Strolling with the seven leaders and the Styrians along the Iron Curtain

Itinerary

• We start southwest from the bus stop, then turn right onto the P sign.
• At the Main Square, we continue the city walk on the K sign joining us.
• Turning right from the crown-guarding bunker, we continue on the Z sign.
• Shortly after the Saint Germain cross, the K sign joins our route.
• After the Seven Springs, the Z signs still guide us all the way to the Styrian houses.
• After the Red Cross, we switch to the S+ sign on the right side.
• At the Pogány Valley junction, we turn left into the forest and follow the S sign to Kőszeg.
• We turn left onto Rákóczi Street, then a few steps later right onto the unmarked Narrow Street. At its end, we turn right onto Kossuth Street along the P signs.
• After a few steps, at the first intersection, we turn left onto Liszt Ferenc Street and soon reach the bus station.

Detailed description of the route

From Kőszeg to the Saint Germain cross

From the bus stop, we take a few steps southwest, then turn right at the intersection onto the P sign. Arriving at the Main Square, we switch to the K sign, which navigates us to the city outskirts. Via the Island and to the left onto Kálvária Street, we reach the crown-guarding bunker. In the cellar system, between March 18 and 27, 1945, during the escape of the Szálasi government, the Holy Crown was guarded on its long journey to Austria and then America, eventually returning to Hungary 33 years later in 1978.

From here, turning right, we continue on the Z sign along the concrete fence-lined path, where the signposts of the Andalgó nature trail explain the 20th-century history of Kőszeg and its surroundings. Andalgó is the name of a beautiful path winding along the high bank of the Gyöngyös stream, originally referring to the section from the still-operating felt factory founded in 1898 to Rőtfalva, later also extending to the first Kálvária station. At its heyday, between the two world wars, a summer restaurant also operated along this romantic path, but the 1945 border cut this previously busy route in half.

At the sign of the strictly protected natural area, we turn left. From here, the Z sign mostly follows the state border on the so-called Iron Curtain tourist path. The Iron Curtain was established between 1945 and 1948, hermetically sealing off Western Europe from the east for decades. Alongside the technical and fortification system, border hunter and border guard organizations were set up. The western and southern border sections were totally closed, and by the end of 1950, a 1000 km wire obstacle was built on the Austrian and Yugoslav border sections, 871 km of which were mined. The total cost of the defense works was nearly 7 billion forints.

Between October 1955 and October 20, 1956, the western border section was cleared due to reduced international tension; however, after the October 23 revolution, the risk of armed conflict shifted toward Austria, and the border closure was reinstated in 1957. Alongside the 282 km new wire obstacle, over 1 million mines were deployed. The next phase, until 1970, saw the transition to the SZ-100 electric signaling system (EJR), which increased security but also staff workload, reacting to technical faults and signals caused by animals.

Finally, the national commander of the border guard submitted the proposal to dismantle the signaling system on March 19, 1989. Based on this, the border guard started dismantling on April 18, and by the publication of the relevant government decree, 150 km section had been removed. By August 1989, the border guard completely dismantled the Iron Curtain a year earlier than the Ministry's plan.

The initially narrow path gradually widens, then before the last signpost of the trail in a mixed hornbeam-oak forest, we begin to rise away from the stream, circling the Upper Forest with a large left bend. Later, our path passes between birches and forest pines, under which black blueberries and bearberries form smaller groups indicating acidic soil patches. Both species belong to the dwarf shrubs of the Huckleberry family represented by four species in Hungary. We climb about 200 m in elevation over roughly 1.5 km. After the ascent, it's worth making a short detour to the Saint Germain cross in the Austrian Rőtfalva forest, corresponding to the Trianon cross of the Austrians.

