Discovering Slovakia

We left Poland with a big bang. On our way out, I decided to make one more stop in a beautiful mountain village, with roads lined with typical regional wooden farm houses. However, no where to park. I drove into a small farm road, just to see if there was a piece of land where I could park. No luck, I kept on driving, but got further away, I couldn’t even find a good spot to turn around the truck. Then there was a little sub-road into farm land, with a little concrete bridge, where I could try to make a turn. Backing up went ok, Marja was guiding me in. Then when I wanted to drive out, I saw that a farmer with a huge tractor, was waiting for me to clear the road. So, I backed up further so he could pass. Then I drove out (being still on the little bridge with no side railings) and turned my wheel to fast. In stead of driving of straight, I turned in such away that the left back wheel drove off the bridge. A big bang and a very dangerous angled position of the truck was the result. This was not good! All kinds of things went through my mind, and one of them was to get out of the truck and chase the farmer with his tractor. But I engaged the 4×4 dif-lock first and amazingly enough I was able to get of the bridge onto the little road again. Jumping out of the cabin, I checked out the damage……not good again….. Adjustable back bumper bent or out of position, the box in which the outdoor kitchen is located, was pretty much messed up. Not a good way to finish our Poland visit.

We continued our journey with a bent up back bumper and passed the border into Slovakia. We heard a lot about this country. Its a little bigger than Holland, but only about 5 million inhabitants. Mostly hilly and a lot of green. But not only that, it also has the highest number of castles/castle ruïnes per capita in the world. Finding an easy spot to park a camper like ours for a picknick or let alone a camp spot seemed very difficult the first day. The narrow valleys gave little space to hide. However, for lunch we managed to get off the road into farm land near a small river. It was there that I could do a full assessment of the damage. The back bumper needed some serious work, so I left that for what it was. The outdoor kitchen was stuck in the box under the frame, so I had to hammer out the dents. While I started to hammer out the dents with a rubber hammer, Marja prepared lunch. By the time she was ready, I managed to get the dents out to such an extent that the outdoor kitchen could slide out and it seemed not to be damaged. And mind you, this thing is one of my favorite items of this camper.

Wild camping in Slovakia is not allowed, but as I said before its hard to find a wild camp spot anyway. But if you want to find an official camping, its not easy either. One of Slovakia’s most beautiful areas is the Slovak Paradise National Park, famous for one of the most beautiful ice caves in the world (Dobsinska Ice Cave). Though not the biggest, but one of the most beautiful, with a great variety of ice formations were ice is up to 26mts thick. All nice, but only one camping in the area and no wild spots to find. Even hotels, were hard to find. So, we ended up at the only camping, which, to our great surprise – besides 2 little tents – was completely deserted. Park your truck where ever you want, which we did. On a riverside, under some hundreds of years old pine trees as if we were still somewhere in the middle of the bush. It was here, where I could use my skills and imagination on how to fix the back bumper. Using the car jack, the pieces of wood I kept from our getting stuck in the mud adventure in Poland and a big flat rock, all together did the trick. Slowly but surely, the bumper came back in position, only one broken bolt was the damage. I also did some extra hammering on the outdoor kitchen box, and by now, the damage of the ”dropping off the bridge” event turned out to be minimal.

Next morning we drove through the park and reached the ice cave. Caves are always magical places. Is the world above ground beautiful, mother earth definitely did her best to create some artwork under the surface. There is no defined structure, no cohesion and for sure no logic in the designs of caves. There are thousands of little details which can be multiplied, because of the many different angles you can look at these details. The ice cave is a dimension higher up, since it foremost, has a constant freezing temperature and the amount of ice it contains. Ice, which is millions of years old. Stalagmites and stalactites of ice are like candles when lit up by lights and add to the magical feeling when in the cave.

Slovakia is a country of true natural beauty. It has nice high and low mountain ranges and nearly all these mountains are still green (whether by natural growth or forestry). Slovakia also has the highest number of castles per capita in the world. Now I must say, each country we have visited so far, has the highest, lowest, biggest, smallest, deepest, oldest, youngest of whatever you want to see, visit or believe. Its often very relative, just how you want to measure things. Of course, its often a tourist promotional gimmick, to lure tourists who want to say they visited the largest, biggest, highest etc. Having said that, the castles (most of them ruins), are there in an exceptional high quantity, compared to the size of the country. It almost looks like every hill top has a castle or ruine of a castle. The most famous one in Slovakia (and according to Slovakia one of the largest in central Europe) is Spis Castle. High up on a hill (like all of them), lies this amazing ruine, surrounded by construction cranes (its under renovation). As we would figure out, every castle or ruine has a parking at the foot of the hill and then you have a 30 to 60 minute walk up the hill to visit the castle. So for the coming days, we did some good exercise, by climbing many hills to visit castles.

