Jeff: Slovakia part 1

Luckily it was a fairly quiet night and in the morning we got up and did a short run as we haven’t done a run the whole time we were in Romania because of the many stray dogs and of course the bear risk. We managed an easy 6km through the woods before we headed back to the van for a shower. We headed to the supermarket and grabbed some food before we headed to a campsite and set up for the day. We have loads of admin to do, some washing (although we only ended up getting one load done) and tidying of the van to get done. The campsite has a swimming pond so we got to have a dip and a really nice long shower before we made a campfire and cooked some dinner with a beer. It was a nice day and we are glad we got everything done as we have been so busy in Romania that we didn’t get any of the normal daily jobs done so it really all needed doing.

The next morning we got the bikes out and headed for the local castle following a route by the river which was nice. However when we got there we found out the castle didn’t open until 10 which was over an hour away so we tried to cycle around the castle to get a better view with no success so we thought we would head a different way back – big mistake! We had to go over a small gate, through lots of mud and the bugs were everywhere. By the time we made it back on to the river path further up the route I think we had about 15 mosquito bites each and were very muddy! Once back at the campsite we both had showers to get the mud off us before we headed out and back on the road.

We headed north from the campsite and soon reached the border with Slovakia, which luckily wasn’t manned so we crossed easily into the country and carried on north to the town of Kosice. We parked up just outside the town and walked in to have an explore of our first Slovakian town. We walked down the main pedestrian street which was lined with beautiful buildings and some interesting sculptures and some musical fountains. We then carried on walking around the town and found a palace and some cute little shops before we headed to a little restaurant for some lunch of soup in a bread bowl. Afterwards we got a vegan chimney cake again before heading back to the van and further north to the town of Bardejov. We parked up near the river outside the main town for the night and chilled out for the evening.

The next morning we got up and did a run along the river before having a shower and heading into the town. Bardejov is an old town and a UNESCO world heritage site. The main centre of the town is a really big town square where the cathedral and the town hall are surrounded by lots of old and gothic buildings. It was great to just walk around the square but we popped into the tourist office and they provided a map with a walking tour so we headed out of the square and followed the tour which took us to several bastions and some other churches. Once we completed the tour we headed back to the van and off to Hervatov where we saw a wooden stave church. As we were driving up the road we were surprised we couldn’t see it as the ones we had seen in Norway are very large but suddenly we saw just the roof over some trees as we parked up. it looked small but once we rounded the side we saw it was a fair old size but not as ornate as the ones in Norway. We walked around it and rather than go in we headed down the side where there were a number of huts which appear to have been built around the same time and we popped in the open one which showed a little of what life would have been like back in the early 1900s. It was small but functional little hut but there wasn’t a kitchen or toilet so I’m not sure how they managed to live there.

Once we had finished looking around we headed out in the van and to a castle, one of the things Slovakia is famous for as there are more than 180 of them in the country. We headed to Spis Castle which is perched on top of a hill. The castle is currently undergoing some renovations so you cannot go into all of it, even with the paid ticket so we decided to just walk around it for today as the outside was as good as the inside and you couldn’t get better views from inside. It was a good walk up the hill and around the castle and after we had walked as far as we could around the castle (some of the walk is off limits due to risk of landslide) we headed back to the van and onto our stop for the night.

We parked up on a large meadow in the Paradise National park and it was a lovely spot. Its part of a dark park which means there are no street lights or light pollution around and it has great walks from the parking lot. We decided to do one before it got dark and hiked for a couple of km (more than we needed as we went the wrong way to begin with) to Tomasovsky view point which is a clifftop outlook point which was stunning. Once we hiked back we stopped and got ourselves a draft beer from the draft beer vending machine (the Slovaks are serious about their beer) and headed back to the van for dinner.

The next morning we got on the bikes an cycled further into the park to the start of another gorge ladder hike. This one is supposed to be one of the best in the park so we headed off through it but we had started early in the morning to avoid the crowds as it a popular walk. Even at 8.30 there were quite a few people on the walk and it started easy with a range of metal rungs in the gorge walls, wooden horizontal ladders and stepping stones but after about 1km we reached the first ladder which was in three parts, the first two were against the gorge wall with a chain to hold onto while the last one was a vertical ladder up to a platform. We had to queue for a bit for these as up the top there were two more ladders and they all just take a little time to get through but the views make up for it and they were not too bad and soon we were at the top. We carried on through the walk and there were various ladders, metal rungs and more wooden ladders (which it turns out Rich does not enjoy!) and eventually we made it to the end about 2 hours later. We then had an hours walk back to the bikes before we had to cycle the 10km back to the van. We had considered doing a second walk but we decided to just head back and relax as it was a harder walk what we had thought it would be. Once back at the van we chilled for the afternoon/evening and had another beer with dinner.

