kitchens. (The traps were made by cooking white mistletoe and resin, spread on peeled birch twigs. Birds attracted and stuck to the coated branch were captured, caged, and sold.)

Adapting to natural conditions, traditional land use forms included ridge plowing, cattle breeding based on hay meadows, and small-scale forest management. The village is known for traditions of pumpkin seed oil and walnut oil pressing. Standing in front of the Jánoshegy fence panels, we can glimpse into the religious sentiments of the local, predominantly Catholic Slovenian-speaking population, feeling the interdependent relationship between people and nature. From the Jánoshegy lookout, we look over the Rooster Hill, recalling the village tale that this district’s name originated from the remarkably large number of roosters and hens kept there.

Border explorations

We say goodbye to Jánoshegy, follow the Z trail back to the border. Our first stop is a border guard tower standing on the Austria-Hungary border, which also serves as an occasional lookout. At the C123 border stone stands a barbed wire fence commemorating the strict border control after World War II. The peace treaty signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, finalized the Trianon borders. Nevertheless, mutual smuggling prevailed at the triple border due to shortages. From Yugoslavia to Szölnök, people smuggled pálinka and clothing, and tobacco was brought there. From Austria, sugar, saccharin, tools, clothes, dishes, and flints were smuggled across; barrels full of wine and animals were sent back to Austria from Felsőszölnök.

In Felsőszölnök, 14 farmers were declared kulaks in 1949, and 6 in 1952, and they were interned at labor camps in Hortobágy. Many never returned home; until 1960, about three hundred people's lives were made impossible, leading them to leave the village. For Felsőszölnök inhabitants, a “iron curtain” was drawn towards Austria and Yugoslavia, with tightened border control. The "iron curtain" consisted of a special rocket alarm system, barbed wire obstacles, minefields, trails, networks of watchtowers, and controlled zones created in inner areas. Locals had to maintain the trail: plowing, harrowing, and weeding. After 1956, the Hungarian-Yugoslav border minefield was dismantled, maintaining only a weak electric wire fence. Now, we can freely travel on the cleared, mine-free territory along the Austria-Hungary border, following the former trail.

From the watchtower, we join a well-maintained walking path coming from Vashegy, heading to Hármashatár-hegy on the Austrian side. Occasionally, on cleared forest parts, we get beautiful views westwards. The presence of beehives along the way honors the industriousness of beekeepers in the nearby villages. Precisely built and oriented hunting stands and feeders serve to thin out large game populations. A unique experience can be witnessing the roaring of red deer starting in September or the sight of stags in herds crossing the border disregarding it in colder weather. Most often, we can expect startled escaping roe deer and frequently find traces of wild boar herds near feeders and wallows.

In patches of beech forests, we may also encounter the blue pigeon, with its grayish-blue, shiny blue feathers on the neck and the black woodpecker’s favorite oak; our largest woodpecker, recognized by its red cap and black plumage, is mostly sighted on beeches and old oaks, searching for insect food. The trail is made more interesting by the multilingual signs of the nature trail. At the end of the road turning under Hármashatár-hegy, we reach the summit after a big breath and a relatively steep section.

On Hármashatár-hegy

At the summit, three countries share the territory: Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary. At the exact center, on the triple border, stands a truncated pyramidal triple border stone with the coats of arms of the three countries and the dates of the Trianon Peace Treaty signatures. The treaty, signed in the Trianon Castle near Paris on June 4, 1920, finalized the borders between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Hungary. According to paragraph 27 of the treaty, the triple border point would be established at the watershed between the Rába and Mura basins, 2 kilometers east of Tókát. The fate of the residents of Felsőszölnök, located in this border embrace, turned many times in the 20th century. Few know, but after World War I, the state power changed six times in ten months between the Rába and Mura rivers.

After World War I, the students of Felsőszölnök annually made a pilgrimage to the triple border stone on the last Sunday of May and held commemorations for the fallen heroes of the war. The strict border control system after World War II made this tradition impossible. Today, the freely passable borders have also turned the notable place into an intersection of tourist trails and a meeting point of three protected areas of the three countries. On the Hungarian side is the Őrségi National Park, on the Slovenian side the Goricko Nature Park, and on the Austrian side the Raab Naturpark.

Walk in Goricko Nature Park

We can rest at the border stone and replenish our supplies at a buffet, open periodically on the Slovenian side, then descend along the nature trail of Goricko Nature Park. We bid farewell to the interactive continuation of the trail at the signboard about the black locust and continue southeast following the red circle Slovenian tourist mark. Arriving at Türké (Trdkova), at the road junction, we notice an imposing pedunculate oak, about 22 meters tall with a huge trunk diameter. Its age is estimated at 400 years. The old oak, which can also serve as a lookout point, is a good place to rest and scan the mosaics of vineyards, fields, and pastures of the Muravidék landscape. Here the forest coverage is lower than in Őrségi National Park, due to the traditional small-scale farming practices maintained even during socialism.

The parts of this typically scattered settlement type are well connected by low-category roads, mainly along which we travel to reach the border point. Terrain height differences of the pre-Alpine hills return in the names of the settlements and geographic reference points, as seen in Magasfok and the 404-meter-high Srebrni berg. A resting place stands near the border crossing. The rise at Magasfok is a good place to stop and enjoy the view.

Along the way, we find brightly colored butterfly species. One such species is the protected velvet-black atalanta butterfly with white spots and a red ribbon on its wings, occurring at forest edges, clearings, gardens, and orchards; it is an active flower visitor and also regularly nectars on fruits. Among the showy butterfly species, in fresh deciduous and mixed pine forests’ edges and riparian gallery forests in the valley, we may see mourning butterflies, which generally nectar on animal droppings or sunbathe on the ground. In Magasfok (Martinje), we leave the red circle trail to the left, bypass the settlement from the north on the road, then turn onto an unmarked path, heading north-northeast to the border of Vreje district, reaching the Z trail again at the border stone A 53 on the Hungarian-Slovenian border.

From the border to Felsőszölnök

We follow the Z trail again on the Iron Curtain hiking route, sometimes touching the edges of border farms. The varied terrain offers many sights. From July to September, in various forest sections, one can find purple, fragrant forest cyclamen plants. Wild boars are known to dig out the tuber of this soft-stemmed plant, also called pig's bread. Only here, in the forests around Felsőszölnök, can you find pine almond plants growing up to 60 cm, belonging to the broomrape family; you have a good chance of spotting them along this route. In oak forests, pine forests, and birch pine areas, there grows a plant with leaves similar to sage, called wild sage in folk language. It was favored by sick cattle and was also called "deer cow healer."

After the border, we join the Z+ trail at a peasant farm and the border stone A 73/8. In special microclimatic spots at the slopes of side valleys, we can find several mountain species. Besides the lance-shaped, narrow, bell-shaped, blue-flowered swallowworts arranged in two rows, we can also expect occasional sightings of twice-dissected rustyback fern. In wetter forest parts, we can admire pillow-like colonies of peat moss and white cushion moss. The pretty umbrella plant, an evergreen semi-shrub with shiny light green leaves identifiable all year round, can be seen in beech and pine forests under partial shade. The pale pink flowering plant, 10-20 cm tall, grows in shaded parts of beech woods and pine forests.

The great spotted woodpecker, black with a white cap and moustache band, is commonly seen year-round. The smallest bird in Europe, the yellow-headed tit, with oil-green back, gray underparts, and yellow or orange-striped head, searching for insects in the dense canopy, is also a treat to spot here. Shortly after the Z+ trail, we switch to the P trail and head northwest, sometimes spotting isolated farms surrounded by nature. Along the Rooster Hill path, famous for the calls of its birds, we return to our starting point in the center of Felsőszölnök.