Friday 2 October
In the morning we revel in the panoramic view of the Tatras and know that in a few hours we will be right on the other side of those mountains in Slovakia. We debated whether to stop for a few groceries but decided to push on and do that down the track. Vicki was driving so it was a great opportunity to sit back and watch the scenery change as we passed another border crossing. We stopped at a truck stop so we could check the internet as we would soon lose it when we entered Slovakia. We crossed the border and stopped at the first fuel station to buy a vignette for the tolls. Instead of having toll stops they just scan the sticker. This cost $10 euro for 10 days and covers all road user costs which is hassle free as we don’t have to worry about where they are or which roads to avoid. The landscape is really quite different from Poland, other than near Zakopane, as it is hilly and surrounded by mountains and is spectacular. I think I will have to come up with more words to describe the scenery so not to bore anyone. The forests are devoid of pine trees for the most part so the contrast is noticeable. And with autumn in full swing the colours are worth painting. We do notice that the villages and towns seem a little bit more rustic, and with respect a bit ‘poorby’ but then I am a foreigner and shouldn’t judge but compared to the Czech rep seems the poorer cousin. I hope that the next few days prove me wrong that the place does not reflect the people. The one thing I notice is they all have large vege gardens and are preparing them for winter. As it was close to 11am it was coffee time so stopped at a ritzy hotel with a sunny deck which is the first thing I spotted. The coffee and cappuccino was excellent along with the cake all for the grand sum of $3.10 euro, about $5.00aud so hopefully this is a sign that Slovakia with the euro is not expensive.
We stopped off at a small town where it looked quite nice and thought we may be able to get a sim card here, so parked up in a very rugged terrain carpark with massive potholes and walked into the town and looked for a T-mobile shop as they are often the cheapest. We found one quite quickly and one lady tried to serve us we realised she didn’t really understand us and she didn’t speak much English. In every other country we have bought a sim we have walked in and 5 mins later walked out after paying for a sim and putting it into the tablet. After quite some time – like 45 minutes we ended up getting the sim but we had to provide passport details, address plus sign two pieces of paper, all for a 9euro sim that will last us maybe 3 or 4 days. We can’t understand why the security but we aren’t able to ask what the big deal is as they don’t understand and nor do we. This kind of information would be for a contract but since we haven’t supplied a credit card or anything we know that isn’t what we have signed up for. I can only think that Slovakia still has some kind of suspicious Russian influence where they monitor everything everyone browses on the internet and they use this info to trace who you are if they don’t like what you are looking at. Anyway we were happy just to get out and back to the van to continue our drive.
After a 2 hour drive we came to Liptovski Mikulas where Vicki had sussed out a campground. But as fate has it the reception is closed and the place looks empty even though it is meant to be open until the end of October so we move on to plan B. Mind you it is miles out of town and nowhere near an Irish bar where I have hopes that we will be a short hop to see some of Saturdays nites games or at least get reception on tv. So we drive to the hotel that has a camp ground that on one camping website it was closed but another said that it was open. This is open so after talking to reception we find the power point and basically we are the only ones here. It is getting cold quicker and we are surrounded by high hills so the sun has gone early. The hotel shuts down at 9pm the same time as the New Zealand/Georgia clash but there is no guarantees the stations here have it on anyway. Funny there was a group of people staying somewhere and they were partying, sort of, in the camp kitchen playing guitars and having fun but we were not sure where they were camping. It turned out that they stayed awake all nite, not sure what they were doing. They were older people so we thought that they may have been a church group or something but they weren’t rowdy. We woke up at 3 in the morning and they were still going then 6 and still talking. Then they were all having a big brekky. Weird.
Vicki had done her usual searching for local area attractions and one of the best around here is the cave walks. The short drive winds up a valley past the ice cave attraction which we would visit if we were here longer (but where is the ice in the summer?? One of many conundrums when on the road with not much to think about). As an attraction the caves must draw lots of tourists and there is a hotel near. Indeed the drive out here has hotels, villas and short stays as I would say it is a mecca for hikers and fishing in the summer and a wide range of winter sports and activities in the winter very much like Zakopane on the other side of the Tatras.
There is a very steep 400m walk up the mountain to the cave entrance and we get an English printout describing the 7 main parts of the cave system. The cost was only 8euro each which really is very reasonable. Plus 5euro for parking which we don’t mind as has a bit of security. Along with about a hundred people we descended into the caverns. The caves were discovered in 1921 and opened to the public in 1924 and is what they call a Karst system which is largely limestone based with water running through over thousands of years. I won’t go into details but it was great 1 ½ hour natural wonder journey and it blew it our minds away and words really just can’t describe it adequately. It was truly spectacular and had differing features, from one of huge dome cavern to emerald lakes to winding cathedral like hallways. One of the columns which is basically a stalagmite and a stalactite joining and growing is estimated at 300,000 years old. One part was called the sufferers corridor as it took the miners a long time and considerable misery to hack the stone to create 40m of walkway without damaging the terrain. This for me was the most spectacular like walking through a fairy wonderland surrounded by stalactites/mites, crystal quartz and limestone waterfalls. The surreal feeling was of motion and movement from a form that probably moves an inch in a millennium. The walk goes for 1.2ks and goes up around 800m with 900 odd stairs so a bit of an effort. I can’t believe that this area is not mentioned in our lonely planet book as a Slovakian tourist destination. After the valley walk in Zakopane we feel we have just carried on this beautiful journey except it was below ground not above it. It cost extra to take photos but our cameras didn’t work inside anyway so will try and post some from the web. Unfortunately I have never experienced the Waitomo cave in the Waikato of NZ but Vicki has and she says there is really no comparison as they are totally different cave systems and whereas Waitomo is known for its glow worm magic and this was not evident at the Demanovska Cave of Liberty as it is a limestone cave. Overall a fantastic visit which we would highly recommend.
