Day Eighteen

DAY EIGHTEEN

People in Hungary get up rather late in winter it seems, something that Kurt finds disagreeable but I must say suits me just fine. You might wonder why Hungarian sleeping habits would be an issue to us, but we were meant to get breakfast from the lodge which is difficult when the staff don’t seem to appear before 9am. And given we had to drive across the breadth of Slovakia today that just didn’t seem to be cricket. So after quick showers (I used the ablution across the perilous ‘skating rink of death’ and again given the lack of hot water Kurt used the onboard option) we departed the camp by 9am.

Unfortunately the weather was atrocious from the start – a snow storm had moved in overnight and stuck around right through the drive into northern Slovakia. It blanketed the roads with several inches of powder, causing icing and obscuring our view through the drivers window. We were forced to make the trip averaging 50km per hour, stopping every thirty minutes to free our windscreen wipers from ice build-up. The weather caused havoc on the roads with several trucks stuck halfway up every steep section we came to. We had one particularly dicey moment when we almost lost forward momentum and traction on a steep hill due to other traffic slowing things down. We both sighed a breath of relief when our three tone Betsy cleared the top of the ridge.

Neither Kurt nor I had any idea what to expect of Slovakia having been so wrong in our previous preconceptions of Hungary and Slovenia. Again we passed an empty border post and drove on through open agricultural land and small villages. We were both struck by the run down look of the out lying areas, most of the buildings being unrenovated soviet era constructions. As we neared our first city the investment into infrastructure and buildings became more obvious. Newer more expensive vehicles abound and interesting new malls and houses mingle with brightly painted communist era housing. Like Hungary and Slovenia change is evident everywhere. I can only assume that the EU offers massive loans to its new member countries as an incentive for joining. We travelled briefly on a newly constructed highway before turning off towards the Tatra mountains. Our route took us over the scenic small Tatra’s where to our surprise an extensive, plush looking ski resort has been built at the top of the pass. It seems to cater to Austrians given the proximity to Vienna and the use of the German language throughout. Making our way down into the valley between the small and large Tatra’s we eventually crawled into our camp site situated next to a frozen lake and in sight of the Tatra’s towering white peaks.

Our journey today only covered a relatively short distance of 270km, but given the conditions we covered it in 5.5hrs. We’re glad to report however that the Slovakians like (most) of the other Eastern Europeans we’ve met so far are very friendly and the resort is top class. We had an excellent late lunch in the restaurant here and are aiming to enjoy a relaxing evening after the days tough drive. PS they had a squirrel in a cage at the office as well as two baby rabbits which could be petted. Interesting.