As I said, most castles are ruines and on top of a hill. Nearly all of these ruines we visited, were under some kind of restoration. All these projects are projects organized by the community surrounding these castles. Volunteers (mostly men), have some kind a common man cave (a dungeon section of the castle, cool, and weather proof), which is one of the first sections which gets repaired. These volunteers spend their weekends and free time at these castles, to re-build these castles. They depend on donations for material and organize middle age events on the site to generate extra income. But boy, sometimes we entered such a site, and we literally see a pile of rocks and some sections of standing walls supported by scaffolding and I think by myself, how many years or decades will this take? How many middle ages events can you organize to attract a crowd (especially since the 3 hills left, right and behind you are doing the same thing)? But, its not a matter of time, its a matter of pride, purpose and camaraderie. Some of the volunteers are retired and need a purpose, some are proud to work on something their ancestors worked on and some have fun to be with others to work, drink a beer and have a weekend bbq. Seeing the big tents, bbq’s and beer bottles I think, they indeed don’t care if they will see the finished product before they leave the planet.

What I also realize more and more, when you read the history of all these castles (or mansions in the Baltics), is that ownership is so temporary. None of the castles, palaces, mansions or other big buildings are still owned by the family or the person who once built it. Wars, revolutions, financial mismanagement or lack of a male successor (this is how it was in the old days), caused the change of ownership. Also the purpose of these buildings changed, they just became impractical in their use or because of the construction material used, hard to maintain at all. It is with so many things in life, it’s important to show your feathers during a certain time in life, to impress others and confirm your status. But there comes a time that you have to go. Your name is registered in the archives together with your accomplishments, maybe you get a place in a museum and even a statute at a prominent location in the area where people will or should remember you. Your house, castle or mansion, stays within the family, until they loose it, because they have not the same qualifications you had. What you would have never realized when you built your castle, mansion or palace, is that many years, decades or centuries later, the people you had no business with in your time (the ordinary civilian), now pay a small fee, to look at ”your” house, to admire your grandeur and architecture of the times you lived in. Maybe it could be a rewarding thought, after all…..

After we left Spis castle we drove off (we were doubting if we would stay the night at the parking of the castle or not, since it was allowed and the view on the castle at night is amazing, all lit up, but a too nosy fellow camper decided us to move on) to a nice little town at the foot of the Tatra mountains (this time on the Slovakian side). While driving on the high way, Marja heard a big metal bang on the road and I thought this was because I drove over a road grill. Later I would find out, what it really was. Driving more east, north east the scenery changed. Houses, villages started to look shabby. Large groups of people on the street, often a lot of children. The people also looked different. More like native Indians of the Americas, with black hair (the women often long black hair). It was as if we entered another country. Later I learned these were Roma people or also called Gypsies (which is not a nice word to say). Large groups of Roma (people who used to live a nomadic life in the past) are living in the eastern part of Slovakia and are a so-called neglected minority group in Slovakia. Bad education (or no access to education), generational poverty and discrimination seems to keep these people excluded from the progress the country made since becoming independent. It was a bit of an eye opener and it seemed vert hard to find a camp spot in this area. We drove on to a less populated area, with farmland and forests. Of course we managed again. A nice spot behind a group of trees in some farmland. It was there that I discovered that one of the protective metal covers for the windows of the living room was gone. That was the noise we had heard on the highway. A big flat piece of metal flying over the highway……..luckily it didn’t hit another car behind us (at least we didn’t notice).

We woke up in the early morning, a large male red deer was bellowing nearby, probably as a warning sign. I jumped out of bed and tried to see the deer, but gone he was. When I looked up, I saw in the distance a watch tower, used by hunters. We have seen hundreds of these towers throughout our journey so far. Hunting is still a popular activity in Eastern part of Europe. I quickly realized that I should take cover and stay out of sight from that tower. You never know if a hunter is inside and I was near the location where the deer was. I would not be the first human being shot, because of a misconception of the target.

Packing up and driving back the same route (as I also wanted to try to find back the metal cover), we first made (as usual unplanned) a stop at a castle ruïne. It was early morning, nobody else around and to reach the castle we had to walk up the hill through a forest. Nice thing of these castles and ruïnes is that the they are protected landscape including a large area around them. I love centuries old trees. Often they are found around or in the parks part of castle properties. Some are many hundreds of years old and have seen the rise and dismiss of castles, but they kept growing and for some reason those close to the castles managed to survive the axes of the timber guys. We should be happy that at least some of these old trees are protected, since still up till today, many of the remaining old forests in Europa are cut down for timber and bio-mass.