We drove out the way we came and proceeded to our next destination at further south to a small town of Piestany 40km past Trencin where there is a very famous castle ruins and environs that date back to the 11th century. It amazes us that these castles dot the high landscape everywhere and are built on uncompromising rock buttresses overlooking the countryside. Slovakia seems to have more than any country we have visited to date. Each has their own history which with the magic of modern technology (the internet for the initiated few) we can study before we explore so get a feel for the time and era. However it is around 4pm when we drive into the old town to be immediately confronted by more bloody weddings and bridal cars which in small cobbled alleys and laneways on a Saturday do not go down well with a 6m campervan with a tired driver. We decide that prudence is greater than valour so do a u turn and get out of Dodge and to our next camp.
The camp is just outside of town on the river near a marina and yacht club. We drive into the camp and the reception is closed but my god the place is packed!! Whereas we have experienced nobody in camps now and campervan highway is empty but now we are back 3 months. Seems there is the final meeting of the Caravan & Camper Association of Slovakia and we are gate crashing the party. They have live music and reverie and we are quickly invited to come along but it seems a little cliquey, they don’t seem to speak English and they are playing Abba so we will see how we feel as there is a function in the hotel next door as well. Just our luck to have two at once.
I am bummed that it is getting too late and we won’t be able to see the crucial Wallabies/England clash as I can’t replicate the TV reception of last week and there is no way we are going to the Irish bar when they may not have it on anyway so take consolation that next to the camp is a local BREWERY!!! So I am mollified to some extent. We have found out that tonite they are having a Slovakian folklore nite with plenty of local beer, spirits and music. We decide to have dinner first as we don’t want to party on an empty stomach. The rugby is soon forgotten and any way tragic as we are the world cup, the All blacks aren’t playing so what is more important than local beer, spirits & music!
We have a chat to the two girls at the entrance who give us a shot of schnapps which is home made and packs a mighty punch. We are given lucky door tickets for a draw later on and buy a drink.
They have a couple who are teaching everyone the steps of traditional Poprad dance which is a region in the middle of Slovakia. Some are wearing costumes and others try hard to look the part. The band starts the music which is very different from anything I have heard before but it has a beat that they dance to. They don’t have to encourage anyone, as they all get up and stand around waiting for the dance instructions to begin. We both join in for most of the lessons but our legs are a bit sore from the cave walk this morning so we don’t quite get the vim and energy to give our all as we normally would but do our best. We have a lot of fun trying to keep up with all the younger ones. Once they have taught all the steps they show us a video from 1913 of the traditional dance and the costumes. Then they just play the music for everyone to dance as they wish since everyone now knows the steps. As the night wears on they decide to draw the lucky door prizes. I had wondered how we would know if our ticket was called since we don’t know the numbers in Slovakian but one of the girls we were chatting to at the start knows our numbers so she will grab us if ours comes up. A few prizes go and next minute Ludka comes racing over and says my number is called so I go up to collect my prize which is a t-shirt from the folklore club with Piestany on it. I was wrapped and felt our hard dancing was all justified, when next minute Ludka comes over again, our other number is called and Scot goes up to collect a cool decorated bottle of milk which comes direct from the farm – none of that pasteurised stuff! We are both thrilled and amazed that we have both won a prize. Scot gets to have a couple more shots of Schnapps before we head out for the night.
During the night we talked to a Korean guy who works for Kia who along with Hyundai have huge factories here in Slovakia which probably supplies the European market and takes advantage of inexpensive labour. He wants to stay in the country but can only do so if he stays at his job. He can’t yet speak Slovak despite being in the country for 8 years. He loves to travel to go to the folklore dances – but prefers the east to the west as he feels they are friendlier. We also had a great conversation with Ludka who wants to study Japanese at University perhaps in Czech Rep as it is a better qualification there. She also wants to go to NZ as we have heard another here say that. One fellow from the camps said NZ turned down his visa because they have enough chefs in NZ and don’t need any more. We find that sad that different cultures are turned down for short stays to learn a different culture and get the opportunity to live on the other side of the world especially when so many people get let in to NZ when they don’t deserve to be there.
It is a slightly later get up than normal due to the late night, but we suss out the showers which look like they are from the 1940’s and something out of a prison. At least there is hot water and plenty of it but you don’t want to touch the walls and wearing jandals so as not to touch the floor is a must.
We have decided to spend today back in Trencin looking at the Trencin castle and surrounds since it was too busy yesterday afternoon. Being Sunday most things will be closed so there will be fewer people around. There is another castle ruin just south of Trencin castle but we end up not having the time to see it. We spend the end of the morning and most of the afternoon walking around the castle grounds and decide not to do the tour as they do not speak any English so what would be the point. The castle was from the 1100’s and had a well that had taken 40 years to chip out 79m of stone just so that the castle owner could marry Fatima. He never did because she died before the well was finished – no shit – so was all in vain really as they never reached a spring. The well did fill with water from somewhere apparently as the tale goes though.
We had a look at the exhibition and artifacts that had been found at the castle. We had a wine and non-alc beer at Fatima’s restaurant because Scot was driving and Slovakia has a zero alcohol policy same as Czech Rep and Hungary. You can’t even push bike and ride home after one beer here. Lucky we have a brewery at the entrance to the campsite.
After a short walk around the town we head back to camp and of course head for a drink at the brewery and an entrée of duck pate with toast and some potato pancakes. We watch as the last of the camp club leave the camp ground and we are once again left on our own in a huge campsite just like every other night. It’s quite eerie really after having a huge amount of people here and now its just us. There are walnut trees all around this campsite – must be a Slovakian thing – and we had seen people throwing timber at the trees to try and make them fall off.
