It seems quite a while since I have even looked at my travel blog. Since Covid-19 the wings have certainly been clipped a little. There have been a couple of weekend breaks to see friends, one in Norfolk and one in Blackpool, and I also managed a quick trip to France to check on the house in Malestroit in mid-July - something I am very pleased to have done looking at the current situation.

With the rapidly approaching August bank holiday weekend, the house in Malestroit should have been our destination but with the UK government having France on the 'no go' list we needed a Plan B for our week away from the home office environment. Looking at the Covid-19 rates across Europe, and bearing in mind the UK government last minute quarantine changes we chose to visit Slovakia and booked the flights and hotels just a few days in advance.

FRIDAY 28TH AUGUST

Having switched off the laptop we were soon heading south on a train from Derby to Luton Airport Parkway. The train was, as seems to be the norm at present, pretty empty. The government has sadly done a great job in making railways unattractive to the public. A short walk from the railway station we checked in at the Premier Inn before wandering into the centre of Luton itself.

To prepare for a week in eastern Europe dinner was had at a Polish restaurant called Gospoda, somewhere I have eaten at previously before flying out of Luton. The portions were very big and the prices were very reasonable, although they did not have any eastern European wine on offer which was a shame. Californian Merlot is OK, but not really what was wanted.

SATURDAY 29TH AUGUST

With our Wizz Air flight (W95113) was scheduled to take off from Luton just after mid-day there was no rush in the morning. A breakfast at Starbucks at Luton Retail Park (it is about as attractive as it sounds) was had before heading up to the airport itself. There were quite a few flights booked to leave Luton, but nothing like what it would normally be like on a bank holiday weekend. Security, duty-free, the terminal area itself were all very quiet compare to any previous visit.

Social distancing on a plane is obviously difficult, from the moment you arrive at the gate, to the moment you leave the airport terminal at destination you are generally close to people. The feeling of looking out of the window as we turned onto the runway, and being above the clouds was well worth it. We were however fortunate that once boarding was complete, we could occupy a row of three seats to ourselves for the 2 hour and 15-minute flight to Kosice, Slovakia.

Once on the ground and through passport control, we collected our Skoda Fabia hire car and headed away from Kosice to Moldava nad Bodvou which was a thirty-minute drive. Our accommodation for the night was Ferdinand's Penzion, and for €50.00 a night for the room including breakfast it was very good. Moldava nad Bodvou was a pleasant little town and made a great stop for the one night - it did not however offer a huge amount to the passing tourist. That said, it had a railway station (always worth a visit), the local ice-cream stand was great value, we found a local bar where beer was just €1.10 for a ½ litre glass, and food at the hotel restaurant was very good indeed. It was nice to just be away!

SUNDAY 30TH AUGUST

Our first stop was at the Domica Caves which was just under an hour by car from Moldava nad Bodvou. The tour was given in Slovak so we had no idea what they were explaining, but stalagmite and stalactite was certainly mentioned a few times. The cave system overall was massive and stretched, in total, for around 26km and also crossed the border into Hungary. The part we could visit was impressive, but due to low water levels the boat tour, that normally is included, could not be undertaken.

Once back in the open air we headed off to Divin Castle. The castle itself was closed for renovations, so we had to make do with limited outside views. In addition, because it was a Sunday there was very little open other than an ice-cream stand.

After the slight disappointment of Divin, we managed to get to Cierny Balog in time to experience the Čiernohronská railway. Given the time of day, and the timetable in operation we could only do two of the three lines in operation. The first was steam hauled, the second was diesel hauled. It was a nice little set up and nicely filled a few hours before we headed to Zvolen.

Our hotel in Zvolen was a short walk away from the attractive town centre and we found a nice pizza joint for dinner. Broccoli on a pizza is now a new favourite!

MONDAY 31ST AUGUST

Given the limited amount of time we had to plan this trip, our visit to the Banská Štiavnica Calvary was real treat, it was something that stood out as an excellent find and something that neither of us was aware of.

The Calvary sits on top of an old volcano above the town of Banská Štiavnica, and once you have climed to the upper church you also get great views of the surrounding countryside. Construction of the Calvary began in 1745, and it was finished in 1751. The Štiavnica Calvary has a number of stations, or chapels, telling the story of Jesus, three churches (Lower church, Holy stairway and Upper church), the Prison, and Holy Sepulchre. The whole site is undergoing restoration, some parts have been fully restored but most of this work only started in 2008.

In the afternoon we headed north to Bojnice Castle. The castle is in excellent condition and is one of the most visited in Slovakia. It has a real fairy-tale look about it and also a popular location for filming - as it was on the day of our visit. It is a Romanesque castle with some original Gothic and Renaissance elements built in the 12th century.

After visiting the castle, we climbed to the top of the Bojnice Viewing Tower (also known as the Seagull in the Clouds) that sits on the hillside overlooking Boijnice and the nearby city of Prievidza.

Monday evening was had in the city of Žilina, although given we arrived shortly before sunset there was not much time to really explore the place.

TUESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER

The 1st September is a national holiday in Slovakia which meant that shops were closed. After leaving Žilina our first stop was Strečno Castle. The car park was empty, there seemed to be very little life or signs that mentioned that the place was open or closed. The only way to find out was to start the walk up to the castle itself that sits on a cliff 103m above the car park.