Although we drove slowly back on the same road, we didn’t find back the metal cover, so that was a write off. We ordered the replacement. During our search and drive back, we stopped at one of the highlights of north east Slovakia, the small town off Bardejov, an UNESCO site. The town has an unique well preserved medieval town centre, with well preserved colorful houses lining the four sides of the square. Yes, we made another stop along the way (another random choice of following one of these brown tourist signs). Turned out the oldest wooden church in the country (Church of Francis of Assisi), very cute, but closed for visitors. (Which is often the case in Slovakia, unless you make a reservation in advance). We used the only parking spot in front of the church and had a well prepared (self) lunch at a gazebo on the church property. In the meantime some Slovak tourists showed up and they called the guide who shows people the church. Less then half an hour later she showed up and we could join the other tourists. Now this is an old church, like there are so many old churches in Europe. And if you have seen a few, you have seen them all. (Same as with the castles). You hear many different names, years and centuries are thrown to your ears and a lot of it you forget. This little woorden church, though, was much more special. First of all, its also a UNESCO site (so that means something), secondly the church has unique centuries old wall paintings on its inner walls but the fact that a wooden structure like this managed to survive intact for more then 500 years, is quite unique.

The day ended and we decided to return to Spis Castle and still try to park and camp there for the night. We were lucky, nobody there and a beautiful view of the castle ruins, which were light up during the night.

Monday is not a good day to roam around as a tourist in Slovakia. We visited 4 interesting sites, but all were closed. However, we met 2 guys on motorbikes from the Czech Republic, who were doing a tour through Slovakia. The older guy was a wine connaisseur and he told us that they were now on their way to south east Slovakia, near the borders with Hungary and Ukraine. There, he said is a small wine area (called the Tokaj region) where a world famous white (sweet) wine, is produced. Well that did sound interesting and after getting some more info from the guys, we decided to head that direction. (We had to drive back south again). We reached a point where you leave the higher mountains of the south and overlook the fast flat plains of Ukraine and Hungary (and partly Slovakia). A beautiful far sight. We stopped at the winery the guys recommended and where they would stay that night, however the people were not too helpful in accommodating us. Instead, they gave us a tip to go to another winery.

Going through some very narrow roads in small villages, we came upon a hill side with beautiful vineyards and there on top of a hill stood out this beautiful artistic white building. It was Chateau Grand Bari, not an old castle, but a contemporary building, beautifully incorporated in the landscape. It was already early in the evening and we hoped that they would have an availability for diner. We had to park between the grape vines at the foot of the hill, since we for sure would damage the driveway.

In our camp outfit we entered the grand luxurieus reception area, where we were first approached by the receptionist, who (after inquired for diner), went to get the manager. The manager (a very nice lady, who constantly laughs), already had seen us and the truck and was impressed. No problem for diner, but kitchen would close in 15 minutes. We asked for a little later so we got take a shower and dress up (for a change). Since her boyfriend was the chef, it was not a problem. So that night we had a great dining experience at the Chateau Grand Bari in the far south east of Slovakia, overlooking the vineyards and the great plains of Hungary and Ukraine. After a good meal and some good wine tasting (indeed the grapes in the Tokaj area are special and make the wine sweet and gold colored), we were able to sleep between the grape vines. And with all that wine, we slept well, until about 5 in the morning, when a big van unloaded the vineyard workers next to our truck and these boys and girls couldn’t keep their mouth shut for minute. So, early start of the day. And since we were still on the Chateau grounds, we walked up the hill and checked if we could join for breakfast as well. No problem. And while the sun was rising, we had a last look over the vineyard and the plains. Before we left, we loaded the trucks with some good wines and champagne from the house.

We drove away and stayed south, along the Hungarian border. Its a total different area from the rest of Slovakia, large farm fields, steep hills, not much habitation. The mountains on the border between Slovakia and Hungary are pretty much untouched and green all over. The border area, between these 2 countries have for long been a disputed area and relations between the 2 countries have historically not always been the best. A nice little camp near the border in the woods was our next stay.

Next morning we decided to stay another night and hang around a bit. The owner of the campsite passed by and asked if he could place a picture of the truck on his Facebook page to promote his camp (I felt honored), a little later, three high ranking officers of the Slovak Army knocked on the door. I was not driving, not in a restricted area, so what was the problem this time? Well, there was no problem. Somehow they heard about this ”army truck” look a like and wanted to see it with their own eyes. Nice guys (and lady), had a very friendly chat with them. These days, the military in Europe must be a bit nervous with all what is going on. Since early 90ties there was only peace, now the time has changed and ”their call” to arms can come any time (but lets hope we are not going into that direction).

As the second evening at this camp site kicked in, we did a little walk through the surrounding forests. When the day goes over into the night, many animals become active, so a bigger change to see them. This time we were lucky by seeing a large Eagle Owl, the second largest owl in the world. Though not endangered and still common, it remains a night animal and not easy to see (they see you way earlier then you see them).

