The city of Banska Stiavinica, an empire mining town, is a world heritage site.  The legend is that a shepherd saw two salamanders, one silver and one gold.  He watched them crawl under a rock and discovered the mother lode.  The town’s symbol is a shovel, pick and two salamanders.  Empress Maria Theresa founded the School of Mines here, it was the first technical university in the world.  The town mostly is in need of restoration.  This actually makes it seem more “real.” Continue reading Banska Stiavinica, Slovakia

In Eastern Slovakia there are three shakers on the table, sometimes labeled “black,” “white” and “red;” salt, pepper and paprika.  This region mixes cultures as well as spices.  The towns were settled by German (Saxon) craftsmen, ruled by Hungarian nobles, administered by Austrian bureaucrats, Slovaks and Ukrainians did the farming and Roma handled the transport.  Kosice, Slovakia’s “Second City,”  is the business center of Eastern Slovakia.   It is also a mix of all of those cultures.  Kosice is a wonderfully restored old city that has a beggar as its mascot.  The “Golden Beggar” sat on the main square for … Continue reading Kosice, Slovakia

When the 20th Century started Bratislava was Pressburg, part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.  It had an ethnically mixed population, German, Hungarian, Jewish and Slovak.  Over the course of the 20th century, through two wars and 3 or four countries, depending … Continue reading Bratislava, Slovakia

We lived in Slovakia for 27 months between 1997 and 1999.  It was a wonderful place to live. Bratislava is small enough to get around on foot if you live in the center.  Traffic was not terrible so we could … Continue reading Slovakia