Trip across Slovakia in the charge of Erasmus Student Network Košice
This trip was especially prepared as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of Erasmus in Europe. It was also the first big project of ESN Košice with the aim of discovering Slovakia by Erasmus students from Košice. The idea was the brainchild of ESN Košice vice-president Andrea Hanáková, who is currently studying British and American studies with Geography at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, and has experienced this kind of excursion during her studies, thanks to the Geography department. The second coordinator of the trip was Milada Konečná, ESN Košice member.
The duration of the trip was four days, from March the 30th to the 2nd of April. Altogether there were twenty-six Erasmus students and two ESN coordinators participating in this trip. With two experienced bus drivers, we travelled a total of 1417km across East, Central and West Slovakia on a circular route, with the start/finish point Košice. The excursion crew visited eighteen places including castles, cities, a zoo, factories, museums, an aqua-park, national reserves and folk villages.
The first day, Friday 30th, Košice was covered by clouds and it was raining. Early morning (7.30am!) was the time when all travellers met on the bus with various expectations. The weather in Košice was horrible, but after reaching Rožňava, the sun welcomed us. First stop was Château Betliar, a fourteenth-century castle which surprised us with its pompous furnishings. The second stop was Kaltenecker brewery, one of the smaller breweries in Slovakia. The brewery produces more than twenty types of special beer and we did not miss the opportunity to taste 5 of them. The last one, Brokát, is the beer on the list of the best beers of the world. Up next was castle-ruin Šomoška from thirteenth-century which is located on the Slovak-Hungarian border. It is part of the nature reserve which includes also the ‘stone-lava waterfall’ and the ‘stone sea’. These are the remains after volcanic activity in this area. The fourth destination was the UNESCO site – Banská Štiavnica, one of the oldest mining cities in Slovakia. After the ‘tour de Banská Štiavnica’, there was time for late lunch and later we approached Banská Bystrica, which was the last stop of the day. After getting ready for the night life in Banská Bystrica, ESN UMB Banská Bystrica and their Erasmus students welcomed the Erasmus from Košice at the party in the club – Nová Ponorka.
After a long night, early morning was dedicated to ‘tour de Banská Bystrica’ when willing members of ESN UMB BB, Veronika Basthyová, Dominika Šelengová and Dominika Kráľová prepared an interesting city excursion for us. The second destination was other mining city, Kremnica, which has the oldest mint in Europe. Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to visit the mint, but we did go to the Museum of coins and medals. Here we could see some of the oldest means of payment, which was very interesting. Rain didn’t keep us from enjoying the trip. The third stop was one of the most beautiful castles in Slovakia, Bojnice Castle. Dating from the 12th century, it was the residence of the Palfy family. This was the place which the Erasmus students enjoyed the most. Next on the itinerary was Bojnice Zoo, the largest Zoo in Slovakia. Sadly, because of the rain we could not see all of the animals. After dinner, the last stop was Nitra where ESN Nitra (Kristína Macháčková, Zuzana Bajúsová, Mária Hrdličková and the rest of the team) and their Erasmus students welcomed us in a very nice pub. While talking and getting knowing each other, we decided to go to a party in the big club Rio.
Another long night was followed by another early morning. However, almost all Erasmus students were ready on time – 8.30am! Michaela Raganová and Zuzana Valovičová from ESN UKF Nitra took us for the ‘tour de Nitra’ and fortunately, the sun was accompanying us too. Afterwards, we visited one of the oldest spa cities in Slovakia, Piešťany, and after that was Brezová pod Bradlom, where the snow surprised us! Here is the Monument of General Milan Rastislav Štefánik, the place of rest of a famous Slovak politician and diplomat who contributed to Czechoslovak sovereignty. Trenčín was the following stop where Erasmus students were amazed by lovely view of Trenčín castle above the city. By now it was April Fool’s Day, so it was dedicated to something crazy and funny. ESN trip coordinators did not miss the chance to play a practical joke on the Erasmus students; so, in alliance with the waiter, the idea was hatched to announce a much bigger bill than they were actually supposed to pay! The 150 euro bill became 476 euros :). After a brilliant reaction to the bill, they unmasked the prank and we all had a good laugh about it. After the lunch the fifth destination of the day was the traditional folk village, Čičmany, which is known by its special paintings on the wooden houses. The last stop on Sunday was Žilina, where ESN UNIZA Žilina and their Erasmus students welcomed us in the stylish beer-house, where we had a pleasant time while talking and getting to know the other Erasmus students from Žilina.
The final (early) morning started with the ‘tour de Žilina’. Arranged by ESN UNIZA members, Ján Hovančík and Zuzana Liptáková, we were introduced to Žilina. Next up was nature reserve Manínska tiesňava, the wonderful narrow where we went for a little walk. The following destination was the Christmas decorations factory – Okrasa, in Čadca, where we had a tour around the factory, we saw the entire process of how the decorations are made, and at the end we bought some souvenirs from the factory giftshop – baubles, bells, and the like. Everybody really enjoyed the tour, as no one had ever seen anything like this before. Seeing the process of manufacture helped us to realise how some products are made and to think about the real price of the product, because the hard work (it was hand-made!) is usually not appreciated enough. The fourth stop of the day was the folk village Vlkolínec, which is on the UNESCO heritage list. It is an untouched and complex example of traditional rural architecture of the region of the Northern Carpathians. The very last stop of our trip was the water-park Tatralandia, which was the ‘reward’ for our very tiring & exhausting, but amazing and adventurous trip across Slovakia. On Monday, Košice crew reached dorms at 11.30pm, everybody was tired, but happy, full of new experiences, and ready to enjoy a nice, long sleep.
Now that the trip is over, Erasmus students are fully obliged to say ‘I met Slovakia’. The mission was accomplished.
We would like to thank all Erasmus students that joined the trip and to the all ESN sections across Slovakia that managed pleasant evenings and interesting tours in their cities for us.
ESN Košice team
