ivan opalka

The restaurant at the Gare de Lyon Station was build in 1900 as a part of the Paris Exhibition. It’s truly a treat for your eyes to see such a large ornate rooms with its many sculptures and gigantic paintings. Everything looked very preserved. The decor of the rooms is almost overwhelming, but overall effect is harmonious. You do not have to get a fancy lunch or dinner to get in. There are several rooms there where you can just sit down for a casual coffee and enjoy the distinctive style of the “Belle Epoque” period. Very cool place indeed.

How can I forget this place. September of 1986. I walked out of the gates of “ZTS” (Factory of Heavy Machinery) at 6:00 am. I had a night shift behind me working as a metallurgical worker on an electric arc furnace used to make steel. That night we casted yet another turret for T-72 tank. I am pretty sure that tank was destroyed during the first gulf war in Iraq. I walked across the street, into a photo studio to take a picture for my motorcycle license. I had 8 hours of heavy labor behind me, but I was free like a bird. I was watching all the people coming towards me starting their morning shift at the factory. My life took a different turn, I got accepted into the university. I often think what would happen if I stayed there.

Call me crazy, but the magic is that the pastry is not too sweet. This place is just something that you want to check out, have a coffee with strawberry millefoligie and prove me wrong.

Small but great french bakery with excellent croissants and damn good coffee.

As a kid I used to play in the ruins of this castle. It’s located just a few minutes from Žilina on the main road to High Tatras above river Vah. We called it a new castle, the old one is just across the river on the other side. The history of this place is dated back to the iron age. The interesting fact about this castle is that during a reconstruction of it in 1689 by Lowenburgs family they discovered a coffin under the chapel with a body of Žofia Bošňákova in it. She was a wife of a previous owner František Vesselényi. Apparently he was famous for his cruelty where on the other hand she was loved by her subjects. After more then 45 years her body was still in almost perfect condition. She was transferred into the neighboring town’s church in Teplička. Later her body was put into a glass coffin and even now it’s still in relatively preserved condition. The castle was being reconstructed for almost 17 years and open to the public in 1992. Just a few minutes walk from the castle is a monument dedicated to fallen French partisans from WW2.

This old castle was build in the first half of the 13th century. I do not think there is a person in slovakia young or old who would not know the dark history of this place. Its unfortunate fame was gained when Alžbeta Báthoryová, who lived there at the end of 16th and the begining of 17th century, was killing young girls so she could bathe in their blood to keep her youth. In 1611 she was imprisoned and sentenced for life in Bytča by Lord Thurzo. In 1708 the castle was burned down by the rebel army of František Rákóczi. Hollywood used this location alongside with Spišský and Strečno castles to shoot scenes for the movie Dragonheart.

If you find yourself visiting eastern Slovakia and all your stars are aligned properly, you could just experience gushing stream of water from the earth to 70 – 90 feet high. This happens only once every 32 to 34 for twenty minutes or so. The Herlany’s Geyser is a true natural wonder. It’s located only 30km from Kosice (second largest city in Slovakia), in an old spa town. Unfortunately over the years the time periods and the power of eruptions are loosing on intensity. The water is surprisingly cold which makes it the only cold gayser in Europe. Back in a days my college had a cabin near buy, so we would come for a “educational” retreat and wait for the right time to see this. It was spectacular. Sometimes it would happen in a middle of a night. The best would be to call beforehand Kosice’s information and find out the exact schedule so you are not disappointed.

This is one place in Slovakia which I never visited. It was always on my list but every time I got closer to it I had to turn back for one reason or another. It’s located far north-east on the border with Poland. The place is know to all Slovaks or Czech as a place where one of the heaviest battles of Europe were fought. More than 46,000 Soviet, Czechoslovak and German soldiers perished. Over 93,000 solders wounded. A large military cemetery in near town of Svidnik contains the graves of over 9,000 Soviet soldiers. As the Germans retreated, they burned what remained of Svidnik.
One of the interesting aspect of this place is that there are planes, tanks, artillery and other military armor placed throughout the fields for several miles as a natural museum.

Great article on the rebirth of Bratislava as a viable tourist destination.

photo by Roland Schlager for The New York Times

:http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/schedules/current/index.cfm?route=sea-bi