Eastern Europe Slovakia v1 m56577569830516564

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A 200-year-old log cabin with perfectly preserved white geometrics just waiting to be

photographed. The smell of strong coffee enjoyed midday with pastries in an old town square

caf. Whimsical, foot-tapping folk music punctuated by a yee! ha! yip! The crunch of fresh

snow under your boot at 2000m. Slovakia is not about overwhelming sights or superlatives,

its more about the experience of a place where nature and folkways still hold sway.

Bratislava bustles these days as post-EU membership investment pours in and new res-

taurants seem to open daily. The rabbit-warren old town is certainly worth a day or twos

distraction. Get outside the city though and you can still find ancient castles, traditional

villages, well-protected nature preserves and tourist walking trails connecting the country

from end to end. Dense forests cover the low hills, and remnants of fortresses top the craggy

cliffs. Medieval towns sit in sight of alpine peaks. You can hike past a waterfall in a gorge

one day and search out nail-less wooden churches the next.

Thats not to say that Slovakias architecture wasnt affected by communism. Industrial

blight and truly ugly concrete buildings are a part of the whole. But the countrys come

through it all with its folksy spirit intact. So pull up a plate of dumplings with bryndza

(sheeps cheese) and dig in.

Slovakia

FAST FACTS

Area 49,035 sq km

CapitalBratislava

Currency koruna (Sk);1 = 37Sk; US$1 =29Sk; UK1 = 55Sk; A$1 = 22Sk; 100 =

25Sk; NZ$1 = 19Sk Famous for ice hockey, beautiful women,

mountain hiking, folk traditions

Official Language Slovak

Phrases ahoj (hello); dovidenia (goodbye);akujem (thank you); este pivo prosm(another beer please), kde je WC (veyt-say)?(wheres the loo?)

Population 5.4 million

Telephone Codes country code%+ 421;international access code%00

Visas citizens of the EU, USA, Canada,Australia, New Zealand and Japan can enterSlovakia for 90 days without a visa

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Lonely Planet Publications. To make it easier for you to use, access to this chapter is not digitally

restricted. In return, we think its fair to ask you to use it for personal, non-commercial purposesonly. In other words, please dont upload this chapter to a peer-to-peer site, mass email it toeveryone you know, or resell it. See the terms and conditions on our site for a longer way of sayingthe above - Do the right thing with our content.

come with them. You can buy stickers at bor-der crossings, petrol stations or Satur offices(100Sk for 15 days, 600Sk for a year, both forvehicles up to 1.5 tonnes).

Parking restrictions are eagerly enforcedwith bright orange tyre boots. Always buy aticket, either from a machine, or from the at-

tendant wandering around with a waist pack,and put it on your dashboard.

Local TransportCity buses and trams operate from around4.30am to 11.30pm daily. Tickets are sold at

public transport offices and at newsstands.In Bratislava, some stops have ticket-vendingmachines. Validate tickets in the red machineson board or you could face a fine of up to1400Sk.

Train

Slovak Republic Railways(eleznice Slovenskej Repub-liky or SR;%18 188; www.zsr.sk)provides a cheapand efficient rail service. Most of the placescovered in this chapter are on or near themain railway line between Bratislava andKoice.

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Eastern Europe Slovakia v1 m56577569830516564