This past weekend I had planned to stay in Košice to explore the town some more but I couldn't pass up a couple of really great opportunities. On Friday night Vladimir drove Maria, Ersi, Martin, and me to a beach party in Širava, which is about an hour and half drive east of Košice. Širava is a very large lake and they have parties there many weekends during the summer. There were carnival rides and stalls setup along a long strip. I couldn't believe how many stalls there were in a row with live music, drinks, grilled or BBQ food, and tables to sit at. The place was packed. There was also the beach party with a huge stage next to a building and surrounded by a fence. They had brought in tons of sand to make it like a beach in front of the stage. There was music at this outdoor stage all night and also inside the building. We returned home early in the morning after a long night of dancing.
On Saturday we had planned to go to a summer bobsled track and zoo on the edge of Košice but we were so tired from the party the night before that we desided to just take the day to relax.
On Sunday we got up at 4:45am to take the 6am train from Košice to the Slovakian Paradise or Slovenský Raj. This is a huge national park in the mountains that has miles of hiking trails, beautiful views, rivers, streams, waterfalls, and canyons. We hiked all day on these trails. The trails were all color coded so that you wouldn't get lost and every so often there would be a tree with the painted color of the trail on it. There were wide gravel paths, steep rocky ones and many places where we had to climb over trees and roots. We were often following a stream and had to walk on the river rocks to cross back and forth across the stream. Where the trail was too steel or there were rock walls, there were steel ladders to climb and chains to hold onto. There were metal bridges over the waterfalls and wooden ladders both horizontal and inclined that we had to walk on over the streams. It was very beautiful. We reached the restaurant/chalet at about 2:15pm and had a bit to eat and drink. I had palačinky or Slovakian pancakes with jelly inside and chocolate on top. They were so good! After our break we took the hour and a half trail back down the mountain to the entrance gate where we called a cab to take us back to the train. It was a very full day and we were exhausted by the time we returned home.
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