The next morning we got up and drove to the next national park which is not far away and parked up in a nearby town called Vysne Hagy and we caught the train up to Strbske Pleso (Pleso means lake) which is further in the High Tatras mountains which is at 1346 metres above sea level. It was very busy (especially as it was a Sunday) but we headed off on a planned hike to another lake higher in the mountains. The hike was also busier than expected but it did give some beautiful scenery and was fairly peaceful. We made it to the lake at Popradske which was at an altitude of 1530m before we headed up and found the Symbolicky Cintorin which is a memorial garden to those who have lost their lives on the mountains or respected people from the local area who have lost their lives on the worlds mountains. It was really interesting to look around at all the memorial stones for the different people and there was even one which was a propeller from an aircraft which came down in 1944 in which all the passengers died. Many of the stones showed the date of birth and date of death of the individuals and it became evident that many were young and only in their 20s when they died and it shows the danger of the mountains especially to young risk takers. Once we had looked around for awhile we continued on the walk which took us back down the mountain and to a train station where we got the train back to Strbske Pleso before heading back to our station and back to the van. All in all it was only just under 13km walk but it was enough for us and we headed off to find a park up for the evening.

This took us a couple of attempts as the first one we tried was between the road and a river and it was a bit muddy, meaning that we could have got stuck fi we weren’t in a 4X4 van. We decided that while the view to the river was nice it was too close to the road so we headed of to the open air museum that was also supposed to be a nice park up but when we got there it was still busy with stalls that reminded us of all the Romanian tourist stops so we didn’t even stop and we headed off to a ski life just outside a town called Liptovsky Mikulas where there was already one van parked up. It was a nice quiet night there with just the sound of a bubbling brook all night.

The next morning we got up and headed on the bikes to the nearby town/village of Liptovsky Jan where there was a local free thermal pool. It was an interesting place as there are two main natural pools, one which was warm and one which was hotter. They are both natural and you can see the minerals bubbling up from the bottom and the hotter one appears to have a stone circle in the middle that people like to sit in very close together to get the most warmth/healing. We got in the larger pool for a bit before heading to the river for a cold plunge and then back in the pool which made it feel even warmer. We then tried to get in the smaller pool but no one was moving from the stone circle so after 5 minutes we decided we had enough and headed to the grass banks to dry off for a bit. Once dried we headed back to the van on the bikes and had some breakfast before we headed to Orava Castle which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the country and was built around 1241. We had a free park up around the corner so we walked the rest of the way to the castle then paid and headed on in.

The castle was huge and while we only bought the smaller tour pass it still took more than an hour to explore all the rooms and climb to the tower top for the views over the region. There were different areas including a prison, dinning rooms, bedrooms and a torture chamber. We were even treated to some live classical music in one of the many rooms during the tour. Once we had finished we headed back to the van and onto a campsite as we need to service the van and there are no service points here in Slovakia, so we might as well get in a nice shower and a swim in a pool as well.

We spent a nice evening at the very quiet campsite with a couple of other vans and the next morning we headed to a little village called Vlkolinec which was essentially a small open air museum showing village life with small wooden painted houses. It was on a hill and we managed to park down the bottom meaning it was a hot walk up the hill to get in. It cost 8 euros to get in which was way over the top in our view, especially in comparison with other sites we have seen for similar or less money. We walked around the village and you can go in one or two buildings but they appear to have added stuff to show which really makes very little sense or is there to essentially make up an exhibition, like books of how it became a UNESCO World Heritage site and art work from local artists. We walked around for awhile and then headed back down the hill to Jeff and headed off to a park up near Sulovske Skaly which is a national park with large limestone pinnacles jutting out of the trees. We spent the evening in the park up planning our hike for the next day

Early the next morning we headed out as its due to get to over 30 degrees today and while much of the hike will be in the woods we know its still going to be hot! We set out on the climb up the hills and through the forests to different limestone outcrops which gave us great views of the whole area. We also climbed up to a 15^th century castle ruin which was perched on one of the pinnacles, and I have no idea how they could have built or lived up there but it was interesting walking around it. We also, using metal rings secured into the rocks, manged to climb into the ruins and to the top of them. After this we carried on the route through the forest when we came to an option to head out of the route for 15 minutes up to a cave which we decided to do. It was not an easy climb to Sarkania Diera (sharks cave) and involved ladders (some mostly embedded in the ground so you can only just make contact with them), rings secured to the side, little metal rung steps and walls to grip onto as you climb into the cave. It was steep and in some places it was difficult to grip and pull yourself up and you had to watch out for the loose gravel which not only made you slip but would travel back down the route and into other people’s way, but we made it (I was trying not to think about the fact I knew we would have to walk back down the same way). It was a huge cave with a shark fin shaped entrance and it was great to get to the back of it and have a quick sit down. After awhile we headed back down, which was difficult but we managed it without slipping over and back to the trail and back to the van. The walk was just over 10km and we were sweaty messes by the time we finished as the temperature was getting to 31 degrees. We decided to high tail it out of the area and we drove south to a lake near the town of Llava where we could swim (although the water was fairly shallow and not as cold as we would like) and keep cooler for the afternoon while the heat rose to around 34 degrees.