Blogs from Slovakia, Europe - page 34

For the first 8000 kilometers of our journey we had few choices of routes in that, over most of the Eurasian Steppe there are few roads connecting any two places. We would pick our next destination and ride there on the only route we could find. Sometimes this meant small, remote tracks where we were excited to see another car, horse, anything that could confirm our choice at the last intersection. At other times, however, this reality put us in heavy traffic on the only through road across huge distances. Russia was particularly rough as only one main road plies the whole of Southern Siberia and we shared that road with a never ending flow of aggressive trucks and maniac drivers. In Romania we found a New England-esque "you can't get there from here" sort of ... read more

After finishing my class in Poland, I headed back to Slovakia. Sylvia and her family came to Lublin to pick me up. After one day back in Roznava, Sylvia and I headed to Presov, Slovakia so I could attend a research conference on religious geography in Europe. The conference went well and on the third day, we had a small group tour of some of the most important religious architecture in Northeast Slovakia. This region has a group of small wooden churches that were placed on the UNESCO World Hertiage List last summer while I was here. These churches are unique in the world for their architecture, construction, and in a few cases, for the specific denomination that uses them. The Slovak Greek Catholic Church is a very small Eastern Rite Catholic Church that exists in ... read more

Talk to Frank. It's easy! If you take a break from your refreshments in the Old Town of Bratislava, "I won the World Cup" Frank was found aimlessly wandering the streets as part of his pre-match warm up routine. Chelsea were in town to play Slovan in the old European Cup Winners Cup and as accommodation of a 5 star nature was a bit tricky to locate back in 1997, the team were based right in the heart of the Old Town. Alas we were not, having failed to secure a berth in the old communist icon, the Hotel Kiev! We shipped out to the outskirts of the city to what was best described as a mountain retreat complete with tennis courts. Shame, there was no time to play. The Old Town was small and not ... read more

A long day trip from Vienna to Ljubljana in Slovenia was the next step, with a side trip to Bratislava which is situated below the Carpathian Mountains and is the capital of Slovakia. Highlights of the old town tour were the Mirbach Palace where I happened upon an interesting art show as I was looking for a bathroom. From the castle which is being renovated 9as is most of this part of the country) there are three bridges that span the river from new to old) and then another cathedral St Martins. We went back to the Hotel in Vienna and picked up the rest of the bus then it was off to Ljubljana. We arrived quite late, no time for settling in the hotel - off on a sightseeing tour of the town. The first ... read more

I know that some of you are waiting the entry of my first meeting with Ma'ri's family. You'll have to be a little more patient, as this will be my next entry for the blog. Our base for these few days is in Hejce in the North-East part of Hungary where Ma'ri's parents live. The village is only 30 km from Kosice. I've already been to Prague, but never set a foot in Slovakia. So we decided to spend an afternoon strolling Kosice. Interesting enough, Ma'ri hasn't come here for years, so it was also a re-discovery of some of her childhood memories. Slovakia and Hungary are now both part of Schengen, so no more controls at the border. But the old style communist control buildings are still in place...in a seriously bad conditions...but still standing ... read more