Slovakia - Castle Walls and Waterfalls

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have shared much of their history in the last century but they remain distinct identities. The more mountainous terrain of Slovakia led to an historically pastoral lifestyle while Czech Republic was, and still is agricultural. This distinction is small but it still shows. When driving through Slovakia I noticed many small shops and stands selling "ovci syr" (sheep cheese). Sheep cheese is not uncommon in the Czech republic but I have only seen it in the store. Meanwhile in the alcoholic beverage department the Czechs have the edge in beer while Slovaks favor wine. However, both of them create a throat-burning fruit based alcohol called slivovice (sleeve-o-veets-eh).

This past weekend Tom and I took some time to explore these cultural differences. First, the hills! Tom had knee surgery mid-December so he has been itching to get out. Slovakia gave us the chance to stretch our legs a bit as we hiked the four kilometers to Kl'acký Vodopád (Kl'acký Waterfall).  

Testing his knee on a wet mossy log over a creek. We looked for a potentially less hazardous way but couldn't find a place where we could guarantee dry feet. I had my waterproof boots but Tom was in normal shoes.

Yay hiking!

One of the coolest parts of the whole weekend was finding bear prints in the snow! Tom and I saw plenty of scat this summer in the North Cascades but prints were a first!

There were fox prints too!

Kl'acký Vodopád. Pretty small right now in the middle of winter. Though this has been a mild winter so perhaps it is bigger than normal. 

Slovakia is quite a pretty country. 

We got back to the car refreshed and ready for a day of further adventuring! Next stop was Strečno Castle. Slovakia is covered in castles. Some are little more than artistic piles of rubble while others look like something fresh out of a fairytale. Strečno is somewhere in between though it favors the rubble classification by a few notches. Most of its walls are still visible and the main building/tower is whole but its last major renovation was in 1689. 

Turns out the castle only officially takes visitors from April through October but a little fence doesn't deter us. It isn't trespassing if you stay outside the fence right?

Or if you enter the property because there is a break in the fence between some buildings?

Well, we got in but this is a touristy peasant village thing with the castle still looming above us. So, we went back around the fence and off in to the woods. 

Many thanks to the local Slovaks and intrepid tourists before us for creating paths up to the castle. 

It was great to explore the castle grounds but I have to say the view was the best part. We spent quite a bit of time on the castle bluff taking pictures of the medieval building behind us and the beautiful town below us. 

I have many more thoughts to share on Slovakia and pictures of the sights we saw but I think this is a good start.