Slovakia in a Dash

As previously mentioned, we’ve been traveling for about a month and a half now (woot, woot). That being said, there’s no good time to get a sinus infection, but I like to think Slovakia had our backs during our down time. Turns out fall allergies spread their fun all over the world. Haha. However, even amongst the foggy haze of this time, Slovakia was still one of my favorite places we’ve traveled.

How we got to Slovakia was interesting. Our chosen mode of transport was a 15 passenger express van filled with big Slovakian men and the driver of the same status. No English was used, just high volume and hand gestures as we all piled in. Reading ahead that this was a 3+ hour ride with no stops, it seemed a cruel joke as we were all handed a bottle of water for the ride. My peanut bladder knew better, but we gladly took the free water.

The Tatras Mountain Range borders Poland to the north and Slovakia to the south. We crossed the border in the van over into the northern part of Slovakia where we stopped in a small town called Starý Smokovec. Our Airbnb host Katarina kindly came and picked us up and took us to our home for the next few days.This town is essentially an outdoor junky’s paradise. Everyone is decked out in all their technical gear for hiking, biking, running, you name it. During the winter, it serves as a favorite winter spot as well for skiers and ice climbers. We felt at home immediately.

Normally I wouldn’t just post a lot of Airbnb photos, but one, it was a really cool space, and two, given being under the weather, we didn’t have a lot of outdoor pics apart from the first day. Ha.

Our first full day we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. There was a really good network of trails leading up the mountainside which had periodic “mountain huts” (these were much less rustic than we had imagined for hikers). We mapped out a hike to one of the huts and took off on our six hour trek. These trails were very well managed, and we also saw multiple trail runners working their way up to the top of the mountain pass. Shout out to my trail loving homies!!

One interesting thing I wanted to point out about this area is how drastically the weather can change from sunny to thundery deluge in a span of minutes. It also rains part of the day, most days of the year (300+). I believe this contributes to the mystery and scenic quality of the area, but I’m a dark and stormy type of gal anyway. Lol.

As previously mentioned, in the midst of all this natural beauty, Mother Nature also decided we needed to slowwww downnnn (Powerthirst reference??). We hacked, sneezed, and coughed for four days from the comfort of our nice little hideout. It also rained the rest of our time there so we felt there was a silver lining.

After making a fair recovery, we took the train to Košice, the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It’s also a connecting point for traveling to Budapest. We originally were attempting to travel to Budapest in one day, but the schedules for the bus and train were not conducive with that. So, on a whim, we booked a night here.I’m very glad we stopped here. The city has a lot of “edge” to it, and you can easily hear musicians practicing from second story windows every other block. I really loved this.

Another aspect I felt was interesting was the eastern bloc architecture, or remnants of the past. It’s also apparent a lot of work has been put in to helping modernize these buildings for current times. They were unique and interesting.

St. Elisabeth’s Cathedral

Cheesy Potato Dumpling Magic

Main square next to the cathedral where we enjoyed the onslaught of “healthy-sized” pigeons coming to collect their bread fees from innocent lunch-goers. They also played classical music, and the fountains appeared to be somewhat synchronized.

Spinach ravioli. Y’all, this isn’t a local food, but I just liked my lunch. It was also very cheap which makes it noteworthy to me. Lol.

Basically, we enjoyed a relaxing night walking around and taking it all in. It was simple, and it was much appreciated.