From settlement to settlement along the "Szala"

Itinerary:

• We start from the Natura 2000 Visitor Center along the K trail towards the Őriszentpéter park forest.
• From the park forest, we continue on the K+ trail through Városszer, Égésszer, then through Galambosszer to Keserűszer.
• From Keserűszer, walking westward along the Szala stream on the K trail, following the Szala Riverside Nature Trail we proceed to the center of Szalafő, Templomszer.
• From here, turning right onto the K trail, branching off near Papszer, we walk straight towards Szalafő - Felsőszer.
• In Felsőszer, we follow the Felsőszer Nature Trail, then leave the settlement westward via a forest dirt road. On this road, we continue until we reach the S+ marked hiking trail.
• Along the S+ trail, touching the Primeval Forest, we turn left onto the S trail, then head eastward returning to Pityerszer, the most archaic settlement of Szalafő.
• From Pityerszer, following the S trail, we reach the end of our hike at the Szalafő bus turnaround.

Detailed description of the hike:

Among the settlements of Őriszentpéter

Our hike starts at the Natura 2000 Visitor Center and the Tourinform office in the same building. The visitor center's interactive colorful exhibition introduces visitors to the habitats protected under Natura 2000 in Őrség National Park, their key species, and the importance of nature conservation management. In addition to viewing the impressive exhibit, we can supplement our food supplies with local products at the Tourinform office.

After viewing the exhibition, we proceed westward along the K trail to the nearby Park Forest, where we switch to the K+ trail and climb the stairs on the nature trail presenting the highlights of Őriszentpéter and Őrség in several languages up to Égésszer. Then we pass through the charming Galambosszer, admiring the row of houses blending naturally into the landscape.

Leaving the settlement, we continue along a dirt road at the forest edge on the K+ trail all the way to Keserűszer, to the former "Breckó House", now operated as the Keserűszer Guesthouse by the Őrség National Park Directorate. Here, it is worth resting and enjoying the atmosphere of the meadow that stretches down to the valley floor, the native orchard in the courtyard, and the embrace of the forest. One might not realize how much the centuries-old harmony between humans and the landscape can teach us. What we now enjoy hiking was shaped by the local people in a way that, while meeting their needs, they always treated nature as a renewable resource with respect, experiencing daily the interdependence of nature and humans. The mosaic landscape structure defining Őrség and its settlements represents values worth preserving today through centuries of harmonious grazing, mowing, field farming, and forestry, overseen by the Őrség National Park Directorate.

Established in 2003, the Őrség National Park covers about 44,000 hectares and includes 44 settlements. To preserve the settlement form of scattered homesteads, the two settlements affected by our hike, Őriszentpéter and Szalafő, enjoy protection of their entire inner areas. Visitors may find the streetless structure of the homesteads somewhat unusual. The first settler families established their dwelling units and farms on drier hilltops and wind-sheltered hillsides, named after the founding families, such as Baksaszer from Baksák, Galambosszer from Galambos, and so on. Exceptions are settlements with churches (Templomszer) and those located at the beginning or end of villages or slightly above or below (Alszer, Felsőszer). Traditionally, a homestead denotes the unit of families and buildings settled on the hills. Since then, families have expanded into lineages, and more and more have moved to particular homesteads.

Hilltop homesteads are separated by valley floors. After the period of the Hungarian conquest, the populations of homesteads served border guard duties for centuries, giving the region its name: Őrség (meaning "guard region"). Our hike route passes through the ancient homeland of the riverbank guards by the Szala. The former border guards, during the Árpád era, settled on the riverbank hills with their own weapons and costs, protecting the western border, and for their service were regarded as free people by the king. Each of the 18 ancient Őrség settlements was led by the chief guard (őrnagy), who, with 12 elected jurors, handled administrative, judicial, and military duties. The former guards had tax privileges, as well as commercial and customs rights. The social changes of the 13th century, the building of castles, and the royal estates' grants led to the decline in the guards' role. Some became petty nobility or middle nobility, others became castle tenants or serfs. But the names of the ancient guard families are preserved in the settlements, documents, and traditions.

Strolling along the Szala

From the Keserűszer guesthouse, we descend and head against the flow direction, following the K trail and the Szala Riverside Nature Trail along the bank of the Zala (called Szala in Őrség language), a small stream that can flood easily during heavy rains. We walk among resin alder groves, easily recognizable by inverted egg-shaped, toothed leaves, sticky leaf stalks, shoots, cone-like fruits, and cylindrical trunks, crossing the stream several times on small bridges called bürük.

The Szala, like many other small streams in Őrség, provides ideal habitats for numerous invertebrate species visible to the naked eye, such as the admired mayflies with their short adult lifespan and caddisflies that prefer high-quality waters. Near the stream, imagos of caddisflies and mayflies can sometimes be seen in swarms, though they live only a few hours, while their aquatic larvae develop for about a year, then emerge and transform on stones, leaves, and branches. One can see larval skins left on plant leaves. The larvae live mostly as oxygen-breathing predators in flowing waters. Caddisfly larvae, camouflaging underwater, build a case from debris, snail shells, and pebble fragments that serves as armor and home, only protruding their hardened heads.

Among small mammals, the semiaquatic water shrew, whose water-repellent fur lets it float cork-like, can be encountered in the riparian zone. Along the stream banks, one can admire the forest fairy club, often blooming up to 1.5 meters tall, with drooping white inflorescences in summer. In the forest clearings we may notice the presence of large game animals, the impressive sight of red deer stags, or the agile movement of roe deer disturbed resting in high grass. With some luck, we may also glimpse Hungarian grey cattle on the pastures near the nature trail.

From the Tree of Life to Kömpe Viewpoint

We proceed below Szalafő-Alszer and arrive at the center of Szalafő, Templomszer, following the K trail. Here, opposite the statues of Árpád and Saint Stephen guarding as witnesses of the border guard past, on the other side of the road, there is a beautifully carved Tree of Life made from an old oak fallen along the Szala river, symbolizing the settlements of Szalafő. Next to the Tree of Life is the old ice cellar where the innkeeper and butcher once stored drinks and meat; the ice needed for cooling was cut from the Szala or brought from the Rába, then stored in the cellar and covered with straw. Szalafő (Szalafej) is named after the nearby source of the Szala stream, being its close settlement and head.

Passaging through Templomszer, we soon reach the Gatter guest courtyard with an ancient oak hundreds of years old. It is worth resting in its shade or appreciating its circumference. Here, the K trail turns north, but we continue straight on the S trail, then from the Y-junction, we follow the red heart markings of the Felsőszer Nature Trail uphill to the Kömpe Szem (Eye) observation tower. From the bell tower-shaped lookout, we get an even better view of Szalafő’s settlements set in the natural environment. Felsőszer features houses with "kódisállás" porches and log village houses, well houses, hay and orchard gardens, and farms showcasing the ancient tradition of pumpkin seed oil pressing, often inviting hikers to pause and absorb the experience. At one of the pumpkin seed oil presses, traditional Őrség pumpkin-poppy strudel tasting may be available. The typical building type of the settlement is the "kódisállásos" house with an entrance porch called "kódis állás," a small roofed porch resting on pillars where the "kódisok" (beggars) could rest and possibly expect a bowl of soup from the host.

The Forest Speaks

We leave Felsőszer westward along an unmarked dirt road. In the surrounding meadows and forest clearings, we often spot the autumnal spiral clusters of orchids from the genus Orchis, spirally twined around the stem axis, and the two-leaved helleborine, named after its two basal leaves, blooming greenish-white with a lively scent in May-June, visible both in forests and meadows. During our walk, we may encounter the dark-leaved ant orchids, increasingly rare in Western Europe but locally frequent here and strictly protected. In July and August, they are easiest to notice resting on the flower spikes of autumn sainfoin. The female lays eggs in these host plants, and from the third larval stage the caterpillar develops inside the nest of red wood ants, feeding on the ant larvae.

Continuing our forest walk, we reach the forestry road connecting Szalafő to Farkasfa, turning west-southwest and heading through the Nyúzó Valley toward the Primeval Forest. We circumnavigate this area on the S+ trail. Located nearby is the 13.2-hectare core area of the Primeval Forest of Szalafő, untouched for nearly a century, preserved for scientific research and strictly protected, managed by the Őrség National Park Directorate. In this forest, remnants of traditional small-scale forest-field crop rotation persist, with natural regeneration processes clearly visible. Structural, shrub-layer, and ground vegetation surveys already show a growing presence of beech, hornbeam, and hopefully oak, with a simultaneous decrease in pioneer species.

The forest birdlife also attracts attention. A nesting site established by the National Park has successfully helped the protected white-throated dipper breed. The sparrow-sized bird, with a white neck ring and white spots on its wings and forehead, easily catches flying insects and ground-dwelling spiders and bugs. Near coniferous forests, we might see the firecrest, smaller than the wood warbler but known as the king of birds in European tales, recognizable by its greenish-yellow upper parts, whitish underparts, two white wing bars, a black eye stripe, contrasting white eyebrows, and a crown which is orange in males and yellow in females. The very similar yellow-headed warbler differs by its bronze shoulder area and crown color.

