Eastern Slovakia announced itself in a very special way: The place-name signs were now bilingual. Slovak and Russian. Which probably goes in the direction of Ukrainian/Russian, i.e. with Cyrillic letters.
Gerd rolled his eyes, as he had already had the problem with these characters two years ago in Bulgaria. But: after 5 weeks in Bulgaria, he had quite well on it! But here we realised that we (meaning me with him) had to start all over again.
The approach to Poloniny National Park turned out to be a beautiful, mountainous drive through an almost deserted area. The villages became smaller and smaller, we hardly saw any people and the distances between the villages could sometimes be many kilometres. The roads? Wonderful, winding, almost always well paved and narrow. Past reservoirs, through many deep forests and over a hilly mountain landscape. As far as I was concerned, it could have gone on forever.
When we arrived in the border triangle of Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine in the Poloniny National Park, we were alone at the only campsite in Nová Sedlica. All alone. In the evening, another camper joined us and we had a wonderful conversation.
Our smartphone was constantly switching back and forth between the Slovakian and Ukrainian mobile networks and we felt a bit "very far away"!
Poloniny National Park, the easternmost national park in Slovakia, is home to beautiful, original beech and fir forests. Particularly impressive are the primeval forests of Stužica, Rožok and Havešová, which were recognised as natural monuments by UNESCO in 2007.
About 80 % of the national park consists of forest landscapes. The gently rolling ridges and humid valleys are characteristic. Rugged rocky peaks can also be seen in some places. The special features of this park are the extensive, untouched beech and fir forests and the large number of rare and endangered plants and animals.
Large predators such as brown bears, wolves, lynxes and wild cats also live here. Especially here: Poloniny National Park is the only place in Slovakia where bison can be found in the wild.
But to be honest, we are glad that we only saw birds and many deer. We would have liked to see a bear, but here, so far away from everything, we could well do without.
We roamed through really primeval forests. Unfortunately, the hiking trails, well, let's just call them trails, were so muddy that we kept slipping. The rivers were shallow enough to wade through and the hollow paths simply a feast for the eyes. Deer in the fields again and again, the many birds and the chirping suggested an intact nature.
The days here felt as if we were in a completely enraptured world. We would have loved to stay longer than just a weekend. But somewhere in the back of our minds there is a schedule we want to keep. Our daughter is getting married and we would like to be with her in Berlin on time. So we fill our Felix with fresh spring water once more and head back.
But also on the southern Slovakia route we will certainly find some beautiful places to visit, hike or tour. For sure!
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
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