Young people are great ambassadors

Everything about the Hotel Yasmin is top notch. There was a young lady named MARTA on reception when we checked in yesterday who was so very helpful and pleasant. But when I asked if we could get on to the roof to take some photos of the Košice skyline, she was horrified and quickly explained that there were still buillding works going on up there so it wasn't possible.

Breakfast this morning was first rate with cereals, cold meats and cheeses, cooked to order egg dishes, a good selection of fresh fruit, breads and pastries, juices, teas and coffee. Ahh it was wonderful to have such a wide variety again!

Marta is genuinely interested in what we think of the hotel, so we get chatting as we check out. Turns out that it is brand new - its only been open for 3 months! I asked if they got many tourists and she replied that most of their guests are business people and now the events are starting to book. When asked if there are many weddings held there she told me that there had been 3-5 since the hotel opened. Then she added that she was getting married herself in two weeks, so I asked whether she would have her wedding party at the hotel but she shook her head and said no, she could not afford it, and they are trying to save money, and so will have a holiday later as well. Much like us when we got married I told her. So all the very best for your wedding day and your future Marta. We hope the management realise what a great employee you are!

Last night really whetted our appetite for the city centre here, so back in we drove to take a look in the daylight. And we are so glad we did. Mass had just started at Košice's Cathedral - St. Elizabeth´s Cathedral, so I opted to go. The experience of Mass in a totally different language is amazing - the rituals are still the same, so there is a feeling of understanding, but just not being able to participate fully is frustrating! This Cathedral is not some shiny showpiece that we found some of the Vienna churches to be - it is the local community's place of worship. Mass was well attended primarily with older parishioners, but there were comparatively many more younger people and young families in attendance than we would see at home.

This Cathedral is considered to be one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in the world. It was built between 1378 and 1508 and is the city's oldest architectural landmark. Particularly imposing is the main altar with its three oversize statues and forty-eight panel paintings, while the side altars, stunning Gothic wall paintings that have survived the centuries of grime and sculptures add to the charm. It has a beautifully tessellated roof and the most amazing gilt decorated spire. And they have a reliquery that is said to contain a drop of Jesus' blood given down the ages to the Archbishop of the time by Pope Paul II.
St. Michael's Chapel located to the south of the Catedral, is a single-nave Gothic edifice from the 14th century. Originally a cemetery chapel, it is the city's second oldest building.

And while I am at Mass, Michael goes to visit the Archaeological Museum very close to the Cathedral. Unearthed during roadwork in 1996, the buried remains of the ancient archaeology of medieval Košice - defence chambers, fortifications, waterways and the cathedral foundations - in the mazelike passages were a real highlight for him. Especially the gate tower built in the late 13th century, the oldest fortified entrance in the town (the Arpad Gate).

In the light of day, the musical fountain continues to put on its lovely show. I must admit that it looks most stunning at night, but to sit in the shade near the fountain for a little while was so cool - something fantastic on what is becoming a very hot day! Children were playing around the edge, lots of families and older people sitting, chilling out!

So it is time to hit the road again. The national speed limit on highways in 90 kph (130 kph on the newer motorways) so you can maybe start to imagine what the roads are like. Not only are the highways narrower than many we have been on, they are in fairly poor condition with the evidence of heavy truck and farm machinery use evident by the rutting and tar lips on the edges. Still, they are not impassable by any stretch of the imagination. Yesterday we had travelled the motorways because of the distance we were travelling.

Today, we are not going so far - only to a town called Banská Bystrica - about 200 kms away. I have programmed Kate to avoid the motorways and added a few side destinations so that we get what I hoped was a more scenic route. I was hoping that this route might take us in to the Tatra Mountains where there is supposed to be some stunning gorge passes. But true to form, the route I have chosen traverses the valley just to the south of them! We couldn't get a good photo because of the incredible haze - probably caused by a temperature inversion. This range is the highest in the Carpathian Mountains and rise majestically from the flat valley floor just near the city of Poprad - as though some giant just dumped them there!

Here on the northern side of the Ore Mountains, there are less of the concrete flat blocks and more individual houses - especially in the smaller towns. And they look less depressed - the houses are better maintained, gardens are planted and even the people in the street have a more contented look to them. The farm machinery is much more modern with combine harvesters busy at work (no rest for the farmer on a Sunday - hey Jeff?) No-one appreciated the farmer though, parked in his machine on the edge of the road, reading a newspaper while the traffic piled up around him in both directions.

We saw some great sites travelling this way. There was the young lass roller-blading in the middle of nowhere, miles from anywhere. Then there was the boom gate that came down just as we were nearing it - again on a back road miles from anywhere - probably the only train of the day - and we caught it!!

We see two very different sides to life in Slovakia today. We pass through a number of small spa towns where there are local pools capturing the waters and on a day like today, being thronged by the local population. Again, there is an air of affluence - though we are puzzled at the source of income - many of the smaller towns have no obvious industry and little in the way of commerce - maybe family members are some of those truck drivers seen so prolifically in Western Europe!

And then there are the Roma people as Slovakina gypsies are called. Living in what can only be described as shanty towns or slums, we saw a number of settlements on the outskirts of traditional towns. These people are unlike the blond and often very beautiful Slovakian race, rather, they are much darker - even swarthy, although they have a proud beauty all their own. We saw them walking into Krompachy, a distance of something like 5 kms, where Michael bought two crisp bagettes, 3 bananas and 2 croissants for €1.71! They hawk eggs and honey on the roadside, older kids were swimming in a muddy pool of water that had filled in a pit on the side of road-works. Yes, there is definitely a diochotemy of living here in Slovakia. Like in many places, the haves get more, while the have-nots survive with less and less.

So westwards we continue, travelling via Poprad then Lučivná and Štrba to Banská Bystrica. We climb up into the Low Tatras - an offshoot of the Tatra Mountains and down into valleys. This is skiing country and there is obvious affluence and the signs of a car race! Finally we reach Banská Bystrica and get caught up again in massive road works and other building sites. Kate wants me to turn where I can't so again, now knowing where we need to be, we abandon her in favour of local knowledge!

Once we have checked in to the Hotel Národný dom around 6:30 pm we connect with home and then later, head up town to have dinner. The City Square is large by standards here and nicely laid out with decorated and classical buildings surrounding it.

Michael had gone for a walk earlier on to inspect the local restaurants, and we settle on a side-walk restaurant called 'Starobystricka' in the town square. Dinner was a combination of:
Entree:
Paradajková so syrom (Tomato soup with cheese) - Maria
Teplé Predjedlá (Roasted chicken livers with toast) - Michael
Mains:
Rybie filé na bazalkovom masle (Fish fillet with basil butter) - Maria
Husacie stehno, lokša, červená kapusta (Goose leg with potato dumpling and red cabbage) - Michael
As dinner was quite filling we opted not to have dessert and had coffee instead.

After returning to the hotel, Michael went out for a fag and to take a few night shots of Banská Bystrica.

A journey through time across Slovakia

Bratislava was a little cooler this morning which was really lovely. We have a full day driving ahead of us - 5½ hours to be exact. But this will take us across almost the whole breadth of Slovakia, one of Europe's newest republics and oldest civilizations.

We are travelling east to Košice, but to do so, must first head north. We travel just south of the Ore Mountains, following their line through the valley at their feet. So for most of the trip they are on our left and on our right are seemingly endless plains with the occasional rolling hills. The day is warm - over 30°C again and there is a constant haze as we travel, even though we have got away by 9 am.

Driving through the outer suburbs of Bratislava and further east, we are amazed at three things:
1. The constant use of drab gray concrete blocks of flats
2. The proliferation of advertising hoarding signs - and the size of them. Visual pollution at its very worst! and finally
3. No trucks - for the first time since we have been back in Europe, we have not seen a single pantechnicon or large lorry today! Literally, NOT ONE. We are puzzled, but just for a moment - ah yes, that's right! They are all in Western Europe, providing the cheap transport connections for trade - even though well over half of all the trucks we ever saw were from Eastern Europe - Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Slovenia and Romania!
The farming here is more like back home - large plots across the plains with first sunflowers and corn, then as we travel further east and the country gets drier and drier, maize and hay. And high over the plains, we see these very strange cloud formations. Now, while I am no meteorologist, clouds have always held a fascination for me and as a fairly advanced geographer, I like to think that my knowledge is perhaps just a little better than average. But I have never seen anything like these. The photo taken from the car does not really do them justice - they were light and airy on the edges and quite 'fuzzy' with dark centres. Different!

En-route we don't see too many signs for tourist attractions. Just outside the city of Nitra, we see a sign to Hronský Beňadik with a church sign. So, needing an excuse to get out and stretch out legs, this seems as good as any. It is only 2kms off the highway, so off we go. This Benedictine Abbey dates from the late 1300s although like many of the early churches, there is evidence of even earlier places of worship. It was an important place of learning and development in Slovakia. However, although protected, it is now quite derelict and needs significant funds to be applied so that it remains in good enough condition for future generations to appreciate. The church is very dim and smells like the ages - you know, that kind of damp, kind of musty, kind of incensy sort of smell that very old churches have - well, given that there is nothing in Australia anywhere near as old as this, maybe you don't. But take our word, it smelled of the ages! We can hear the organ from outside, but at first we don't think that the Church is open. While the front door is open, there is a grill placed across the second door. Having walked through the cloister, we meet the young lady form their little shop who in faltering English tells us that we can go in "it is open". So back in we go - ahh yes, the little side door opens. There are very few lights inside - one chandelier and four small lights on the side walls, so it is very dim. The young lass has given us a history translated into English and we read that there are a number of very old paintings on the walls as well as reports of a number of relics owned by the Church. The stained glass windows dating back to the 1400s are stunning - but dark! The interior is too dark to photograph but Michael manages to get one in a small chapel up a few steps, complete with richly painted walls. And that practicing organist was playing music so suited to the mood of this church - quiet and reflective and not at all thundering!

