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Trip report: Slovakia and a little bit of Vienna

Vienna, 10 Sep 2024. Tired as I was, I was excited to arrive. I had spent an extra day in transit because my nice small regional airport only had one on-call mechanic to do the 10-min signoff on our plane, and he took the planes in order even though the first one took hours. Oh well. I had a prearranged pickup by Hotel Austria. I don’t speak any German and the driver spoke little English, but did speak several other languages. I think he said he was Bosnian, and it certainly wasn’t German that he used to give a bus driver a piece of his mind. Hotel Austria is very nice: clean, cozy, quaint; laundry service, good breakfast, 10-min walk to Stephansplatz, a small elevator, and friendly, helpful staff.

With only 3 days, there was only time to hit the Vienna highlights, including St. Stephen’s cathedral, the Imperial Crypt (Kaisergruft), a glimpse of the Lipizzaner stallions in their stalls, the Hofburg Imperial Apts /Sisi Museum tour, and the Imperial Treasury—with the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. At the Kunsthistorisches (Museum of Art History) the highlight for me upstairs was Vermeer’s Woman at the Window. Downstairs, the Kunstkammer (Habsburg collection of objects d’art) was much more extensive than the one room I anticipated. I started out admiring the fantastic craftsmanship, the gold, the jewels, the rock crystal…and then it became overwhelming. Too much gold, too many jewels, too much rock crystal—and too much for one family to own. But the famous exquisite golden salt cellar from the 1500s, which was much bigger than I expected, is well worth seeking out. At the Naturhistorisches (Natural History Museum), again, there was too much to see; this is a museum that requires coming back several times. But I made sure to see the Venus of Willendorf—so tiny and perfect—and a slate figurine even older (36,000 years), along with lots of fossils.

I tried to sample as much tasty Vienna food as possible: lunch and strudel in the lovely Kunsthistorisches café, goulash in the Glacis Beisl outdoor garden, and a mélange and Kaiserschmarrn (shredded fluffy pancakes with plum compote) at Demel Café—so, so good!— in a very elegant room. (Thanks Emily for the recommendations.) I picked up some candied violets—favored by Empress Elizabeth—and mini Sacher-Tortes in the bakery at Demel too. Within a block of Hotel Austria, I had perfectly poached salmon at a restaurant called ef16 and schnitzel with cranberries and boiled potatoes with butter and parsley at Restaurant Vienne. There are more famous schnitzel spots, but this tasted just fine to me. I did have to wait until the evening before our flight home to finally have a käsekrainer (sausage filled with small chunks of cheese) and a mug of beer at a sausage stand (Wiener Würstelstand, outside of the airport terminal building). You will notice that restaurants and food feature a lot in this trip report!

The rain, which had begun on day two, increased to serious wind and cold driving splatty rain—part of the epic, catastrophic September 2024 Central European rain. My son and his partner arrived to move on with me to Bratislava, and fortunately I had booked a car to take us directly to our hotel there. We stayed at the Ibis Bratislava Centrum: good location with a short walk to Old Town sights, helpful staff, and a good breakfast. It was Saturday, so we went to the (dry, indoor) market for lunch and shopping, followed by (dry, indoor) St. Martin’s Cathedral, where Hungarian kings had been crowned. Broken umbrellas littered the streets. We had dinner at Bratislava Flagship, which has been recommended here on the forum; only a small part of the place was open, one rustic room. But the food was good.

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Although the rains were a tiny bit less the next day, the boat trip I had planned to Devin Castle was out of the question. The tour bus was running a bit of a discount, since downed trees closed the castle, and provided a pleasant (dry) tour around town, including past the Radio Slovakia building and Presidential Palace and up to see the Slavin Memorial. In the afternoon I visited the café Rick recommends, Konditorei Kormuth cafe; the “choco-marzipan hot milk drink” was outstanding. We wanted to go up to the observation deck at Most SNP (the “UFO bridge”), but the Danube was rising and authorities closed the observation deck as well as the adjoining Sad Janka Král’a park. We had an excellent dinner at Zylinder .

