So, I’m back from my journey for a short while now and it truly was amazing. Slovakia is a small but very diverse country where you can enjoy the urban lifestyle in Bratislava and other towns while enjoying a beer at a nice terrace overlooking the old town or you can go clubbing with some fellow travellers. You can also visit small mountain villages with only a few dozen inhabitans where life is hard and traditional. And off course you can go into the wild in the Slovenska raj (National Park) or the Low and High Tatras mountains. You’ll be sure to find some beautiful forrests, lakes and waterfalls close to and on the slopes of the mountains there. Watch eagles fly overhead looking out for prey and just enjoy the remoteness of it all. And take your time.

The interesting thing about Slovakia for me personally was that, even though they are part of the EU now, you can still see alot of statues and buildings proudly rising up in the air from communist times. In fact, have a look at this brochure I got in Bratislava. Strange way of getting tourists, using communism as a sarcasm joke if you ask me (will upload this picture later)

Anyway, during my travels throughout Slovakia with my good friend Vincent we came across alot of interesting places and people. Beacuse images tell more than words, I’ll let my pictures do the talking. Feel free to comment. If you are interested in going to Slovakia as well, you can always ask for tips and I’ll answer from my own experience and hope it will be useful to you.

Best regards,

jr

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Everyone who knows me, even when it’s just a little, knows I’m a true travel junkey. Last year I travelled mostly alone throughout ‘Turkey and beyond’ after I finished the Cinema & Television semesters at the Anadolu University in Eskisehir.

But this year, I’ll be travelling with one of my best friends again: Vincent Tuntelder. We’ll be heading to Slovakia this year. Vincent and I have known each other since we were in fourth grade, and we’ve allready travelled to Slovenia and Bulgaria together.

Our plane leaves from Dusseldorf (Weeze airport) to Bratislava on the 21st of july and we’ll be traveling till the 4th of august throughout Slovakia.

What we’re going to do exactly is not quite sure yet (it never is, really!), but we’ll definitly travel throughout the country, visiting several villages and mountainess areas such as the higher Tatras. We’ll probably climb and/or hike there for a while and maybe even spend a few nights under the shiny stars in the mountains of the higher tatras. I love climbing and hiking and spending nights in ‘the wild’. Vincent loves caves, so probably we’ll visit some of those as well

Personally I love the people you get to know along the way. Especially the smaller villages where things still go on in a more – traditional way intrege me. Where people still know what it is to ‘live for life’, instead or prosparity and money and a good career.

Also nice to know, we basicly never book a hotel or something else when we leave. When we land, we’ll figure something out along the way to the center. It always works out fine in the end (although in Bulgaria we were awake for about 35 hours or so looking for a place to sleep). Sometimes we get invited into someones house, sometimes we sleep in a hostel or a hotel.

When you travel like this, you get to know a country more the way it really is. Also guarantees better (more honest) pictures, if you ask me!

After the 4th of july, Vincent will fly back home because he has to go back for his work and arrange some stuf for his upcoming school semester. I will stay a bit longer and fly home on the 13th of august. On the 4th of august I will travel to Budapest and meet my Hungarian ‘dostum’ (Turkish for close friend) Denes Tozser there.

I met Denes during my study in Turkey, and we became really good fiends in a short time. After a few days in Budapest we’ll head for Vienna (his favourite city) together and after that we’ll probably enter Poland to visit Agnieszka – I love her name – Kuczkowska.  Agnieszka (Aga) also studied in Turkey and Aga, Denes and me were always hanging out during our time there.

Earlier in 2009 I allready payed Aga a visit in Poznan, Poland with two Dutch girls Baukje Hoffman and Willeke Dijkstra and an American girl Sydney Willson. They all studied in Turkey as well, and I think that’s what makes studying/living/partying/traveling/working abroad so interesting: you get to know so many interesting people and spend time with them, even when your study or internship abroad has allready ended. You stay in touch and you visit each other when you can. That way, your ‘Erasmus expierence’ will never truly end.

When I return from what will probably be another crazy journey, I will upload the photos onto my journal here, as well as on my Facebook. So stay tuned for updates

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