But perhaps the most noticeable things about our journey across Slovakia are the very tired looking towns and the dearth of derelict infrastructure. Together with the main form of accommodation - rows and rows of those drab apartment blocks, they demonstrate the hold that the communists had over this otherwise picturesque country. The smaller towns have battled to maintain themselves with most of the houses very dilapidated, small and boxy many with flat roofs - kind of like what you picture would be found in traditional Mexico. Roads in the small towns are appalling, a series of patches on patches and lots of dusty sections. But where there is a settlement of any size, there is a huge processing plant of some desription and lots of those apartment blocks. Turns out that the communist rulers 'relocated' populations at their whim to provide labour for the factories. How heartbreaking that must have been.

And in one, town Detva, where we skirt through the edges, there was this series of huge pipelines that snaked their way through the town. Up over entrances to commercial and industrial areas, across the river and under a rusty rail track. The roads bend along its length, paths cross it. It encloses housing estates and dominates the whole town, like some silent insidious serpent trapping all in its lair.

There are quite a number of castles and castle ruins - reminders on high stronghold vantage points of the value of this little country to varying other peoples. Nitra Castle in particular was huge - although its art deco style battlements suggest that it has undergone a number of changes over its lifetime.

Cemeteries here are outside of the church grounds which is a surprise in this largely christian area. Instead of attached to the churches like in other European areas we find them on high grounds away from the churches - maybe so they can keep watch over all perhaps!

Košice was a surprise. Slovakia's second largest city, you enter from the west through the blight of an American giant (United States Steel) no doubt taking advantage of a rich supply of natural resources and cheap labour. I guess the saving grace is that they provide local employment and provide some investment into the community - a new sports stadium! Hmm, methinks that they could do much, much more. That said though, the huge open cuts mines, the checkerboard painted stacks and pylons and the huge blue processing plant are a blight and do not give a good first impression of the city if you are arriving from the west.

We are booked in to the Hotel Yasmin. About 1 km from the old town (Staré mesto), it is a new hotel that is obviously being targeted at a growing tourist market and the convention and event scene. In fact as we arrive there are preparations underway for a wedding party tonight. We have a room on the tenth floor - looking over the old town and the expected plethora of those unit blocks. As we did not stop for lunch we are now starving and so order a burger (Michael) and brie, walnut and apple on a crisp, crusty roll for me. The airconditioning is on, the room is cool and joy of joys, the net connection is fast and reliable. So we spend a few hours bring the blog up to date and chatting on skype to Gen.

Once the air has cooled, we head out for an evening in town. Thank god Kate is up to date. The streets are a maze of one-way passes, the intersections huge and criss-crossed with tram lines and a lack of any real directions on who has right of way. Thankfully, as it is evening, there is not too much traffic.

The light is now just fading and it is that lovely time betwixt dusk and dark. The old buildings have wonderful silhouettes in this light. We are amazed at the size of the market square and the number of huge and beautiful public buildings and churches. But perhaps the best thing to be seen tonight is the musical fountain. Yep, a fountain that shoots jets of water to music. Now Sarah, this might not be as large as the one at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas, but given the size of this City (and its resources) it is pretty darn impressive. There are heaps of people sitting and standing in the park that surrounds the fountain (which is between the Cathedral and the City Hall) watching and taking photos. And the we hear the bells! There is a Carillion next to the fountain, but we can barely make it out in the dark. The bells are attached to a free-standing frame, not hidden away in a building. They sound really neat - can't wait to see them in the morning!

After wandering up and down the plaza, we stop at the local eatery - med malina reštaurácia for dinner. It is quaint and traditional with lots of locals there. We eat indoors where there is no smoking allowed - outside on the plaza, at every table they are puffing away!
Entree:
Plesnivý syr s olivami, olivovým dejom a bielym pečivom (Moulded cheese with olives, olive oil and white rolls) Michael
Mains:
Koleno s pivovo-medovou o máčko s chrenom a horčicou (Pork node with honey-beer sauce, horseradish and mustard) and Opekané zemiaky (American Potatoes) Michael
Vyprá źanýsyr (Fried cheese) with Varené nové zemlaky (Boiled potatoes) Maria. We also both had a plate of Varená zelenina podl’a ponuty (Boiled seasonal vegetables).

Now this was a feast. Traditional dishes, served in a traditional local restaurant by a pleasant but no-English local woman. And for the sum of €27 we also got mineral water, a glass of regional Rosé and espresso coffees to finish!

So we return to the hotel, with Kate getting us lost in the back suburban streets surrounding the hotel - all of which are dead ends. So in the end I turn her off and let my own homing sense get us there. The wedding party is still raging, but we cannot hear it from our lofty room - thankfully!