Fortunately, it was open when we got to the top! The weather was not the best and we probably were the first visitors of the day but the castle did command great views across the Vah River and the surrounding area. It was worth the climb.

With the rain still falling we visited our second castle of the day at Orava. This castle, again sitting at the top of a hill, was well worth the visit even if we got somewhat wet in the process. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful castles in Slovakia and was first recorded in 1267. It certainly was a stunning building.

We finished the day in Stara Lubovna and arrived at the Penzion Gurmen, located on the main city centre square, where we would stay for three nights and use it as a base for visiting the Tatra Mountains.

WEDNESDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER

It was a wet start for us again on the Wednesday morning as we set off to hopefully visit the mountains, but with low cloud and poor weather conditions it did not seem to be worth paying the €52.00 each to take the cable cars to 2,634m above sea level to reach Lomnický Peak. A coffee and a cake in a café overlooking the railway station seemed far more appropriate in Tatranská Lomnica than spending a lot of money to look at clouds.

Fortunately, as the day wore on, the weather did improve and we were able to visit Stary Smokovec, a place we last visited in 2008, to see how things have changed before continuing on to Štrbské Pleso.

The €16.00 return trip on the Solisko cable car was a much more reasonable price and got us to 1,840m above sea level. From here we continued to follow the rocky path in an attempt to reach the summit at 2,093m but alas, due to the time limit associated witrh the last cable car trip back down the mountain we did not quite make it. The views however were fabulous and at times the clouds blew in and we were shrouded in mist.

Before returning to Stara Lubovna there was enough time to visit the lake area at Štrbské Pleso. Once back at our accommodation we ventured out to a Chinese restaurant that was close by. It was very good value and with a bit of help of Google translate and some pictures on the menu we enjoyed a rather nice meal.

THURSDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER

Th weather was much better which was fortunate as we were planning to visit the Pieniny National Park. Having no idea what was there, we chanced upon a path that took us alongside the Dunajec River that separates Poland and Slovakia and walked the nearly six miles from Lesnica to Červený Kláštor.

It was a lovely walk plus it was well shaded from the sun, and it was great to see the people being brought gently down the river on large 12-seater rafts. With a bit more research and spare time it would have been a good activity to undertake as it did look rather relaxing - it also would have saved us walking the six miles back.

A late lunch was had in Červený Kláštor before setting off back to Lesnica to collect the car and return to Stara Lubovna and a sneaky trip to the castle that overlooks the city. It seems that castles are ten a penny in Slovakia!

FRIDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER

Another day and another Slovakian castle. Having departed Stara Lubovna we headed south to visit Spiss Castle which is another of the most visited sights in Slovakia. The castle was visible for miles as we approached from out of the mountains and even though it is one of the most visited the car parking area (which was free) did not seem that large. Spiss is a castle that is very much under renovation however what has been done so far is very impressive and the visit was a good choice.

After visiting Spiss the sat-nav was set up to visit a wooden church in the village of Brezany. Slovakia, particularly in the eastern side of the country has a number of wooden churches, although not quite as many as they have castles. After following the sat-nav a right turn with about three kilometres to go brought us to a dirt track. I am normally quite happy with unmade roads but this looked to be one step too far, so a diversion of around 30 minutes was required to avoid the rutted farm track across a field. The church itself was very nice - whether it was worth the lengthy diversion is however another matter.

We then headed to Presov, a city that is about a 30-minute drive from where we started our Slovakian escapade in Kosice. This would be our home for the next two nights staying at the Hotel Enchante which was a 15-minute walk from the lovely city centre area.

SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER

Our final full day in Slovakia started with a trip to Hervartov which was a 40-minute drive north of Presov and very much on our route to the historic city of Bardejov. Hervartov is home to the oldest surviving wooden church in Slovakia dating from the end of 15th century. The stunning wall paintings date between 1655 and 1805 and the place has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. We were also treated to a visiting group of roman catholic nuns giving us a recital of Ave Maria!

Onwards to Bardejov for lunch and driving into the city you have no idea quite what to expect as there is the usual mix of eastern European tower blocks and apartments, but get to the historic city centre and it really is impressive. Bardejov is another UNESCO world heritage listed site and quite rightly so.

With the end of the day approaching we decided on a long lazy drive back to the hotel via a circuitous route rather than the main road back to Presov. This took us through a town called Svidnik and following a brown tourist sign we found the Svidnik Skanzen an site where a number of old buildings have been brought together as a historic museum which was quite interesting and when wandering around this sight it was possible to glimpse a huge soviet memorial in the distance so with a bit of a guess we headed off to find that as well. For an unplanned visit Svidnik was quite interesting (although the town centre did not look that inspiring)

So that was pretty much it, we were back at the hotel and decided to have our final meal there rather than walking into the city centre and made a nice relaxing evening of it as we had to be up fairly early on Sunday for the flight back to the UK.

SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER

We were back at Kosice airport at around 09.15 in order catch our Wizz Air flight (W95114) back to Luton at 10.55 Once we had dispensed of the hire car it was quickly through both the bag drop and security process before waiting for our flight back home.

What was a trip that was organised at the last minute - something we have never really done before - Slovakia really did impress us. Who knows, if its is the only place that we can visit in October we may well be back again!

*Please also see the photo album associated with this blog*