Pa en ma bezwijken onder de hitte in Martin


We drove away from the incredible heath that tortured us in the Czech Republic, only to find out that it was not only worse in Slovakia, but the people also lead a non-tree-policy. On every campsite we came, there were only one or two bushes, with as many tents or caravans gathered around it as possible, just to have a little shade... Slovakians are cruel people.
It was on a Friday evening when we crossed the border and of course we had no Slovakian money, it couldn't be bought outside the country. The campsite owner demanded his money on beforehand and he told us we could change it in a bank in a nearby town. What a town ! There was absolutely no center whatsoever, only one way streets. By accident we found a bank. It was on the second floor of a grey building and I'm sure it was the first time this guy saw a Belgian. He was very sceptical about our money and he let a book appear. Apparently he was only supposed to accept the banknotes that he could find in this book. For Belgium that were only notes that were out of circulation for about 25 years ! Fortunately we had some Austrian money that he was allowed to accept ! The campsite was a miracle. It was a miracle that there were so many tourists. That day, we had driven a few hundred kilometers and we wanted to be at ease that evening, have a shower and go to the restaurant.

 The showers were made in wooden barracks without windows. OK, you put out your clothes and stepped under the shower. I pulled the chain and ... the light went out... There was water and light, but not on the same time. Now I know why that was : so you coudn't worry about your clothes getting wet while washing yourself. The restaurant looked like a Swiss chalet. Everything was made of wood and it looked very nice. It had a good reputation, because we had to wait a little until there was a free table. Finally we could sit down and order our food. And when our dishes were brought, we realized the restaurant had not only a good reputation among tourists, but also among flies. Really, I swear, there were hundreds and hundreds of flies and after a brief look at the windows we understood why : fly screens were not invented yet over there....
The next day, we wanted to do an open air-museum. Usually that's some typical old houses from all over the country rebuilt in a nice environment. This one had an entrance in the woods. Our expectations were high. They asked for a fee if you wanted to take pictures, which we gladly payed. From the entrance it was about 10 yards walking to the actual museum. What it was, was just a meadow with eleven houses built in a circle. Only one (the pub) was accessable and they served coffee, beer and water (all having the same temperature as the dry hot air outside). You can admire the result of this on the picture above.
We soon realized there were not many touristic attractions. Soviet-like towns are interesting to see, but not very attractive. There was a folk/nature-museum in the town and we thought it would be very interesting to learn about the time when these aspects were still present in this country. Sigh... the building was shabbily but we have seen splendid pictures, clothes, furniture, everything accompanied with some explanation... in SLOVAKIAN ! A quite incomprehensible language, believe me. The last evening we also went to a restaurant. It was very adventurous, because we ordered 4 meals (the same) but we each got something else. You could not find out if you had meat or not, let alone that you could taste what kind of meat it was. Yet it wasn't such a bad experience, since every single one of us survived !