Day 6 and on to the High Tatras (Vysoké Tatry)! As we went north and east on the train to Poprad, we saw swans and deer, and gradually left the rain behind. The Poprad train arrived in time to catch the next little train to Starý Smokovec. We stayed at Penzion Sport, a low-key but comfortable and pleasant place right near the train station.

On Day 7 we met up with our guide Michal Razus and began family visits. I cannot say enough about how welcoming the people in this country are. I will say, don’t eat before you go visiting. We visited with the first group of cousins starting at ten o’clock: coffee plus platters of cheese and open faced sandwiches, and then—when we weren’t eating much from those—a plate for each of us with two different slices of cake. But we had a wonderful time and learned some family stories.

At 1:00, the second group of cousins served us a marvelous homemade lunch: slivovica (of course), chicken soup, sauced pork rounds with tiny yellow potatoes and rice, a slice of peach or apricot with currants, cream-filled pastries, and chocolate mousse cake. So many people, so many conversations, so many photos of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This was my second visit to Slovakia and I thought this time I would not be overwhelmed. I was wrong. We were also overwhelmed with gifts as we left—you cannot out-gift the Slovaks.

We began day 8 visiting with a researcher I had been in email contact with, a retired engineer who spent several years in Canada. He came back home to Slovakia, is deeply engaged in the history and genealogy of the area, and has published several books. His ancestors were the nobility in my ancestral village of Vikartovce. However, he told us that the ruler in the area would have been the Catholic Church and that the Church still owns a lot of the forest in the area.

We visited the town hall In Vikartovce—scoring on pennants with the village coat of arms and flag—and stopped at its old granaries and memorial to those killed by the Nazis in 1944. Then a winding narrow rough road took us to Liptovská Teplička, where we explored the unique, still-utilized root cellars that look like hobbit homes. In the distance, a shepherd and his dog minded their flock of sheep. After lunch in Poprad, we wound our way back up to Vysoké Tatry up the curvy road at the Strba end to Strbské Pleso. We had a lovely easy walk around the lake, ending with a rainbow.

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Day 9 was our day alone without a guide, so we decided to explore Tatranská Lomnica and perhaps take the cable cars to the peak. We had a nice lunch (halušky with sauerkraut and bacon, garlic soup) followed by coffee and dessert (chocolate-mousse-and-raspberry pastry, poppy seed cake). We saw a deer, a squirrel, and a lizard; and visited the branch of the UL’UV folk arts gallery and store.

It was cloudy up at the peak (Lomnický štít), but the nearby saddle (Lomnické sedlo) was clear as was the cable-car route up to it. Bonus, the trip to the saddle is cheaper. So. First cable car to just a change station. Second car to a little glacial lake (Skalnaté Pleso), where there is a restaurant, WCs, and souvenirs. Then a scary (to me) open T-bar ski lift to the saddle…but I was SO glad I did it. Up there it was cold, windy, and rocky. We could see all the valley below, as well as the cable car to the peak disappearing into the cloud. There is an uneven rock path that winds to a viewpoint and then beyond. The younger people went all the way to the end of the path; I communed with the mountains at the viewpoint, with an awareness of why these mountains are so much a part of the Slovak culture and soul. We all rode the lift back down to the Skalnaté Pleso station, where a trio of foxes were trolling for snacks. From there I took the cable cars back down to Tatranská Lomnica and the train back to Starý Smokovec, while my fitter companions hiked back over a rocky trail. We met up for dinner at Tatracinky, a crepe place in the Hrebienok Resort complex. There are more different kinds of restaurants in Starý Smokovec than there were in 2018 when we had last visited.

Day 10 was our first day with a new guide, Erik Ševčík, and a perfect sunny day. We began with riding the wooden rafts on the Dunajec River through part of the Pieniny National Park (cash only). The man steering in the front gave a little commentary in English and English-language printed material is provided, but all the jokes were in Slovak. It didn’t matter—the scenery spoke for itself.

