Wednesday 20th June–Back into Slovakia

Today might win the record for the shortest blog yet. We were due to leave again for Slovakia but not until 11.30am – this meant a chance to do one more thing in Krakow and, on the recommendations of others, Hamish, Julie, Marissa and I headed off for the town castle (yes, another one). It was a very lovely castle with an eclectic ten domed cathedral and very intricate carvings inside. We also bought a ticket to go inside the state rooms – this mostly involved looking at lots of impressive tapestries, marble floors and staircases and fancy gold ceilings (no photos allowed). One particular room also had 30 wooden heads attached to it, staring down at you. Really not sure what that was about!

    

We still had a little time left so we popped into the ‘Dragons Den’, a cave under the castle that was apparently formed over 12 million years ago. It was just a cave, but interesting because of its location and the legends associated with it (legends are apparently behind how the town got its name, google it if you want!). I always love a good legend.

After that, back to the hotel to check out and head off to bus station. What followed was three buses, none with air conditioning, uncomfortable seats, aisles full on people – we were all pretty relieved when we arrived in a new country five hours later, at 4.30pm in the afternoon.

Right now we are near the Tatra mountains in Slovakia, in what is usually a little ski resort in the winter time. We are surrounded by lots of trees and huge mountains behind our hotel – it reminds me a lot of Austria. The weather has been lovely, with the breeze rustling through the trees making it all very peaceful (despite all the souvenir shops). Lots of photos tomorrow, I promise.

    

After buying some snacks for hiking tomorrow we chilled in our room for a bit before heading out for another group dinner. This dinner was really nice, we sat outside with the mountains as our background. I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken, my wine and getting to talk a bit more to our tour leader. Then back to the hotel for some rounds of Whist with our card playing group. I don’t think I’ve ever played so much cards in such a short time in my life…and its fantastic! Bed time was quite early, 10.30pm, all ready for our hike tomorrow!