Since a long time, we didn’t have any appointments on our agenda. Actually we didn’t use an agenda since at least the last 3 months. But now, we had one, in Bratislava. Our daughter was flying over there to meet with us, to celebrate our wedding anniversary and her birthday. So we had to make quite a distance (since we were half way the country), to be on time. We wanted to make one stop along the way at a little town, which was recommended to us to visit, the town of Banska Stiavnica. Well, first find a parking spot. There are (and this a UNESCO listed monumental town), hardly any parking places. So we drove around and around and found a place about 30/45 minutes walk from the old city on a hill. There was no real pedestrians path going from where we parked, so we had to walk on a very busy road, down hill. And we couldn’t figure out where the old town was, we only saw new buildings, apartment buildings, but nothing that looked like an old town. We kept on walking, a then saw the big touring buses parked here and there along the road and police officers who were chasing the busdrivers with their buses away to a (presumable) parking lot. Since we felt lost (or at least couldn’t figure out where to find the ”famous” old town of this city, we asked the police officers. An older nice male officer and a younger female, they both spoke a bit of German and we as well. So we explained them our frustrated search to the old town, that we already had walked so much, since we couldn’t find a parking place and that we were tourists from far. The male officer said, jump in the patrol car, we will show you were to park. Well that doesn’t happen often the police gives you a ride! So they showed us the parking lot and that was actually another half hour further away from the truck. So what next, do we have to get out? No, then they drove us through the old town to show it, and to the truck. We explained them already that we had a mobil home, so that it was not easy to find parking, but when we came around the corner and they saw the truck, they started to laugh so loud. They jumped out of the car, stared making photos, selfies, with us , without us.. it was actually funny. It was not over yet, to be sure we could find the dedicated parking lot, they escorted us through town all the way to the parking. Wow, that was good service of the city police. But I did advise them to tell the major of the city to place some extra signs to where the parking lot is. Along the way we saw so many buses parked on places where they were not allowed. But, this old town, was indeed a very and interesting place to visit. However, for a nice plate of food, I wouldn’t recommend it. We couldn’t find a descent restaurant for lunch.

Up to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. After almost 3 months of living in our expedition truck, we now had a couple of nights booked at the Sheraton Hotel, were we would meet up with our daughter. We wanted a hotel close to the action (old town and river) and wHere we could park. Especially that last requirement, is challenging for a big truck in a city center. Actually, we ”officially” couldn’t even reach the hotel, since the roads leading to the city center were prohibited for trucks. But we tried anyway (always looking in my mirrors for police cars). We arrived, but I didn’t see any possibility for parking. (And we inquired in advance, and were promised that parking for a big camper would be available). I drove around another time. And mind you, its a hectic area to drive around and the area is not made for trucks driving around. I drove into a public paid parking lot, were the parking attendant was trying to chase us away. But me speaky no Slovaky, so I parked and Marja stepped out to walk to the hotel reception to ask for advice. In the meantime I was getting lessons Slovaky from the lady parking attendant, who tried to involve other people walking near the parking lot, in the hope they would speak English and explain that I had to move the truck. So that went on for a while, and most people were just admiring the truck rather than trying to help the attendant. Finally Marja returned and explained that parking was arranged.

At the Sheraton Hotel, they had In the meantime – under our daughter’s guidance, removed some concrete barriers to creat a parking spot for us, just next to all the fancy super cars already parked in front. It was a very unusual sight to have an expedition truck parked in front of Sheraton Bratislava and during the 3 days we were parked there, hundreds of spectators passed by and made pictures and selfies with the truck. Even the director of the hotel was excited to have the truck in front of his hotel. But the nicest photo shoot was done by a wedding couple on there way to the church.

During our stay in Bratislava, we had a great family time together. We strolled through the old town and along the famous Donau river, the second longest river in Europa. The Donau is like the Caribbean sea for cruises, but then called river cruises. Multiple long 2 level rivers cruise boats were lined along the river quay. Mostly elderly people are doing these cruises as they provide a comfortable way of traveling through many countries, seeing nice cities along its path and enjoying the scenery from the topdeck, while floating over the river.

Often we meet somewhere in the world, since our course of life sends us to many different places. Family and friends are important to us and creating memories together is the best thing you can do to maintain the relationships. Meeting or going to other places together, means living in the now, living more intens and therefor enforces mutual bonding. We are always able to drift back into our memories and recollect moments of fun, beauty and excitement. There are always moments of joy and excitement to see each other again, but unfortunately also a painful moment of saying goodbye until we meet again. Bratislava was great, we had fun, seen a lot, had some nice diners and a lot to talk about!

We left the same time, our daughter took the bus to Vienna airport and we drove in the direction of The Czech Republic, our visit to beautiful Slovakia came to an end.