Bison Watching on the Körtike Nature Trail

After the Primeval Forest, at the forestry loading area, the S trail joins and temporarily runs together with the S+ trail. At the branch heading toward the Slovenian border, we proceed further on the S trail to Pityerszer, passing a section of the Körtike Nature Trail and the zones of Eurasian wild horses and European bisons. These extraordinary animals can be viewed from a dedicated observation point. Hunting of European bisons was a royal privilege in the Middle Ages here. With the expansion of agriculture, their habitat decreased in Western Europe, and their last wild population lived in the Białowieża Forest in Poland. Their fate was sealed by the World Wars, with the remaining individuals living in zoos and game reserves. Through breeding and reintroduction to natural habitats, this magnificent species was saved from extinction. The Őrség National Park Directorate became part of this process when, in 2017, it brought the first bison calf to this area. The lowland Caucasian lineage bisons here have bulls generally weighing around 600-800 kg, sometimes up to 1 ton, while cows weigh between 300-400 kg. These animals roam large areas, consume both grass and leaves, and have become part of the natural environment.

Also here are Przewalski's horses from Hortobágy's Pentezug Wild Horse Reserve, the only living subspecies of wild horse closest to the domestic horse. This stocky, short-maned breed with a strong neck has never been successfully domesticated and remains true wild horses. It is worth watching them as they graze with the European bisons. From here it is only a few steps to Pityerszer, to the gates of the Őrség Folk Monument Ensemble.

Adventures in Pityerszer

Pityerszer likely got its name from the woodland bird pityer. The folk ensemble, with its plank village buildings and period furnishings, conveys the atmosphere of former settlements. The oldest house type is the "smoke house," a chimneyless, thatched plank house consisting of a smoky room opening from the porch, a pantry, and a plank barn built at the end. Smoke from the oven's hearth escaped through the smoke hole above the door or through opened wooden sliding sash windows.

Farthest from the road stands the typical 19th-century Őrség house type, the "fenced house." Its cross-beam plank walls form a U-shaped block covered with a wrap-around porch, comprising the living quarters, barn, stable, and pigsties. Originally, the fourth side was closed off by a thatched gate and elevated plank wall. The "fence" protected the animals herded into the stable or courtyard at night from wolves and occasionally from bandits. This house type was primarily created due to the demands of semi-free-range cattle. The clean room opening from the porch (called "ürög") with high thresholds is furnished with violin-back chairs, a "pócájá" (wall shelf), boot pullers, and painted chests reflecting the atmosphere after the turn of the previous century. The kitchen stove has a climbing chimney, kneading trough, old earthenware, and mortars showing rich craftsmanship.

A proud jewel of the settlement is the Visontai estate's two-story "kástu" (storeroom building), the only surviving example of its type with plank walls and a thatched roof used for centuries. The ground floor stored grain and wine; the upper floor housed foodstuffs, dried fruit, and buckwheat; while the barn contained tools, press, and winnowing sieve. The Visontai house’s porch stable barn hosts an exhibition of seed samples, agricultural and household tools, enriching the walking tour experience. Nighttime animals in Pityerszer can be interactively explored here. Children’s entertainment is provided by an Őrség fairy-tale-based interactive playhouse, playground, and crafts activities.

Several "tókák" (clay pits) seen around the settlement were dug mostly to extract clay for plastering house walls. The water-retentive clay soil retains rainwater in these pits, which were historically used to water animals, soak flax and hemp, and wash, but now serve as habitats for amphibians. Outdoor exhibition tools include ancient pumpkin seed oil presses, old threshing machines, seeders, the left-handed Őrség disc, wind roasters, and pulleys—all representing equipment of a human scale world.

At the end of Pityerszer toward Felsőszer, a bench commemorates the outstanding museologist János Bárdosi, who took a leading role in the establishment of the folk monument ensemble. From this point, it is said Károly Koós also liked to admire the impressive Őrség landscape. On the hillside opening to Felsőszer grows the henye boroszlán, a protected plant visible on the coat of arms of the Őrség National Park. It gets its name from its spreading, "henye" (lazy) form, is a pink-flowering evergreen shrub that blooms between April and May.

From Pityerszer, our route on the S trail leads to the Felsőszer bus turnaround, the fulfilling end of our hike.