eastern slovakia

as almost every year at all hollows time, i visit the family (dead and alive) in eastern slovakia. einsiedel an der göllnitz (mnisek nad hnilcom) and kaschau (kosice) are the usual stops out there.

the life in the villages in eastern slovakia is much, much different than in germany ... and yes, there is always something to explore for me. this time was the most exciting experience to help to prepare the wood for the (next) winter.

enjoy few more pictures😄

our work is finished => let's drink a beer in the local pub 😇

of course it's cheap here when the most young people leave the region in the order to find jobs in bigger slovakian cities or abroad ...

carpathian mountains [part slovenske rudohorie (slovak ore mountains)]

cemetery in einsiedel ('totengarten' as the locals say)

R.I.P dear grandparents

the hymn of the (carpathian) germans in slovakia

we wish you all the best, dear mother

göllnitz - gelnica

my former home, kaschau - kosice - cassovia 

castle krasna horka

small carpatians (male karpaty) massif near smolenice, western slovakia

karpatenblatt = the monthly journal of the german minority in slovakia

btw, einsiedel is an interesting example how can the culture and demographics change over time. the village was created by german settlers in 1230. that was the time after the mongols / tatars killed that many people in eastern europe that the local kings / rulers invited germans into today's slovakia, czech republic, romania, ....
einsiedel stayed german till WWII with more than 95% of population still german. the remaining inhabitants were slovaks, hungarians, gypsies and jews. after WWII were many germans forced to leave their native region and the village was inhabited mostly by slovaks and germans. after the fall of the socialist system and missing job opportunities in the region left the most (especially young) slovaks and germans the village and today einsiedel become a mostly gypsy village .... hmmmm, i'm curious if the face of western europe will also change that significantly in my lifetime. who knows?

more pictures here

eof

slovakia 2017

i have been many times in slovakia this year, you know? well, my mother is ill and this time i took care of her for one week. why? because my youngest brother and his wife, who take care of her all year, were 2 weeks on holidays in turkey ...

liptovska tepla

we have had many stops this time:

• bratislava ~ my brothers place. the funny stuff was that when i came the 
• dubnica ~ we met my cousin vierka for a lunch
• ruzomberok (rosenberg)
• lucky / kalemeny / liptovska tepla ~ i took a bath and filled up all bottles i had in the local thermal and healing spring in kalameny. let's hope it helped a lot ...
• einsiedel (mnisek nad hnilcom) - my mothers birth place and her sister's house was our 'base camp'. yes, we have met relatives, walked a lot in the village, cemetery, i met all my friends in the village pub (and wifi hotspot) each night ...
• spitzenberg mountain (703 m) ~ i've managed to climb up the spiky landmark for the very first time. i went alone as my mother have been up there in august during the yearly spitzenberg tour with music and goulash and she prefered to stay with her elder sister ....  i have seen many, many mushrooms and a deer in the forest. the mushrooms were much more photogenic than mr. deer
• schmöllnitz (smolnik) ~ my cousin renate lives here and we have visited the orthodox catholic church built by the victims of the chernobyl nuclear catastrophy (ukraine) who were moved to eastern slovakia
• lake uhorna ~ the ice cold artificial lake built by the mining industry some 200 - 300 years ago. anyway, i swum three times there. my dears, we have had end of september ... and water temperature about 13-14 degrees celsius. of course, we have also walked with my mother around the lake + drunk some tee / coffee or had lunch in the nearby restaurant.
• göllnitz (gelnica) ~ in the center of the göllnitz valley we have visited the eldest sister of my mother and an aunt of mine
• kaschau (kassa, cassovia, kosice) ~ my birth city and a place where we visited a doctor with my mother this time and of course my father, who still lives in kosice 
• bratislava again
• melk abbey in austria ~ we enjoyed to take a break from driving in this beautiful benedictine monastery 
• anger (bavaria) ~ small but nice

bridge SNP over the river danube in bratislava

my mother loves to go out in order to drink a coffee and to eat some cake - an easy to provide joy :o)

bratislava castle

ruzomberok (rosenberg)

thermal and healing spring in kalameny

countryside in liptov area of north slovakia

einsiedel (mnisek nad hnilcom) below the spitzenberg mountain was our final destination

inside the catholic church

watch out, spitzenberg - i'm coming up :-)

einsiedel as seen from the cross at the top of the spitzenberg mountain

deer goulash with family 

orthodox church built by ukrainian tschernobyl victims in schmöllnitz (smolnik)

lake uhorna

the block where i spent my childhood in kaschau (kosice). 

good-bye, dear mother ... i think i see you again soon

kosice / kassa /  cassovia / kaschau

R.I.P dear grandparents, uncle, aunts

more pictures here

eof 

slovakia SK

all saint & more in slovakia ~ i visited relatives in september, november + december and thus travelled a lot over slovakia :-)

there are many things different than in germany, but the most impressive difference for me is the huge amount of hills, forests, nature as it used to be ... unfortunately, in germany we live much more close to each other ...

stupava:

 stupava, castle

 stupava, church

bratislava, the capitol of SK, there are for decades ecological electric buses out there

palffy castle smolenice

the rome of slovakia ~ trnava

mnisek nad hnilcom (einsiedel) ~ my parents' birth village

typical old houses in the village einsiedel

smolnik (schmöllnitz)

 a ukrainian church build by the tchernobyl victims which settled in slovakia after the nuclear explosion

  kosice (kaschau), my birth city

 the first roman-katholic dome west of vladivostok (i've heard that it is true :). wanna see the distance at google? let's try THIS :o))

 dubnica

chateau mignon, dubnica

more pictures here 😄