Snow Covered Slovakia

Matt, Martin and Me outside the Prime Minister's Mansion

Prime Minister's Mansion

Building from the Communist Era

Radio station built during the commuist era

Janosik and Me

Matt, Me and Martin in front of the Mayor's house

Me, Napoleon, and Matt

Martin, Matt and the Bratislava Castle

Me and the Bratislava Castle

Bratislava skyline

Sunset on the first day

Martin's home

Matt at Martin's cottage

Cottage

Cooking over the open fire

Cooking over the open fire

View of the surrounding mountains

Sunset

Matt, Mister, and Me

Me and Matt (Martin was very insistent that pictures have peope in them)

I could barely see the station through the fogged class window as our train creaked to a stop seemingly in the middle of nowhere. “We here, we here” Martin (affectionately called “Mister” by me and Matt) told us as I jumped down from the train steps onto the snow covered cement and tried to help him shuffle down his oversized bag – slipping on the tracks I was standing between. With a smile and a quick skip, Mister grabbed the handle of his wheeled bag and began his waddle-esque walk pulling the luggage. Matt and I passed one look at each other – which translated into something like “where the hell are we” – shrugged, and obliged, ducking under a rusting “Kośeča” sign and following him down the snow covered street (his bag would have been better off with sleds than wheels). We had just arrived in Slovakia for the beginning of our adventures literally following “The Mister” through central Europe – a common theme of our week long trip.

Last week, February 1 – 8 was a large travel time for the Loyola gang as it was our post-exam week off. Matt and I chose to follow our first semester roommate Martin “Mister” Mihalik back to his home country of Slovakia and his village Kośeča, though most of the group made a Central Europe swing for the extra long week visiting Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. We followed Martin down the street of his hometown, slipping in the snow which was packed down from cars passing over it – they only plowed the main road into town. We arrived upon a yellow stucco house, about half a block from the main road, and were warmly greeted in the traditional Slovak way (with a shot of homemade Slivovicka) by Martin’s family – who all didn’t speak word of English. Then we were treated to a complete 3 course meal courtesy of Martin’s mother – something we experienced on every one of our nights in his home. This was just the beginning of our adventures in the middle of Europe.

The start of our expedition (earlier that day) began when Matt, Martin, and I landed in a small airport just about a 40 minute bus ride from the center of Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital. The excitement that Mister had to show us Bratislava, which translated means “Brotherly Honor,” was evident from the very second we got off of the bus at central station. After dropping off his bag for storage in the station, Martin began our private tour of the nation’s capital. With inside stories, personal experiences, and clever anecdotes, Mister took us through the capital, identifying almost everything and anything of which he had the faintest knowledge and doing so quite confidently in his much more advanced English.

We slipped and skidded our way through the snow covered streets – not fully equipped for the amount of snowfall we were trudging through – but managed to see a good amount of the city. We visited both the Prime Minister’s and the President’s palaces. Then toured through some of the areas where Martin attends school at the University of Bratislava. Martin was always quick to identify any building built during the communist regimes which were usually quite obvious with their large linear structure and heavy bases of cement. It was in touring Bratislava that I realized how deeply the scars of communism ran in Soviet satellite states – something I’ll address more thoroughly in my later blogs. Following a quick lunch at the “Slovak Pub” (a really cool old Pub with wood burning stoves in each room) where we were served an exceptionally cheap authentic Slovakian student lunch, we headed through the old town center of Slovakia. We ended our trip in Bratislava with a trek up to the Bratislava Castle – just about every Slovak city we visited had its own castle.

Day two of our trip began bright and early – and I mean about the 5 am when the rooster from Martin’s family’s chicken coop began crowing (he also followed with a second rendition at 7 and third at 9:30). We had a relaxed day ahead of us, because Martin had incorporated into his planning of our trip a visit to his cottage in “the nature.” His cottage was on the side of the mountain range that ran along the edge of Martin's village. It took us quite a while of hiking straight up the mountain roads through the snow, before we realized that when Martin said that his cottage was on the "under side of the mountain" he actually meant "other side." We arrived at his giant wooden box in the woods by about noon at which point I had to climb over the gate and jump the fence, and then dig through the snow and dirt for the key to let Martin and Matt in – the Slovak security system – because Martin claimed that hiding the key was a “tradition of family.”

After arriving at his cottage and taking a shot of slivovicka (a Slovakian tradition for just about everything) we began preparations for lunch. Though the hike was long and snow was high, the payoff was worth the trek. We built a fire in the fire pit and then cooked a variety of meats which Mister had packed in his bag over the open fire. The smell Slovak sausage and bacon combined with the burning wood quickly filled the small campsite. Once lunch was finished, we put the fire out with the 3 feet of snow that had built up around his cabin.

From his cabin Martin was excited for us to get a sunset view of “the panorama” so we climbed through snow – at some points as high as my hip – up to an abandoned quarry. Telling us to ignore the warning sign which we couldn’t translate, Martin guided us out toward the edge of a cliff to gaze at the spectacle that was Slovakia at sunset. From the bird’s eye view of the surrounding valley, Mister pointed out the various features of his homeland – including things like the terrain outlay of Slovakia and where we could find Hungary.

With the sky darkening and the temperature dropping, we made our way down from our mountain perch and began the hike back toward Martin’s home. We capped off our first full day in Slovakia with another 3 course meal, made by Martin’s mother, and a trip to the local pub in town (We ate a lot on this trip). And with that day 2 of Slovakia was finished – stay tuned for the rest of my adventures in Central Europe.