Across Slovakia - Bratislava to Levoca
Trip Start
May 01, 2005
1
39
53
Trip End
Ongoing
Levoca, Slovakia
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
With the hope of seeing bears and actually spotting one deer we endured a six hour second class carriage vinyl seat no air conditioning ride to Spisska and and a bus to Levoca.
It is all worth it, the town is nice and the surrounding countryside is spectacular. The accommodation is great - an 18th century building with displayed mountaineering gear, antlers, old rifles etc.....and all for only 9euros per night!
There is a church on a hill outside of town that Albert thought deserved a walk up to. I wasnīt so keen so he trekked up there...took a shortcut...got caught in a thicket of stinging nettles, chased by a dog - big apparently-, but eventually made it up there.
Alberts been having a great time talking to locals in towns. He spoke to our host - Milan - actually, sat down for a few beers with him, and in a mix of English, German, Italian, Slovak and (a lot of( Pictionary, found out about the wildlife -bears, wolves, deer etc- in Slovakia. He talked about his experience climbing the High Tatras when he encountered a bear at 10m. He explained that if I ever saw a bear not to get closer than 10m! and donīt run because they can move at 50km/h. Albert assured him that if faced with the situation he could travel at at least 51km/h!!! It turns out that Milan served in Czechoslovakian Special Forces in the 60s. After swapping a few army stories he was keen to show off his pistol so took it out and invited Albert for some shooting - not in the paddock or out on a farm!! but in the cellar under the house! He didnīt look like a complete amateur, actually put down a few good rounds....thanks Jake and Tads!
We thought Levoca would be a small town that tourists didnīt visit. We were sort of right....except for the Aussies. Everywhere we have been where we think we are the only non-locals, the only visitors, we sit in a cafe, relax, and the next thing we hear is some Aussie yapping behind us. They are everywhere! Not like thats a bad thing - its great that we have some 22million population but somewhere, everywhere, in the world there are a few around. Sampling some local food that night,we, once again met some Aussies - five people from the Gold Coast. Aaaaaahhhhh, Brisvegas - Albert immediately said!
There was some sort of Catholic pilgrimage/festival in Levoca the next few days so we decided to head on. Thousands of people started arriving and the town wasnīt looking so quiet anymore.
Before we left the area though, we wanted to check out Spis Castle. After about seven bus rides through the countryside and ending up back in Levoca - Alberts map reading skills...... - we went to a town where we could hike up to the castle. The most amazing thing about the castle is the way it dominates the landscape. It was built on the top of a hill and envelopes the whole top of the hill - see pics. We killed some time, bought train tickets and headed to Prague in couchettes on the night train. It was confusing because -passport control - we were stamped into the Czech Republic before we were stamped out of Slovakia. Strange. Oh well, just a few more stamps in the passport.....
