Tag Slovakia

At the core of Europe, there is an exquisite country with the population of around 5.5 million called Slovakia. Slovak Koruna used to be the currency of this country, but in 2009, it changed into Euro. Its capital city’s name is Bratislava. Slovakia is famous for its beautiful sceneries, stunning castles, friendly people and lively cities.
Slovakia has very attractive cities, spa, unique nature and UNESCO sights which are surviving for centuries. Here you can find so many rich, diversify and attractive places.

The top 5 tourist attractions in Slovakia are:
Bratislava

It is the capital city of the Slovakia and call it crowning the city of Hungarian kings. Its population is around 430,000 and lies near the banks of the Danube River. Bratislava is from the youngest cities of Europe, in past Bratislava’s names were Prespork, Pozsony and Pressburg. You can dive into this city’s pulsating life, enjoy coffee in its famous cafes, and take a walk in the city center. One of the prime attractions of this city is Bratislava Castle, the symbol of this city. This Castle appears on Slovak euro coins, which has four towers and overlooking the Danube. The new most famous attraction of this city is its UFO restaurant, which is located on its new Novy Most Bridge. This restaurant is that much higher that you can view the whole city from there. The Old Town Hall is also a famous place to visit and charming historical part of Bratislava. There are other so many attractive places like Devin Castle, St. Micheal’s Gate, President Palace, Hviezdoslav Square, Museum of Clocks, Slovak Radio Building and Bratislava Zoo.
Spis Castle

These ruins of Spis Castle are one of the famous, biggest castles in Europe, which is 900 years old. In the countryside on travertine rock you can find this beautiful Castle, this is the place form where landscape gives away. In UNESCO Heritage List, Spis Castle is legally listed because it is legally considered as one of the most valuable monument in the whole world. This place has its magical attraction, which drives you away in the old times, and you feel like walking in the streets of the old Spis Castle. They have very profound and extensive exhibition where you can spend your whole day wandering here and there. On weekends, you can find so many visitors and locals in the Spis Castle.
High Tatras

High Tatras are the symbol of Slovakia, which you can also find on the shield of the Slovak flag. High Tatras’ highest peak is 2655m high, and the name is GerlachovskyStit. It is a mountain range, so many visitors come here in the winter because of its ski resorts, stunning scenery and beautiful hotels. You can also find so many wild animals like wolf, bear, Eurasian lynx and fox. Visitors also visit High Tatras in summer for hiking. Those who don’t want to ski or hiking have walking routes, cable cars for beautiful views and can also chill at the lakes.
Kosice

Kosice is the second massive city of Slovakia, with the population of 250,000. This city is located in the Eastern part of Slovakia. If you are a fan of cultural events or you like to attend a concert then you should visit Kosice. If you are interested to visit the biggest church in Slovakia, then you should also visit the St. Elizabeth Cathedral in Kosice, which was built in 1380.
Slovak Paradise National Park

The Slovak Paradise National Park is also located in the East Slovakia. If you would visit this place, then you can understand that why they call this park a ‘Paradise’. Take a break from your stressful life and daily hectic routine to visit this virgin nature. This place will make you forget about the other world because of its thick wood that you can’t see anywhere else. The most attractive part of this park is its ladders and steps made of iron plus its mountain riverbeds.

And a bonus:
Caves of the Slovak Crest

Slovakia is very famous for its caves, and they say that Slovakia has gems under its surface. It is surprising to have so many caves in such a small country, which are decorated and maintained for visitors. Some of its cave are: Dobšinská Ice Cave has decoration of ice, Gombasecká Cave where you can have a boat ride, and Ochtinská Aragonite Cave which is naturally decorated with crystals.

*Guest post by Jessica Gold, of Travel Weekly.  Check out her amazing travel blog!

