Hotel Zlaty Dukat Kosice

... Talia is up and down when it comes to bedtime. The first night was a bit of a struggle, as we figured it would be, but the next night she said "Hoshesh spate" which is "i want to sleep" and off she went to climb into bed. And then last night was a little tough again. When she finally goes to sleep though, man she sleeps! She probably learned to be a pretty heavy sleeper sharing the room in the orphanage with 10 other ...

... you cross, they can actually shoot you. Again I was engaged in deep grunting but this time with an intelligible "no" and "bicycle". I played dumb which not only wasn't difficult for me but made my new grunting acquaintances pull an English speaking guy about my age out of a filing cabinet somewhere, with whom I had a very nice conversation.

The only way of crossing the border was by car, van, lorry, something with a registration ...

4th September

Woke up early and saw the dawn, a grey was awoken. Lulled around the centre of Spisska Nova, brought food to re-energise my legs. I rubbed it all over them but it didnīt seem to help so I purchased some more and retired to my disintegrating communist hotel cell and this time cooked my acquisitions under the window and watched the rain clouds building.

With a stomach as full as the rain clouds I went for a walk and got soaked ...

... with fair food and excellent decor and ambiance. In the evening, we met another traveller and all headed out to a communal Sauna. That was quite the cultural experience, as Slovakians, especially older, heavier Slovakians, have few inhibitions about clothing at the co-ed saunas. Between sweating in an unbelievably hot wooden room, we relaxed with hot tea and cold beer. There was a freezing cold pool in which you could dip yourself, if you were ...

Po dni lenosenia sa dnes opat vydavame na cesty. Dnes nas nasa trasa zaviedla do velkomesta vychodu - do Kosic. Obzreli sme si miestne hlavne namestie na ktore su Kosicania nesmierne hrdi a maju na co. Cestou do Kosic zacalo prsat no ked sme prisli do Kosic nebolo to az take dramaticke. Na obed to uz ale s tym dazdom zacalo byt vazne a tak sme po obede a prehladke centra Kosic nasadli do auta ficime dalej na zapad.

... my bank being -38 pounds) we needed a source of income, and fast. So we took to the streets of Kosice, armed with a single drum and our spirits! We have been playing now on the streets for about 2 1/2 days, earning around 2000sk for the first 2days with 1/2 a day left before we catch a direct train to Moscow (or so the plan goes) we already have made the amount for one ticket there, saving us cash, and everything we earn helps eh? Anyway, other things in ...

Fri 18 May Mainly just another travel day today. The bus left Lviv at 2 but I wanted to be there with plenty of time since a few people had been trying the train for a couple days and having some frustration. Personally I think the people at the train station are having a laugh seeing how many times they can tell a tourist "no today" before they go crazy. Still just to be safe I packed up and headed out early so that if the bus I was booked on didn't go, I might be able to catch an earlier ...

Ellen can get caught up in as many as three conversations with her relatives at the same time. At lightening speed they hammer away as she tries to keep up with her limited command of the Slovak language. It must be like trying to listen to several heavy metal bands simultaneously then having to decipher the words and meanings of each. Couple this with me jumping in every so often: "What does this word mean? What did he say? Why are they looking at me like that?" It makes ...

If I had to pick one word to describe myself while in Ukraine, it would have to be clueless. I've sometimes before described a place by saying, "They didn't speak any english." But in reality, all places I've previously referred to have spoken english, it just wasn't very much or maybe wasn't very good. But holy ****! When I say no one spoke english while I was trying to cross the Ukraine border, I mean not a ...

I took a few weeks to escape from Spain and made it to Slovakia, where I spent most of my time in the east of the country. I probably saw three other tourists during this entire time before making it to Poland. This article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. Spissky hrad is the type of majestic, sprawling, discoloured castle you'd expect to find baking in the sun in North Africa or Moorish Spain. It is one of the largest castles in central Europe. It is so large ...