December 11, 2013
Just a few hours in Slovakia: Again
It was dark when I crossed the border from Hungary into Slovakia. There were villages on either side, separated by a couple of kilometres of road which had no traffic at all on it. The Hungarian village had been well lit and lovely and I had stopped to buy two apples with the last of my Hungarian money and the woman who sold me them had been really friendly. I was sad to be leaving. Then I cycled the two kilometres into Slovakia and I was in a very different place. The first street was not lit at all, it was completely dark and two figures came towards me. They were teenagers, one on a bike and one walking next to him and they were saying something to me through the darkness. Of course I couldn't understand them and in the circumstances I considered it wise not to stop and so I rudely rode on and ignored them. The whole village was very dark and the road in very bad condition. There was only one car in the whole place, parked at the side of the street and I already felt like I was in a much poorer country. I rode on into the countryside looking for a place to camp but there was not a tree in sight and it was five kilometres before I found a ruined old building to camp behind.
The next morning I continued through a most beautiful landscape. Prarie fields of yellow grasses surrounded by misty mountains made me feel like I was in the wild west. It was wonderful. This picture shows an amazing rock formation that reminded me of Thumb Butte outside Prescott, Arizona.
As I travelled I passed through many small villages and it was obvious that this was a very poor part of Europe, probably the poorest that I have been to. The road was bad and the buildings were crumbling with flaking paint. There were almost no cars to be seen even on driveways, but lots of people on foot or bicycle. For all that, it felt like paradise to me! Still, many of the houses had satellite dishes and I figured they must have TV and internet, and enough to eat and to drink, and they have each other, and what more do they need, something a little better, what else is there exactly, and what are they hoping for from this world, what are we all hoping for from this world? These were my growing thoughts as I continued through the prarie villages.
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I had a choice to make about my route to Kosice. I could either stay in Slovakia and take the main road, or I could go east and actually back into Hungary where I could see that there was a road going the right way through a National Park. This second choice would usually be a no brainer, but I guessed the National Park would be mountainous and I had no idea how high the road would go, whether there would be ice and snow, or even if the road would be open. It was a risk, but I still preferred it. So after another brief visit to Slovakia, I was once again, somewhat reluctantly, leaving.
Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 10,737 km (6,668 miles)
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