On Friday we took the train back to Poprad and a taxi to the Budget rental car office at the Poprad airport. If you don’t know the rental car office is in the airport, you probably wouldn't find it. The arrivals section of the airport was locked up, so they must not get many flights/day! We got two rental cars because Jake and I and Jim and Linda will take one car back to Bratislava on Monday and Judy and Neal are staying in the area for a reunion of their Peace Corps friends. Jake and I drove one car as Jake is still recovering from a cold and I am coming down with his cold, and the others took the other car.
The drive took us across rolling hills and then into a region of steeper, wooded hills. It reminded me a little of West Virginia with small towns tucked into valleys and big mining and logging enterprises. They were cutting trees along a section of the road, maybe to widen the road. Driving on the winding road with big logging trucks coming the other direction required some concentration!
We agreed to meet in Banska Bystrica for lunch. This would have been fine except it turned out there was a big festival in town. The regular parking areas on Google Maps were inaccessible and we ended up driving around in a lot of traffic. Eventually though we found free parking at the Europa mall not far from the main square. We found the others sitting at an outdoor café but left them there to find food (I was hangry by then!). We found an Italian restaurant just off the square and ordered a pizza. The crust was pretty good, toppings just so so. One nice thing about restaurants generally here is that when you order a pitcher of water it often comes with lemon and mint.
After lunch we wandered past some of the craft and food stalls. It was hard to see the historic buildings with all the booths, a stage, etc., and neither of us felt particularly like touring anyway.
It was another 45 minute drive to Banska Stiavnica. The main roads here were closed off for Salamander Days, a big two day festival. Jake and I had a terrible time finding an alternate route to our rental house, Villa Lucia. At one point Jake had to back down a really narrow road with a stone wall on one side and a metal fence between us and a big drop off. Another bad turn required a 20point turn to escape. I started getting out to scout out ahead whether we were on a navigable road or not. Finally though, we found the rental house around 4pm! The others showed up an hour later having had no problems arriving there from a grocery store at the edge of town.
The house is beautifully designed, but has a lot of impracticalities. For instance the kitchen is all high end Smeg appliances, but figuring out how to use the built in Expresso maker required 45 minutes. We still haven’t figured out how to use the microwave/oven combination. The owners did send short videos about using the coffee maker, microwave, and directions to the house, but they were only moderately helpful (the directions video would have been great if the main road hadn’t been closed). The upstairs bedrooms have comfortable mattresses, but are on the floor because of the slanted roof with tippy, very short side tables and no bedside lamps. The light switches are electronic and have also required some trial and error! There is a big gazebo, with clear plastic sides that can be rolled up, next to the house which was nice to sit in yesterday afternoon.
It's a steep walk down into town, but scenic. The Salamander Parade was supposed to start at 8pm, so we walked down around 6:30. The main square was teeming with people with long lines at most of the food booths. The parade route was already lined with people. The others went to a restaurant for some dinner, but Jake and I weren’t particularly hungry and I just got a piece of currant and cheese strudel for my dinner from one of the booths. We walked down the main parade route and found a slightly elevated spot to watch the parade from. The first part of the parade was big groups from mining and forestry departments and social clubs, and from some companies. Many were dressed in uniforms with lots of pins or medals on them. Some groups had musical accompaniment or were singing songs. The groups passed by for about 45 minutes, and then there was a long lull. We were really tired and decided to give up on the rest of the parade. By the time we got back uphill to our house, we could hear cheers from the crowd and loud music, but we may never know what the second half of the parade brought!
Saturday was much quieter in town, although there were still performances on the stage and some food and craft booths. Neal bought a bottle of new wine for us to try. It’s sold in recycled soda bottles and is cloudy and fizzy. Sort of like fizzy grape juice with alcohol, as might be expected.
The town is a UNESCO world heritage site for its mining culture. Mining dates back to the Celts in the 3rd century BC. The salamander legend is that a shepherd saw two salamanders, one covered in gold and the other in silver. They disappeared under a rock, and when he moved the rock, he found a big lump of gold. Salamanders are part of the medieval coat of arms of the city. In the mid 1700s, the town was the third largest in the Hungarian empire due to the wealth generated from mining. It was a center of innovation in mining technologies and supported perhaps the first technical university. Mining inevitably declined though, and now the town is trying to preserve its beautiful historic buildings.
We toured around town seeing the old castle (13th and 14th century), the new castle (mid 1500s, built to warn of Turkish invasions), the Church of the Assumption (parts from the 13th C., but more “recent” Baroque to 19th C. interior). We visited the botanical garden, started in mid 1800s on a former school campus. There are some impressively old trees like two sequoias at the entrance, but the garden doesn’t seem particularly well maintained beyond the entrance. It is next to the old mining school, which was hosting a gem and mineral show.
We had lunch outdoors at a restaurant along the main road through town. They had some interesting dishes including an Azerbaijani walnut and pomegranate dish and a Georgian dish. I had the chicken schnitzel though, guess I just wasn’t in an adventurous food mood! We stopped by one of the small grocery/convenience stores in the middle of town and got supplies for a light dinner. Linda and Judy made some toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches and I cooked some frozen stir fry vegetables with extra peppers from the market. We also opened the Slovak white wine our host had left for us – a little young, but a decent dry white wine.
Today (Sunday) is rainy, and we are hanging out at the house reading, writing, doing laundry, etc.
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