Holiday Inn Zilina

... I was in Parnica I noticed that one thing which runs through a large percentage of Parnicians is a high blood alcohol content. Despite the alcoholism the people I have met are wonderful, a little more communicative in the evenings than the mornings but nevertheless, good, welcoming people... a big shout goes out to Olo and his twin brother for keeping the pub in business and entertaining the crowds.<br><br>Ryan´s ...

... It is a terrific spot, but you can't move for grockles and signs advertising places to sleep or eat. I stopped at the first shop off the main road and spent all our remaining Polish money on groceries. I packed the bags in the boot and then drove off. <br><br>Three hours later, in Slovakia, I noticed my purse was missing. One theory was that I had left it on the ground when packing the groceries into the car. I was really naffed off about losing my favourite Celtic wallet. I'd had it ...

... places. I&#711;d estimated the space left for people to pass to be more than sufficient, however, the succession of VERY large grandmothers which struggled passed me, virtually squeezing me through the cracks of the train carriage proved me wrong.<br><br>Slovakia has a population of 5.5 million and you notice it, the capital Bratislava was without much traffic and small. The train ...

... about 60 meters along the road it happened to be covered in chest high nettles. So we tried going around them and making our own path. Pretty far into the forest the road had kind of disappeared, so we followed the stream and trusted in Miki´s directional abilities. It ended up being an awesome adventure and I got lots of great pictures of the Slovakian wilderness. We also ran into ...

... dark brown wooden homes decorated with white patterns based on the embroidery that the villagers stitched onto their clothes. It's basically a bit of a time warp - great to have an insight into a past way of traditional rural Slovak life. Got talking to a very friendly old man auf Deutsch - hadn't realised how useful a (very rusty) knowledge of German would be in this area. As we might have expected it's really only older people who live here as all the young people ...

Got train to Zilina with english couple we saw in the Tatras and found accommodation togheter at the local hostel. It was certainly cheap but not entirely cheerful. It was 10min walk from centre via underpasses and narrow alleyways. The building was a communist looking blcok which may have b een a "facility" of some sort, with bars over lots of doors ...

... over Trencin. Walked back down to the train station and caught the 2.50pm train back to Bratislava. Arrived back at the main train station in Bratislava at about 4pm and caught the tram back down to Obchodna then walked back to the hotel. Went out for dinner at 6pm and ate at Slang Pub on the main square before walking to Tesco for more supplies then back to the hotel for the night.

... down the hill ahead of everyone, tricks the hotle receptionist into letting him into Nick's suite, and places the pig's head of Nick's pillow. Eventually, the hard core of about seven revellers make it back to the hotle and Nick predictably invites everyone back to his suite. Everyone is in on the joke, except Nick of course, so we all have a great laugh when he walks into the bedroom. Nick's surprise bedmate

... great views along the way, down to the valley in which I was staying and also out the other side, to the mountains bordering the Czech Republic. Irritatingly, the cloud descended again just as I reached Maly Krivan, so once again I was denied the panorama I had been hoping for. Sitting to have lunch in the mist, it cleared once I had walked not more than 10 minutes. Nature seems to have a nasty sense of humour. Thankfully, it remained clear after that, and the shortish ...

Having adopted a small English PE teacher, who we'll call Gash Hunter, we head to the station in Krakow with the intention of getting on the 13:30 to Budapest. With time to spare we stand in the information queue for 30 minutes and ask for tickets to Budapest. She tells us there's a direct train to Budapest ...