A friend’s ancestral village of Kolačkov was close by and I wanted to make a quick stop (ha!) to take some photos and maybe visit the town hall. Well, Erik called ahead and the mayor wanted to welcome us! There were refreshments of course, and the mayor gave us some information and contacts. He also gave us CDs of traditional music of the area—he played in at least one of the bands featured—and a huge book of Kolačkov genealogy. Our lunch stop reminded me that there is a wide assortment of lemonade in this country; often it has its own menu.

The last stop of the day was the open-air museum at Stará Lubovna, which provided me with lots of information to process later about how my ancestors lived. Back at Starý Smokovec, we had dinner at Koliba Kamzik, because they had live music (Friday and Saturday evenings): violin, accordion, and bass.

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Day 11. This morning we had an early start for a most-of-the-day hike to Doštianky meadow above Vikartovce, between surrounding forest of spruce and larch. It was our guide’s local knowledge that made this day possible. It’s where my ancestors would have grazed their cattle. There are remnants of sheds where harvested hay was stored, away from fire danger, and then transported on sledges to the village when needed. At a chalet at the meadow’s far end we built a fire—Erik gave us all a chance to try to start it with a flint firestarter—to cook the foil-wrapped meals of sausage, peppers, and potatoes that he had prepared. While they were cooking, we enjoyed the sunshine and got water at the spring where the old hollowed-out log pipes and cattle trough remained. The only wildlife seen (at an appropriate distance) was a young female common viper, the only poisonous snake in the area.

Afterward, we met some more distant cousins over snacks and slivovica, and finished the day with dinner at Spitz Restaurant & Bar in Starý Smokovec. It’s another good choice when you get tired of traditional Slovak food. The whole town was crowded for this beautiful weekend, so we sat outside and were treated to a guitarist-vocalist who was quite good in both English and Spanish.

Day 12. The younger folks went off with the guide to try to see marmots and chamois (sadly they didn’t; that's wildlife viewing), while I took the funicular from Starý Smokovec up to Hrebienok and hiked the short rocky trail to Long Waterfall (Dlhý Vodopád). I finished the afternoon in Starý Smokovec with a viewing of the 1888 Church of the Immaculate Conception and a latte macchiato and poppyseed pastry at Central Coffee on the main street. Dinner was at Mondieu restaurant at the Hrebienok Resort.

Day 13. On our last full day we had hoped to see the ice cave, but it was closed unexpectedly early for the season. And it turns out other caves in Slovakia are all closed on Mondays. Instead we went to Jasna (near Liptovský Mikuláš), where we took a cable car to just below Chopok, the third highest peak in the Low Tatras. I had thought of the Low Tatras as being like the Coast Range back home in Oregon, but they are serious mountains. We climbed over rocks and boulders along the short way to the actual peak, and had cappuccinos with a view in the restaurant below afterward.

In the afternoon, after touring a dairy farm in Vychodna we visited with one of the cousins we met the previous day who wanted to show us her house. What a wonderful visit! She and her husband greeted us with a small plate of pieces of bread with salt, in the traditional way. Of course then there were also open-faced sandwiches, homemade donuts, and fruit brandy. We talked of how we were related and she gave me some information on my photos. Then she gave us donuts to go, plus a rug she had woven herself, including having spun the flax for the weaving! Just before we left, she wanted to show me her upstairs, which was beautiful and tidy and festooned with rugs on the wood floors. I was very happy to know enough basic Slovak to be able to say “Mate krasný dom” (You have a beautiful house).

Our last dinner in Stary Smokovec was at Stary Smakovec restaurant. I had trout, which came whole and was perfectly cooked. Also they served vegetables, which are not always on the menu.

Day 14, on our way home: We retraced our train journeys and had a car drop us at the Moxy at the Vienna airport for an early flight towards home the next day. The train was a half hour late getting in to Bratislava and was also crowded and hot, with minimal ventilation and no way to open the windows. I’ll warn others to mask up; we all three came down with Covid-19 when we got home. Timing-wise, it had to have been the train trip. But we made it home before getting sick, and we did have a wonderful time!

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What an amazing trip you had!!! I really enjoyed reading your report. Slovakia is on my wish list!!!!

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What a wonderful report on what must have been a wonderful trip! Thank you! So many good details. :) My mouth is watering…..