Zabar is a village in Nógrád county,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Geography

Zabar lies about east of

Salgótarján Salgótarján (; , German: ''Schalgau'') is a city with county rights in Hungary, the capital of Nógrád County, north-eastern Hungary, making it the third least populous county capital. The nearby Salgó Castle is a well-known tourist attra ...

, where the borders of , and counties and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

meet. The River Tarna (only a stream at this point) flows through the village. Kőverő-ér in the centre of the inner village is a small tributary to the Tarna. The village has two physically separate parts, Belsőzabar ("Inner Zabar") and Külsőzabar ("Outer Zabar").

History

The name ''Zabar'' is of

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

origin and its meaning approximates to "a place behind the pine forest." This etymology is somewhat of a mystery as pine is not an

indigenous species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

in the area. Its first mention in an official document dates from 1332 (as ). The village was abandoned during the Turkish occupation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Tourism

The surroundings make it an optimal destination for

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

and

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

. Most of the hills are covered with forest, although

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

has recently intensified on privately owned lands.

Beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

and planted

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

species are the most common. Between May and September the forests are abundant with several kinds of

edible mushroom Edible mushrooms are the fleshy fruit bodies of numerous species of macrofungi (fungi that bear fruiting structures large enough to be seen with the naked eye). Edibility may be defined by criteria including the absence of poisonous effect ...

, which inhabitants take full advantage of. They eat them and also sell them, mostly for export to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and many locals treat it as a

pastime A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing oth ...

. Zabar has the coldest

mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

winter temperatures of all

. In the ten years since temperatures have been recorded the lowest value was on 12 January 2003. (Although this is 3 °C (5 °F) warmer than the all-time coldest temperature in Hungary.The lowest temperature on record is -35°C (-31°F) in Gorombolytapolca, set on February 16, 1940.

Geography

History

Tourism

Landmarks

References

External links