Pentecost in Slovakia

We started our day at 7:30 mass at St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Old Town Kosice. We were amazed to find people so dressed up for church, not only in Kosice, but in every town that we stopped in during Mass times today. Every man and boy wore a suit and the women and girls wore dresses and nice shoes. In one town, people actually stood outside for the service, as the church interior was full. We walked through one walled town where mass was being held in St. Martin's church, and we could hear the chanting of the service echoing through the town. It was awesome to hear such beauty while gazing across the beautiful green mountains.

Our travels today took us back to the west of the country to Zilina. The roads followed a path between mountain ranges and we were delighted at the sight of the High Tratas, where the peaks were covered with snow. Our drive also took us along the Vah river, which was extremely high due to the melting snow in the mountains, in combination with the rain.

We visited Levoca where we photographed the "Cage of Shame". Marty wants you to know that Slovakia has ways for dealing with dogs like Lily. When Lily misbehaves, he likes to refer to her as "the dog of shame". So, Marty felt a real bond for this town that held this cage of disgrace. Apparently women who were disgraced were placed in this cage to be put on display. I can't say if that technique would help with Lily, however.

We skirted thunderstorms as we drove from town to town. We stopped in Poprad for lunch and ate at a restaurant where Jaromir Jagr apparently has eaten. Lunch was very good Slovak style food. Marty had spinach pirohy and I had spinach and mushroom filled polichinky. Yummy stuff, that's for sure.

In Martin, we managed to get in a visit to a Slovak outside Museum which is a collection of homes that would have existed in different areas of Slovakia in years past. After getting disoriented in town due to a closed road, we finally found the place and walked extremely fast along the long path to the entrance because we knew that the place would be closing soon. It was pouring down rain, and I was in my poncho and Marty was wearing his Red Fairchild raincoat when I knocked on the glass at the entrance booth. A woman peered at me in disbelief, and shook her head while I pleaded for her to let us in. I'm certain that she thought we were nuts, showing up with thunder, lightening and pouring rain all around us. She finally relented, telling us that the place closed in 45 minutes, then she handed me a program in English, charged us the student rate, and reminded us, again, of the closing time. Although it would have been much more fun to be able to look at the houses leisurely, Marty and I zipped through the sets if villages, but not without my sandals and stockings getting filled with mud. Luckily, I had brought an extra pair which went onto my feet as soon as we returned to the car. What was odd was that just 15 minutes out of town, no rain had fallen anywhere.

We arrived at our final destination with a sense of relief after Garmin Girl originally told us that our Penzion was an abandoned Concrete building. Luckily, some kind people on the road were able to direct us to the correct place, which is lovely. We had dinner, just the two of us, in the basement wine cellar with a very attentive waiter. The food was the best that we have had yet, and the local wine was fabulous.

On a final note as we spend our last night here in Slovakia,on this side of the country, I was surprised to see so many signs for ovci syr. (Sheep cheese). First of all, I didn't know anyone actually milked a sheep, much less make cheese from it. I remembered that the man by the castle had offered us cheese from sheep milk, but I had presumed that he had meant a goat. Sure enough, it is sheep cheese, as we see the signs for it all along the highway out here. But I can't say that I am brave enough to stop at a roadside stand a buy a hunk.

Tomorrow we head for Austria, so I suppose that I must close with a hearty Dovidenia!