Slovensky Raj is called the Slovak Paradise by the locals. It certainly was to us one of the pritiest national parks we´ve hiked in. We found a lovely campsite with views of the snowcapped Tatras and a fun atmosphere as most of Poland seemed to be there on holidays (with a good few bottles of vodka around the place). In fact this is the first campsite we´ve hit in E. Europe thats been fully opened and had people other than ourselves in it.
When we entered Slovakia we expected it to be less western than the Czech Rep, but in fact it seems more western, more expensive and people appear to be more well off. Seen some flash supermarkets and cars(spotted 3 hummers in the last 2 weeks). This maybe because we are in more touristic areas in Slovakia and in the Czech Rep we were mostly well off the beaten track.
That said, we have also passed a few towns that look run down with 20 year old Ladas and Skodas. These towns seem to be mostly populated by the Romani people. We read in the guide book that there is some racism from the
Long hikes...Achy muscles. By now we had spent 5 out of the last 6 days hiking between 5 to 8 hours a day!!
Slovaks (and the Czechs) towards the Romani. Shilpa is reading a novel at the moment that also talks about this. We´ve not observed any racism but there probably is a degree of discrimination as they generally seem to be poor and I imagine find it difficult to get jobs.
They can be quite dark skinned and a few of the Romani kids have come up and started chatting away to Shilpa, and her not understanding a word they´re saying. They seem to be quite confused as to what kind of Gypsy she is!!!
Hiking aidsThese were some of the hiking 'aids' that were in place in order to climb up waterfalls and gorges. Some were a bit scary, some a bit rusty, and some about to fall out of the wall!!, But all
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laddersThese were some of the ladders we climbed to scale the waterfalls.
View from the campsiteWaking up to this view every morning was pretty cool! These are the Tatra's accross the valley from slovensky raj.
viperWe saw a lizard, a snake and a deer on this hike. We later found out this was a type of viper and can be quite dangerous!
Camp FireAs we'd ran out of Gas we put some spuds in the fire, day 1: i think we ate more charcoal than spud. Day 2, put loads of foil on the spuds and they were yum!!
MTBGot up at 7am and did a 12k mtb trail in slovensky raj... Excellent. Arrived back to the van at 8.30 to find shilpa just getting out of bed!
Slovakia's Flag
Map of Slovakia