This past weekend the IAESTE leaders from Košice rented a car and took a number of us trainees on a trip all over Eastern Slovakia. The trainees on the trip were Ivana (from Serbia), Maria, Martin, Ersi, and myself. Stephen also joined us for the Friday evening portion.
On Friday evening after work we hoped in the car and had a short half hour drive to Presov. This is the third largest city in Slovakia and it has a beautiful city center. We climbed around in the fountains a little bit and then walked along the main street taking pictures. We all took a picture in front of the theater at the end of the street. After all this walking we were pretty hungry so we found a pizza place for dinner. The pizza was good and pretty inexpensive. On the way back to the car we had ice cream. The ice cream is also pretty inexpensive. It is just 30 cents for a scoop.
On Saturday we woke up early so that we would be the first ones at the largest castle in Central Europe, Spissky Hrad. At the castle we had a tour with a guide that spoke really good English. After the tour we wandered around some more before going to a performance. In the performance there were demonstrations of fighting with sticks, swords, and knives. I was impressed. At the base of the castle there were a couple of natural springs that we visited. One of them had clean water and at the other we found two dead birds.
The next stop was Levoča. Levoča was very quiet. There were hardly any people in the city center and none of the shops were open. We tried to go in the church but they only let people in every half hour so we decided to walk around a bit more and find some place to eat. We found a nice traditional restaurant. I had the Levoča specialty which was very good. After lunch we went back to the church but there was a wedding about to start so we still could't go in so we headed out.
Next we went to Kežmarok. This town was very pretty with all of its brightly colored buildings and many churches. We visited two that were in the guide book but only for a minute each. In the first there was a wedding being held and in the second you had to pay. I really like the second church because it was all made out of wood and there were beautiful carvings.
After Kežmarok we continues north to a thermal spa and fancy hotel. Somehow our IAESTE leaders convinced the gate man to let us in to see them. There was a diving platform into a green pool that I would have liked to try but of course I didn't have my suit and it was cold.
Next we visited another spring in a crater. People used to be able to bath in this pool but then people were getting sick so it is no longer allowed. As a bonus after this stop our leaders found a stone statue garden where we had a quick stop to take some fun pictures.
Our final stop for the day, before going to the IAESTE leader's house for a BBQ, was at a sort of medieval reinactment playground. Since we went in the evening we didn't have to pay anything to get in. The place was intended for kids but we had a lot of fun too. There were lots of animals including sheep, ponies, horses, chickens, dogs, and various birds of prey. There was a ropes course that you could go on without harnesses that would never have been allowed in the U.S. There were medieval games and pretend torture devices, gates and towers made of wood to look like a castle.
On Sunday morning our first stop was the Red Monastery or Červený kláštor. We received pamphlets in English to read as we toured the monastery. I think my favorite part was climbing the tower in which there were drawings on the walls of a flying contraption and a model of that contraption. I learned later that there is a legend that one of the monks at the monastery built this contraption and then jumped off the highest mountain peak near by and flew to the bottom and was unharmed. After visiting the monastery we walked along a trail in the woods and along a river in a national park. It was very beautiful. At the start of the path you can also go on a raft ride down the river. There were so many rafts going down the river and we waved to many of them while we were taking a break and sitting on the rocks by the water.
Our final stop on this trip was Lubovna Castle. Hear we also received a pamphlet written in English, to follow along with as we walked around the castle. I really liked this castle because of the many rooms and towers to go in and also because things were so well preserved. There were some really cool antiques too. At the end of our tour we happened upon a show in one of the courtyards and stayed to watch a little bit. It seemed to be a sort of play but with little shows woven into it.
It had taken all of Saturday to get to the northern part of Eastern Slovakia with all of the stops so I was expecting that we would have a good 3 hour ride back to Košice. In fact it only took us about 1.5 hours to drive across most of the country from north to south!
All in all, it was a great weekend!