We arrived in Bratislava that evening after leaving Vienna. We heard it would be cheaper in Slovakia than Austria, but a quick consultation with Hostel World proved otherwise. We did manage to discover that there was a large camp ground near the city. We asked for directions and followed them….almost. Somehow we overshot the campground by over 30km! We turned around and headed back towards Bratislava. Before we could get far at all, however, angry clouds to the south started to swirl and bark. Having grown up in the Midwest, Mike recognized all the signs of a tornado about to touch down. Cool and warm wind whipped the side of the car and our pirate flag was whipping so wildly we thought it would rip right off and fly up into the black clouds. Slowly, a funnel formed from the largest cloud and it arched its way down to earth.  Our cars were racing along the highway back towards town but the sky was growing dark so fast and so suddenly that many of the locals were pulling off the road to wait it out. Recognizing that waiting in the path of a tornado was a bad idea, we forged on at full speed.

I pulled out the video camera and started filming just as the rain started to fall hard against the car. There is no sound on earth quite like heavy rain on metal, it comes down like bullets and lands with a thud for each drop. I yelled into the camera but the rain and wind was too much to be heard. I turned the camera around to the car behind us and although I knew it was right behind us, it was not visible.

Everyone was pulling over. Our radio walki-talkie buzzed and the Face Race team said they were pulling over. We kept on ahead for several more minutes, eying the clouds. The funnel had touched earth and played around in the field as if just interested in picking sunflowers and swallowing them whole. Not being a meteorologist, I’m not sure why the tornado retracted back into the cloud when it did, but we watched it retract its fingers full of flowers and disappear. The rain continued for several more minutes and then abruptly stopped. Once it was clear again we easily saw the sign for the campground (we had zoomed right past it!)

We bought one bungalow for all 6 of us and then we all headed towards the showers. There are few things more wonderful than a shower after a long stint of camping. My joy was cut short as the water was ice cold and lasted less than one minute. With shampoo in my hair, I pushed the button and nothing happened. I kept pushing it and eventually a small stream of water trickled out. I rinsed off as best I could then went back to announce the lack of water to the group. Groans went up from the masses of angry, dirty ralliers so we grabbed a few coins and headed to the bar. At one Euro a beer, these were the cheapest prices we’d seen yet. We grabbed a few drinks and a meal on the camping compound and it turned out to be a very nice evening.

In the morning, we packed up and headed east towards Budapest. But on the way out of town we saw something that caused our two car convoy to screech to a halt. A giant wooden chair sat on the side of the road, no signage or explanation. We, of course, tried to climb on it and failed. In case you were ever wondering, we think Bratislava holds the record for world’s largest chair.

It’s official! We’ve finally ironed out our route details to the finest detail. We have decided to head from London to Paris, and from Paris to Luxembourg. After a break, we’ll head to Nuremberg and the Prague for the 2010 Czech Out Party, which we’re all very excited about. From there we head south to Bratislava and Budapest before entering Romania for a few castle tours and vampire stalking. We then head to Chisinau and then into Ukraine to the famous port city of Odessa. From this point on the trip gets really interesting. We head due east through Russia, hugging the Black Sea coast until we enter Kazakhstan. We’ll cut inland and aim directly for the Aral Sea inside the Uzbek border. We’ll cut across Uzbekistan and then re-enter Kazakhstan heading north into the mountains. Back into Russia for a moment before entering Mongolia and racing across the open Steppe to Ulaanbataar. Yup, that’s what we’ll be doing this summer, driving across 1/3rd of the distance around the trodden earth. If none of this made sense, check out the nifty map we made (yeah, I should have led with that!):

View Central Asia Route Map created by ATC for the 2010 Mongol Rally

This map is awesome, and really shows the distance and scale of the land we’ll be covering. Some 8-10,000km through 13 countries in a car that even Mickey Mouse would say is too small– a 1.5l engine auto. Below is a picture of a rally car from 2009, ours will be very similar.

If you are more interested in the car, aka- how to buy, register and insure one in Europe, or even cooler (if that is possible) a post on all our awesome media coverage, or possibly the list of woe-is-me updates we made when we were feeling down, then check out these other posts or head to the Mongol Rally and Sponsorship pages, which explain it all.