This weekend we trucked it up to Raznava, Slovakia, an Adorable little post-communist village, and the drive through the country side and mountains was amazingly beautiful.
Raznava is in the part of Slovekia which used to be Hungarian, so most of the people still speak Hungarian. I did learn, however, that if you get caught by the police, you could get a big fine. Hungary used to be much bigger, and after they drew the new borders after WWI, Hungary shrank, but Slovekia got bigger...with Hungary's land. We saw the Krásna Horka Castle which used to house the Hungarian King, and has all this Hungarian History. Slovekians, apparently, changed the Hungarian History (names, etc) to make themseleves look better! They are still pretty bitter about their whole history, and they want to make Slovekia seem strong, so they don't want people speaking Hungarian there! Rediculous, isn't it?? The gypsy problem is still pretty bad in Slovekia as well.
The Krásna Horka Castle was one of the coolest castles I've ever seen. It's high on a mountain overlooking the small villages below. It's got tons of cannons surrounding it, and we got to go on a tour of the interior. We saw where they played music, drank tea, s
lept, ate, prayed, read, etc. We even saw some of the clothes royalty wore! As you could guess, the view from the castle was breathtaking! There was even a mummified Princess. She died in 1703 and was naturally mummified by the room she was kept in....they didn't find her until 1811, and she's still there today behind a glass case! Another interesting thing was that the chairs in the dining room were all different levels...to meet the height needs of each individual person at the table! It was proper for everyone's heads to be at exactly the right height...but imagine the effort that took---the epitome of fancy. We also got to see full suits of armor, and really old weapons that were actually used during the Turk invasion. 
lept, ate, prayed, read, etc. We even saw some of the clothes royalty wore! As you could guess, the view from the castle was breathtaking! There was even a mummified Princess. She died in 1703 and was naturally mummified by the room she was kept in....they didn't find her until 1811, and she's still there today behind a glass case! Another interesting thing was that the chairs in the dining room were all different levels...to meet the height needs of each individual person at the table! It was proper for everyone's heads to be at exactly the right height...but imagine the effort that took---the epitome of fancy. We also got to see full suits of armor, and really old weapons that were actually used during the Turk invasion. 
We stayed in this cute little Pension, which is kind of like a m
otel/hostel. For 10 Euros a person, we had a (very clean) room with a double bed and a nice private bathroom (with great water pressure! -- For my traveling friends ;) ) Pensions are very common around Eastern Europe, they are like family owned little motels, and the family lives right on the property. There is also a common kitchen you can share with other guests. Honestly, this was great from my opinion....if we paid 10 Euros a night, you were sharing a room with 10 other people you didn't know for a bunk and common bathroom facilities!! I thought we were so lucky to find it, but I think they are more common than I think around this part of Europe.
otel/hostel. For 10 Euros a person, we had a (very clean) room with a double bed and a nice private bathroom (with great water pressure! -- For my traveling friends ;) ) Pensions are very common around Eastern Europe, they are like family owned little motels, and the family lives right on the property. There is also a common kitchen you can share with other guests. Honestly, this was great from my opinion....if we paid 10 Euros a night, you were sharing a room with 10 other people you didn't know for a bunk and common bathroom facilities!! I thought we were so lucky to find it, but I think they are more common than I think around this part of Europe.Down the street from our pension, there was an adorable little pub...with 50 Eurocent Beers on tap! The had Legit Budweiser (From Czech Republic) there....and it was delicious and much needed after a long day of exploring! (Budweiser Budvar is Czech....Anheuser Busch is American...read up on it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser)
Communist Side View of Roznava
Cute Little Old Town View of RoznavaIn Roznava, there is a watchtower that we got to climb (the tourist office literally gave us the key to open the door ourselves to climb it--we had to laugh at that). The tower is in t
he center of the square and offers an amazing view of the small village. A guard used to sit at the top and keep an eye out for invasions during more difficult times. The view is gorgeous...of the old town. From the other side of the tower, (shown above) you can see all the yucky communist architechture that got built up during the Russian's reign over this village....Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of this in Eastern Europe. You climb something tall, one side is a great view of all the amazing architecture and interesting colors, and on the other side is grey, square, tall buildings!Anyway, it was a great weekend! We were supposed to go hiking today in Slovekia, but the weather wasn't cooperating! I was really excited to go explore the forest and natural wonders in a different country, but it was raining, so our plans fell through....Next time!
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