Villa Tatry Stola Poprad

We made a short stop in Brezno, Slovakia. We were planning on staying at a campsite about 30 minutes outside the small town of Brezno. Now when you get 30 minutes OUTSIDE of a small town...your pretty much in the middle of nowhere! We drove down a country road up to the campsite. Well after driving around the chickens and the goat we realized the campsite was really just a guys backyard. We were tempted to stay for the goats sake ...

The Tatra Mountains are the natural border between Poland and Slovakia, and there has always been this question of which part is more beautiful. The secret is as follows: they are too different to compare. The Polish part is full of people, noise, activities, shops and festivals. The Slovakian part is quiet, peaceful and almost virgin-like, despite its well-developed infrastructure. It's simply because it's much ...

... on the shore of one of the lakes, and you should have a 'szarlotka' cake there; it's a traditional apple pie with castor sugar and cinnamon.

If you don't really like trekking, take a car and drive to some villages around Bukowina. The views are stunning, you'd be really surprised. Try to find the Łapszanka Pass, a village of Rzepiska or Przełom Białki, a gorge of the river Białka.

The best time to ...

... in all of Europe, Spis Castle. From a distance of 5km the photogenic ruin stood out like a beacon, and we stopped the car a little further on to get some photos of it above the town of Spissky Podhradie. When we returned to the car we found a man waiting for us, and both of us felt more than a little nervous as there was no one else around. Fortunately he didn't do anything, and we continued on around the medieval fortification of Spisska Kapitula to the foot of ...

... to the airports with the highest location in Europe - 718 m above sea level). From a climatic point of view, Poprad has a mild climate with an average number of summer days less than 50 per year (with a maximum temperature 25°C or more). The town territory belongs to the mild dry or humid valley climate with a large temperature inversion, when the average temperature in January ranges from - 3,5° to 6°C and the temperature in July reaches from 16° to 17°C and the annual ...

... and had dinner and hung out some more and went to bed before our exciting saturday. Saturday it was up early. We headed to a castle on this huge hill, hiked around and then took a tour. It was a huge old castle, the oldest I've seen so far, and the views were amazing because it was on a mountain. it was neat to see all the little villages. They are just like they're always described, and its interesting because you can still see the remains of communism. We then ate lunch in this little ...

... resembled a hike up an untouched Squamish Chief. There were icy waterfalls and vistas of craggy mountains and forested valleys. During our hike, we hit our first chilly weather in awhile and the crisp air was a good break from city life. In Stary Smokovec, the souvenir shop at the train station stocked a bizarre variety of tacky goods. The oddest souvenir we saw was a naked doll which was sticking out its tongue and flipping the bird from both ...

... equality for all). We ate and drank a beer. I went to bed early, thought about some things, and fell asleep, until the next morning I was woken by the early rays of sunlight. August 4 Today would be the second and last stage of our High Tatra hike tour. This part of the trip would lead downhill to the village of Smokovec, where we would have to find accomodation for the next night. The weather was outstanding for hiking: the temperature was around 20 degrees and it ...

... a stroll to the restaurant to eat, and then we continued drinking. This may sound boring, and there are more interesting things to write about than about drinking Dutchmen, but we didn´t go to Slovakia to drink. In the next entries, you will certainly find more interesting activities! July 31 On this day, we were planning to go to the Malá Fatra, a mountain range in the northwest of the country. We reserved a room the evening before, at least, we ...

... evening at a little cabin in the mountains we'd rented. Ellen was taking a shower. Jan and Mana were watching TV when I quietly seated myself on the couch off to the side with a nice cold Pilsner Urquell beer. Mana looked over at me smilingly and said, "Ice beer?" We'd been tramping through the mountains with these people all day and only smiles had been exchanged. Not a word had been spoken between us. I didn ...