Groeten uit een behoorlijk warm Bardejov in het oosten van Slowakije! Als alles een beetje lukt ga ik morgen naar Oekraine, dus dit is de laatste dag in dit land. Zaterdag in Banska Stiavnica van alles gezien, o.a. het New Castle (op zich niet heel boeiend maar wel uitzicht over de stad) en een mijnbouwmuseum waarbij ik met een groep onder de grond door de gangen ben gelopen (wederom helmpje op!) en allerlei werktuigen heb gezien. Daarna een uitgebreide wandeling door de heuvels en bossen en velden gemaakt, langs een meertje, naar een uitkijkpunt op 939 meter met mooie uitzichten. Nadat [View Full Entry]

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Today Joyce arrived in Košice after backpacking in Europe for the last few weeks. We found her as she was trying to work a phone on the train station since she had been there for a little while before we arrived to pick her up. The three of us spend the morning and afternoon in Košice. I got to attend mass at St. Elizabeth's Cathedral, which is the largest church in Slovakia and was built starting in 1378. Joyce, Sylvia, and I sat outside on the square for a drink and then headed toward Roňava. We stopped at a roadside restaurant [View Full Entry]

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Okay so this is a little late, but just pretend like I wrote this 2 weeks ago. Martin picked me up from the train station and after apologizing a million times for his “bad English” we drove to his apartment. I was so tired that I felt like I was floating. We got to his apartment and I immediately took a shower. Not only was the train not very comfortable… it wasn’t the cleanest thing either. Martin’s wife, Natalia, had left us breakfast which was a meat plate, a veggie plate, and bread. Interesting what other cultures consider breakfast. On their [View Full Entry]

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Do you ever find yourself stuck in a city where there is an eternal blanket of snow above you? Well, chances are good that these clouds are quite thin and all you need to do is hike up a mountain or hill for clear skies and warmer weather! This was the case when I travelled with Milka (my Couchsurfing friend) before Sylvester to some mountains west of Kosice, near Gelnica. We had a spectacular view of the Tatras and basked in the sun during our 16km hike. The day after we took the train to the national park Slovensky Kras [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Slovakia This is the first country in my journey. Unfortunately it has been raining, so the pics are a bit grayish, I hope you will enjoy them. You can add comments and contact me trough this website, also if you wish you can subscribe and whenever I do edit a new entry and pictures you will get a notification e-mail. Hope you will like it! Üdvözlet Szlovákiából Ez az első állomás a világkörüli kaland túrán ; ) Sajna esett az eső, így a képek kicsit szürkések, de azért remélem tetszeni fog majd. Hozzászólásokat szívesen fogadok ezen a weboldalon, vagy [View Full Entry]

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6/01-12/01 Eastern Europe was the focus of a two month summer trip in 2001. I wanted to extensively tour the region after my short dips into it from Western Europe and Scandinavia. I was able to explore the homeland of my relatives in Croatia, hike the Tatras of Slovakia, and attend a medieval festival in Romania among other things. After this trip I would study for a semester in Prague, taking courses in Central European history, Russian, and Czech. Our dormitory had students from all over the world. Each week, one nationality would host a party for the rest of us [View Full Entry]

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Today we walked a path in a wild, but beautiful park in Slovakia. The path through the Narodony Park winds its way upward through a pass in the limestone mountains. A wildly rushing stream has eroded the mountain resulting in a canyon. The cliff walls rise steeply on either side and are not without their danger, especially if you are climbing them, or walking along the crest. Martin, a young Slovak we met, walked with us today and told us how one of his friends decided to call his girlfriend using a cell phone. He could not find a signal and [View Full Entry]

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Krasna Horka is located in southern Slovakia, very near the Hungarian border, in fact I believe within view of the border. There are written records concerning the castle as far back as the 13th century now it has been designated as a Slovak National Treausure. The castle was strategically located such that it protected the medieval roads that crossed the Slovensky Rudohorie area, and thus, protected the mining areas of this region. Today this extremely well preserved castle is a museum with hundreds of artifacts on display. The rooms are filled with furniture, weapons, and clothing of the periods of time [View Full Entry]

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Kosice is the second largest city in Slovakia with about 300,000 people living within the city limits. Nancy and I agreed that the town has a much smaller feeling. Actually it felt like a small town. The old, central part of the city is quite interesting. The surrounding hills are covered with large, Soviet style, high rise apartments. Anyone who has seen the Soviet style high rise apartment buildings knows this is not an attractive sight. As time and money permit the city is rehabbing the high rises. Those completed are more attractive, but will never be considered beautiful. Nancy--.I thought [View Full Entry]

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As the old saying goes, time flies. Well, for us it has flown and our 90 day Czech visas are about to expire. To receive a new 90 day visa all we have to do is leave the Czech Republic and then return. Many at IBTS simply take the train to Germany in the morning and return in the afternoon or evening. As we had never been there, we decided some time ago to go to Slovakia. Then a month to six weeks ago we met an American couple, the McNary's, and their two children who live in Kosice, Slovakia. When [View Full Entry]

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