Mining Towns

Another start to the day making sandwiches at the breakfast buffet and jamming them into a bag for lunch later! It's a busy day ahead of us once more.

First stop, the final UNESCO wooden church of the trip, this time a protestant one. A beauty of a church if ever, they're really quite something else in Slovakia.
Second stop, the urban conglomerate of Banska Bystriaca, a mess of a city, speared by highways, but home to another very beautiful central square. It was buzzing, though not as much as Kosice. We bought a couple peaches at the local market, that was good, everything is so cheap here.
Third stop, the final cave of the trip, the Harmanecka cavern system. Another excellent choice, because while the caves were more standard in terms of formations, they were colored pure white from the silica content. Some of the walls were composed of moonmilk, basically rock with a 40-80% water content. The most impressive was the 28m high dome, absolutely covered in curtains and rock formations, resembling a sea of jellyfish, or a fairytale forest of mushrooms. It was awe-inspiring.

After that, we headed back the way we came and down to a mountain town called Sklene Teplice, by far the nicest spa village so far. It's not as depressing as the other ones, rather its got a more laidback and contemporary atmosphere, simply because the people and the buildings aren't all crumbling! Harsh jokes aside, the place is simply more pleasant and some of the sources even come out onto the river, sending steam into the air. The ducks seem to like hanging around it in the mornings when its chilly.

This photo is from Banska Stiavnica, probably the most beautiful town so far. It reminded me of the Brazilian mining towns of Ouro Preto, which is funny as Banska was also a mining town. Who knew you could achieve such a similar vibe halfway across the world? We had dinner in the town after watching the sun go down over the hills. Tomorrow, we go back to familiar places.

peace