From the Saint Germain cross to the Seven Springs

As part of the Paris peace agreements closing WWI, Austria (one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) and the victorious Entente powers signed a 381-article treaty in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, on September 10, 1919. The treaty transferred mainly German and Croatian ethnic territories from western Hungary (Moson, Sopron, and Vas counties), now part of Burgenland, but they failed to acquire Sopron as the provincial capital. The treaty prohibited the use of the name German-Austria (Deutschösterreich) among other restrictions, the restoration of the previous state form, and unification with Germany or Hungary. The treaty limited the country's military to 30,000 soldiers and ordered the disarmament of arms factories, destruction of weapons, and imposed reparations on Austria, which lost three-quarters of the territory and population of the Austrian Empire and a third of its German-occupied areas, while becoming a federal state.

Shortly after the cross, our route joins the gently descending K sign, on which 1 km later we reach the former derelict border guard stations and then the Seven Springs, springing to the right of the road. This spring is the most abundant in the mountain range, reaching a flow rate of 450 liters per minute on April 19, 1955. Its first written mention appears in the 14th century as "Várkuta," referring to the nearby Kőszeg Upper Castle, today's Óház. Its popularity remained uninterrupted over the centuries; in 1781, it inspired Kőszeg’s notable poet József Rajnis. Around 1891, for the approaching millennium, signs bearing the names of the seven Hungarian tribes were placed below the spring outlets, and it has been called the Seven Leaders Spring ever since. Local tradition says that whoever drinks a sip from all seven branches has their wish fulfilled by the leaders. The water flowing from the ledge runs from the basin towards the Gyöngyös stream. Next to the spring, a spacious rain shelter was built in 2015, which can be very useful on a long hike during showers or prolonged rain. The mountain wagtail, a rare insectivorous songbird of mountain streams, nests near the spring. Its local breeding population is only about 200-300 pairs.

Through the Zeiger saddle to the Styrian houses

After the spring, we continue under mighty beech trees on an asphalt road, then on a narrow path to the next wide gravel forest road along the Z sign. At a clear-cut, there is a nice view to the north of Rőtfalva at the foot of the mountain range and Rendek, located across the main road. Passing through beech forests, we reach the Zeiger saddle in about 1.5 km, where a fire pit and rest area await us.

Following the sign, we start descending between grassy tall bushes on the left and hornbeam forest on the right until just before a high stand in a small pine stand, where we turn left, then soon right, beginning a steep descent to the Rock Spring rising in the valley of the Hármas stream, whose water is not potable. Next to it stands a large rock outcrop with a niche containing a statue of the Virgin Mary looking toward the spring. We continue through a young beech forest from the picturesque valley. Here, the Wechsel and Rax mountains first appear during our hike; then, upon reaching an uphill road, we turn right, revealing the Schneeberg. After a small delta, we cross the stream and start a steep ascent. When our path flattens, we pass by a wayside shrine, then after about half a kilometer, reach the asphalt forest road. We walk 700 m to the sharp left bend, where between two birch trees stands the most important information board and monument presenting the researchers of the Kőszeg Mountains.

The Styrian houses and their surroundings

Soon we arrive under the beech trees called the Styrian-house beech, over 200 years old, to the former foresters’ houses they were named after. Their history dates back to the mid-18th century when Maria Theresa issued a forest regulation law in 1769 ("Regulation on the cultivation and preservation of trees and forests"). As a free royal city, Kőszeg was involved in its enforcement; thus, two forest rangers were settled from Styria in two houses built by the city at that time. The foresters and their successors lived here from the 1780s until 1954. After 1920, a guesthouse was also operated on the estate, where locals sold products such as fresh milk, cheese, bread, and wine cheaply. The houses were made of natural stone embedded in clay, with open fireplaces and wooden shingle roofs. Over many years, only minor renovations and "modernizations" occurred, converting the open fireplaces to ovens and replacing shingles with tiles.

