Blogs from Presov Region, Slovakia, Europe

The Tatras are a compact mountain range that forms part of the border between Poland and Slovakia. Although looking much like the Alps in miniature, the Tatras are actually a northwestern extension of the Carpathian Mountains, that form an arc through Eastern Europe. Sub-divided into three separate ranges (the White, High and Western Tatras) they are a chain of rugged mountains topped with jagged peaks, rising up to 2654m in height. And best of all, they are easy to explore - not only is there a complex network of hiking routes snaking throughout the mountains on both sides of the border, but as with numerous other mountainous areas in Europe there is also a series of mountain huts placed in strategic (and often downright beautiful) locations, allowing people the opportunity to walk from hut to hut ... read more

Day 104, 07.07.19. Sunday. Been having trouble coping with the fact that most people here aren't friendly at all, the overwhelming majority is staring me down whenever I enter some place or just walk along the streets of Bardejov. I think it's because I look like an immigrant, it's even worse than Norway even though I didn't expect that at all. One of the first days I came to a place called Bardejovske Kupele, to visit the ancient forest here, I had a staring competition with a dude that must have been at least 80 years old, I won after we stared at each other for at least 15 seconds. Absolutely ridiculus! And this mentality is also making me quite irritable at times. It's not that they're staring at me because they're curious, oh no! They ... read more

Today we have a 5 hour drive to Slovakia for no particular reason other than so the old man can check Slovakia off his list of countries visited. It’s actually only 200 miles, but involves crossing the Tatra Mountains. We plan to stop en route at Oswiecim to visit the concentration camps of Auschwitz. A visit to a concentration camp turns out to be surprisingly expensive. By the time you’ve added parking, entry fees and a trip to the toilet, it’s over £30. In any event, you’re not allowed in without a guide and the next English tour is in 3 hours time. So we depart for Slovakia instead. We stop for brunch in a pizzeria too far off the tourist trail for English menus to be an option, so it’s a case of pizza Russian ... read more

Ok I don't generally stress out while travelling but this morning sucked. I didn't sleep much last night (my throat flared up) and then there was some huge issue on the train track and everything north of us was delayed 20-50(!!!!) minutes. I had to make a connection to get to the Tatras in time for my prime ticket so I was getting pretty worried. I decided to go up to the tracks just in case and one of the conductors kept saying 'autobussi', but everyone was huddled there so I stayed with the crowd to be safe. They ended up just letting us get on an extra train in the station to head south which is exactly what I needed. Poprad to Tatranska Lomnica was a pain in the ass too lol. I thought the ... read more

Wow, what a trip. So many pictures sum it up quite well but you can also read on :) (sorry, it is only one blog entry and therefore quite long). We went to Slovakia by car and stayed in Horny Smokovec in the High Tatra Mountains. We arrived in the evening, and it was foggy and rainy. When we passed the Polish/Slovakian border, the street was suddenly very wide and no cars around except a jeep that was behind us for quite some time. I have to admit the situation was a little bit spooky ;) The mountains were covered in clouds. On the first day the weather did not change: still a lot of clouds and some rain. So we went to Strbske Pleso to see the lake and the ski jumping hills. We climbed ... read more