Two Weekends Ago: Lubina u Frantov

14 June, 2006. 1.15pm. Trnava, Slovakia

Jana and her cousin in the Biely Karpaty mountains.

Remains of Cachtice Castle, near Nove Mesto nad Vahom.

Two weekends ago I visited my friend and old student (from Modra), Jana P., in beautiful Lubina u Frantov. This small village is located in western Slovakia, north of Trnava and just south of Trencin, nearing the border with the Czech Republic in the Biely Karpaty mountains. The scenery here is quite breathtaking. While the High Tatras are beautiful, I would much sooner return to the Biely Karpaty--here there are practically no tourists or big hotels (and big prices).

I arrived, by train, in Nove Mesto nad Vahom at about 4pm. Jana greeted me at the train station with her parents and we proceeded to visit the nearby ruins of Cachtice castle. This castle was home to the storied "Blood Countess," Alžbeta Báthory. See:
http://slovakheritage.org/Castles/cachtice.htm
After an hour or so, hiking around the ruins and taking some pictures, we proceeded to anothter nearby castle ruin, Beckov. Slovakia is dotted with literally hundreds of castle ruins and reconstructions. It is my quest to one day visit all of these castles, especially the ruins, which I find most interesting.

On Saturday Jana and I hiked through the hills a little with her cousin, and in the afternoon we went on a very nice bike ride. I quite simply fell in love with the region of Slovakia.

At the train station in Nove Mesto nad Vahom, just before my departure, we were approached by a young Australian traveller (who heard us speaking English). Turns out, Melissa (the Australian) was in Slovakia for only a day doing some family research and filming a documentary. I said good-bye to Jana and travelled with Melissa on the train. On the way I convinced her to stay in Trnava for the evening so as to get a better perspective on Slovakia. She agreed, and we met my friends Silvia and Zuzi for bryndzove (sheep cheese) pizza (mmm, my favourite!) in the centre of town. Melissa's visit was an unexpected surprise, but it was fun to show another foreigner around Trnava...