The hunting trails beside them were built by György Chernel in 1830, and the bell tower dates from 1910, made from the inheritance of forester Károly Kayszár, who passed away in 1902. The bell signaled the start and end of the forest workers’ shifts but sometimes was useful for lost hikers. In 1932, with financial support from Dr. Lajos Stur, a guesthouse named after Dr. Gusztáv Thirring was also built here, but only the foundations remain today. In one former forester’s house, the Szombathely Forestry Ltd established a forestry museum in 1996, and in the other, a forest school in 2002. The 30-bed forest hostel has awaited guests since 2004. A local curiosity is that in 1947 the thickest snow cover in Hungary, 151 cm, was measured here.

Behind the Styrian houses, we find the abundant although non-potable Cyclamen Spring. Part of its flow is utilized by the Styrian houses. A building stands directly on the spring field, housing the hydro-pump that supplies water to the houses. Below it is a concrete, pipe-fed reservoir, mainly followed by small pools serving the reproduction of the spotted salamanders, from which the outflowing water feeds the Styrian Creek. The spring was named after the cyclamen flowers blooming in the surrounding forest. Similar to the Seven Springs, here you can also find a rare songbird, the smallest bird in Hungary, the fire-headed kinglet. Alongside its relative, the yellow-headed kinglet, individuals often barely reach 5 grams in body weight.

Towards the Red Cross, then back to Kőszeg

We return from the Styrian houses and follow the K sign from the monument, which travels together with the Old Beech nature trail introducing the mountain range's wildlife until the first major left turn. At the next left bend in the beech forest, a clearing offers a beautiful view of the Rax and Schneeberg. Shortly after, we reach the Red Cross, one of the largest hiking trail junctions in the mountain range, where a resting place is available. The crucifix, erected in 1984, is surrounded by six large sessile oaks. In the past, the shortest route from the foothill villages to the Rőtfalva pilgrimage site led here.

Beyond the shrine, the S+ sign starts on the right side into the forest. The forest here looks significantly different from what we are accustomed to during the hike. On the south-facing side of the Irány hill, sessile oak replaces beech as the dominant tree species. Under the more light-rich foliage, we descend. Turning left at the five-way junction, we soon reach the asphalt road, where we turn right. At the next bend, we continue on a dirt road. Soon, we walk along the small plain panoramic path of the Little Hungarian Plain on Fő Hill, above the wine cellars, which stretch down to the foot of the Pogány Valley.

This foothill surface mainly formed from large amounts of debris resulting from weathering effects at the Miocene and Pliocene boundary, onto which Pliocene loam and Pleistocene loess were deposited. This partly explains the presence of the Pogány Valley cellars. The formerly independent settlement of Pogány is now only a field name in Kőszegdoroszló. Its earliest mention dates from 1279 as "villa Pugan," referring to a village serving the local castle of the Kőszeg family. Shortly afterwards, for unknown reasons, its inhabitants abandoned the settlement, and it has only been mentioned as wasteland since. The southern exposure contributed to the long-standing successful cultivation of grapes and wine production here. From the flat, marshy shore of the once Pannon Lake that also covered this area, lignite deposits formed beneath the surface of the Pogány Valley. In 1919, a small lignite mine was established here but closed in 1924 due to water intrusion. A drilling carried out in the valley that year intersected lignite between 10 and 26 m and brown coal at 60 m.

At the intersection, we turn left toward the forest and switch to the S sign. Entering the settlement, we cross the stream. Turning right on Mohás Street, we pass by Kenyér Hill, which was cleaved from the Szabó Hill ridge by the Tamás-ditch stream flowing below. According to local legend, during the famine caused by the Napoleonic wars, the new owner bought the small hill for 7 loaves of bread; however, historical facts have yet to confirm this. On the hill operates the ski jump ramp of the Kőszeg Sports Association Ski Jumping Department, a curiosity since it has been the only ski jumping activity in Hungary since the early 1990s.

Continuing on Cemetery Street, we return to the city. Immediately after turning left onto Rákóczi Street, we turn right at the first opportunity onto the unmarked Narrow Street section. At its end, we turn right onto Kossuth Street (where the P sign can be spotted), then a few meters later turn left into Liszt Ferenc Street, from where the bus station is unmistakably visible.