Friday morning 5 o’clock, my alarm goes off. It’s early, but I needed to be ready for the big trip: Tour de Slovakia! At 6 o’clock all the 46 Erasmus students were waiting at the bus. Some of them still sleepy, others were already quite active.
By noon we arrived in Stanišovska, here were some of the oldest and largest caves of Europe. Most of the caves were closed for public, except for one. It was a small cave of only 200 metres long, but it was nice. After the caves we had a typical Slovak lunch. As you can see on the picture, it was soup in a loaf of bread! And then we still had our main dish. Oh it was so delicious but too much.
After this we went to Štrbské Pleso, a large glacial mountain lake, which is a favourite ski, tourist and health resort in the High Tatras. One of the first things we did when we got out of the bus was… You can guess it. Play with the snow and have a snowball fight. While the most people of our group walked around the lake, some ‘brave’ French guys decided to cross the lake. Luckily for them the ice was thick enough.
The next day was an exhausting day. We walked (and climbed) through one of the most beautiful forests of Slovakia. We’ve seen really fancy waterfalls and awesome viewpoints. Some of us were more prepared for the hiking than other people. First lesson: never wear shoes without any grip if you go hiking, second lesson: coats are useless in these forests and my third and final lesson: have as much fun as you can while hiking! After three hours of hiking we finally arrived on the top of the mountain. Here we had a bit of time to drink something or write your names in the snow.
In the early evening we were rewarded with some relaxation at the Slovak thermal springs. When we first entered the water, it was already clear. We just would sit in here and don’t move for another two hours. Luckily this wasn’t complete the reality. The water had a nice temperature of 28 degrees in the first pool. I think the water in the second pool was a bit warmer but it also had a strong smell of iron. It was also my first time relaxing in a thermal spring and I do like it. It feels much different than swimming in other pools.
When we arrived again in our cottage we didn’t have that much energy left for a party like the day before. Thus we decided to have a small karaoke party for our Cottage #12.
Sunday, our last day of tour de Slovakia started slowly. I was still tired of the day before. Luckily our planning for this day was relaxing. We went to the Spiš Castle. One of the largest castle sites in Central Europe. It’s situated above a hill near the town of Spišské Podhradie. Again climbing. But it was worth it. The castle site was not that interesting but ‘The Tower Party’ was really nice. I think it was the ‘highest’ party I’ve ever been to.
