Not much to say in this entry since I did a lot of relaxing and exploring of Eastern Slovakia with its many small cities and villages. Basically, I went from Hungary north into Slovakia's second largest city (but still small) called Kosice. From there I checked out Slovansky Raj National Park and a heritage town called Levoce. Did some hiking in the national park and checked out some musuems. Then, I spent a couple days in the High Tatras and small resort towns called Stary Smokevec and Horny Smokevec....and some more hiking. The scenery and mountain air were great, check the [View Full Entry]

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No time for words ... just a few pics [View Full Entry]

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Our day began with Mor—that’s is the name of the village in Hungary where we went today. Well we did start the day tying up loose ends. We videoed the drive into Mana…About 3 times, because we kept messing up, then Nagy would say something comical, and I kept having to contort myself in the car to get bizarre shots with the camera. Eventually we couldn’t compose ourselves anymore and we laughed hysterically for a few minutes—it is all on tape--so we are thinking about adding bloopers at the end our documentary. We also stopped by the manor house to walk [View Full Entry]

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March 26, 2006 (Sofia, Bulgaria) Shannon: With less than 14 days to go before we head to Dublin to meet up with family and 2 countries to cover before our plane takes off from Bucharest (Romania), we’ve realized that we’re going to have to pick up the pace to get there. With that in mind, last night we took a sleeper train to Sofia (Bulgaria). It wasn’t exactly our most comfortable ride. Leaving the station at 10 pm, the Bosfor Expresi crosses the Turkish/Bulgarian border at the insane hour of 2 am, which means a rather bleary-eyed trip through customs. [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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Bratislava. What can I say about the place? Not a lot in all honesty. Unless you are a fan of decaying, grey Soviet architecture or 12% Aabv beer it's probably not worth a trip. We did have a great meal in a small Slovak restaurant of venison Goulash and dumplings though. Is that another reason to visit? Not really. In all honesty, the place is much prettier under moonlight when the huge tennement blocks on the south side of the Danube are lit up and you are unable to see the beautiful shades of grey. That's Bratislava. [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 th [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-- [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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For the first time we were in a country where we couldn't understand a single word of the language. Good and bad at the same time. Bad because we couldn't find our way from the train station to the hostel. Good that we had a good excuse to talk to the gorgeous girls from Bratislava!!! Don't forget we are from Brazil, it means we are used to good looking girls, but nothing compares to Slovakia! We were even shy to approach that beauties thinking they would be snobbish (like the beautiful ones back home). On the contrary, they were friendly and [View Full Entry]

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