Thu 12.Aug.2010
Poprad, Slovakia
Up on the Hill Where They Do the Boogie.
My digs are walking distance from a real pleasant neighborhood (suburb?) called Spišska Sobota - Spiš Satuday!
There is also a Spiš Wednesday, but that is an unrelated town some distance away in a different valley.
Spiš is a region stretching from here to the east that was settled by
Saxons some centuries ago. Has its own regional identity, architectural traits (e.g. wooden gables on the roofs) etc.
Anyway, Spiš Saturday has a small square and a large cluster of nice
looking family-operated pensions. If you are ever here on a real middle
class travel budget, it is a great place to look for accomodations.
Me, I found a nice lunch cum wi-fi there, and a nice waitress who got tired of my linguistic bungling and asked Can you speak English?. It did make things easier.
Back in the heart of town
A pedestrian underpass. See those two smooth ramps on the stairs.? They
are for both bicyclists and baby carriages. Cyclists use either track to
push their cycle up (or down) while they use the stairs for footing. And the two
tracks have just the right separation for a baby carriage. Ingenious.
Every pedestrian underpass I've seen in Slovakia has these, not just here in Poprad
-Trenčin as well. I suppose Bratislava too if I had been looking.
There was a free folkloric dance performance last evening on a
temporary stage in the main square. All sorts of people gathered to
watch, and a fine time was had by all.
The stage was in shadow, the audience in sunlight. It made no matter
live, but made photos of the performance all but impossible.
So enjoy watching the audience.
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf