Slovakia - Bratislava -Slovenskia Raj

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1993. Czechoslovakia is broken neatly in 2. Divide the country and the word roughly in half. The second half, Slovakia, is generally regarded as the little impoverished brother of big bro 1st half. Sounded like a good enough reason to us for a few, in fact 4 days.
What do you do for 4 days in country you don't know a great deal about? HEAD FOR THE HILLS MA!!!
We found a room in the midst of a bunch of national parks, all for the princely sum of 15 euro per night. Slovakia is bargain Europe.
The national park closest to us is known as Slovensky Raj. This translates to Slovakian Paradise. I wasn't aware paradise would be so full of Polish tourists. In fact my ingnorance led me to think we'd be the only non-Slovakians in town. WRONG again! The outdoorsy attractions and the prices attract hoardes of tourists from mostly Eastern European nations. The number plates on cars read like a where's where of former iron curtain nations.
So what is it like? Yeah, it's nice without being somewhere you would fly to the other side of the world to visit on its own merit. Is it paradise as the name suggests? That's a little fanciful and the guy who named this area as such has almost suredly never been to Cronulla. BUT, the Slovensky Raj is reasonable eye candy if not gobsmackingly gorgeous.
One thing the Slovakians can do very well is brew beer. Attached to the Czech Republic, I suppose that's not surprising. What is surprising is how they do it for so cheap. A half litre of scrummy local draught for 75 euro cents on top of Penny's glass of red for 45 euro cents. Alcoholics take note: pack your bags and head for Slovakia. You'll save a fortune in the long term.
The people - how can I put this inoffensively? We've found them introverted. Not surly, but very few have been open with a smile. There was one very friendly lady working at the ticket counter fo the Spisske Hrad (castle). At least we thought she was friendly until she asked us if we required the seniors' discount. That's it! I'm booking in for a face lift.
Bratislava is the captital city and first appearances are testament to everything designed around Soviet functionality. ie. butt ugly. Plenty of grey , drab edifices. Admist this bland, former commie concrete jungle sits the Rennaisance quarter, an architectural oasis. From this part of town, Bratislava is as comtempary, cosmopolitan and chic as the best of them and justifies more than the few hours we spent there enroute to:
my date with destiny and the world's worst tour. The Sound of Music Tour in Vienna.
Auf Wiederseihn.
Yeatesy.

We have been in Eastern Europe now for a few weeks, and there seems to be a familiar fashion trend, one that will probably never take off in Australia. Men, women, the young and the old all seem to be wearing their sandals (plastic) complete with dark (black, sometimes blue, but NEVER white) ankle socks. I don't get it. Do they know something I don't? Do these dark socks prevent blisters? Or maybe they prevent the feet from being burnt? Or is it purely a fashion statement? We clearly stand out as tourists, as we do not comply to this fashion trend. Our few days trekking in the Slovensky Raj emphasised this. A fabulous national park full of forest trails, ideal for family bush walking and trend setting outfits. The other trekkers already know we were foreigners because we smile and greet the other trekkers when we pass them on the trail. Occasionally if we are lucky we may get a grunt for a reply, but they all seem to stare at our feet. I wonder if we were to confirm to this 'fashion trend' and put on our dark ancle socks and birkenstocks would we fit in and draw less attention. The locals and other tourists on these trails may not be the friendliest folk we have come across, but they should be smiling given the prices of the Slovakian food and drinks, both in the supermarkets and restaurants. It really is reasonable, and one could make a profit travelling here for any lengh of time on the aussie dollar. Current exchange rate 20 koruna to an aussie $1.
Slovakia has been a great outdoor destination, even though I complained it was getting cold at 12 degrees after suffering the european heatwave for weeks.
Shoes and socks on, we are off to Vienna.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

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Photos

Slovensky Raj
The walking / climbing trail

Spisske Hrad
These are probably the graves of people who had to drag the stones up to the top of this hill to build this castle.

Levoca
Sunday morning

Bratislava
The capital in peak hour

Bratislava
A weiry traveller!!

Bratislava
Another weiry traveller

Comments

[Igor]

nicely written. I like reading anything about my home country. And those white socks... I have to do research on it :-) By the way I prefer Slovensky Raj than Cronulla :-)

[colvinyeates]

Cronulla
Fair enough but then most people would prefer the Bronx to Cronulla.