Dan, the manager of the Ginger Monkey, had been out of town to date. He was back in Prague working on his thesis. He finally rolled in (or rocked up, as the Aussie’s like to say) on Friday evening. I wanted to get out of the village and go see the Spis (pronounced ‘Shpeesh’) Castle and head on to Slovenska Raj (Slovak Paradise) National Park. He thought about how I might do this, logistically, and said ”Yes, OK, we will go tomorrow...” That made the logistics a whole lot easier! So we put a plan together, with Dan driving... First a visit to the walled city of Levocka for a tour of the late Gothic church of St. Jakob. Then on to Slovenska Raj for a 6 hour hike through some of the more interesting parts of the park. Finally a stop at the Spis Castle in the evening before returning back to the hostel.

Dan wanted to treat Leisa, a part timer at the Ginger Monkey, to a little time outside of the hostel as she’d been singlehandedly manning the place in Dan’s absence. Lisa, Jordan and I squeezed on in the back. Lisa, a recent grad from St. Bonaventure University in upstate New York (Dad, do you want to talk a little trash), is spending a year or so in Central Europe teaching English. Jordan is a super enthusiastic young Aussie who was up for some adventure... any adventure... when he found out about the road trip, he wanted in. I dare say he may have had as much energy as Wally, the hostel dog (see previous post).

We set out at 9:00, five of us loaded in the car and took off for destinations south. We stopped briefly in Levocka for a tour of the Gothic Church of St. Jakob’s. Dating back to the 14th century, the church features soaring arches, precious art and rare furnishings. A beautiful place, but we had an agenda to keep! Back in the car and off to Slovenska Raj. It was a little late in the season for the Raj, but we were blessed with some beautiful weather. The park features trails that cling to rock walls along the side’s of rivers, ladders that climb up through waterfalls, and bridge’s traversing deep gorges. It was amazing! We climbed, descended, scrambled, sloshed and scratched our way over the varied terrain. The last ascent up the Klastorska Gorge was a highlight, following near vertical ladders hundreds of feet up the sides of waterfalls... surely this kind of place wouldn’t... couldn’t exist in the States... We topped off at the last gorge as the sun went down, and led by the glow of cel phones, followed the trail markers back in the dark. We capped the hike off with a big beer and some haluska (sheep’s cheese dumplings) at the restaurant at the trailhead in Cingov.

By now it was getting on 9:00, so we got back in the car and headed for Spis Caslte. The castle is a UNESCO World heritage site, a pretty big deal, so we figured it would be well lit and visible for miles... We were wrong. It;s like the place was owned by a local peasant... no lights, nothing. We drove to the parking lot and walked up the drive in the dark. As we approached the gate, a dog started barking. In the dark a saw the silhouette of the largest german shepherd head I had ever seen. The all of a sudden, the dog took off. It was behind a gate, but it ran off in parallel direction... i wasn’t sure if there was an open doorway somewhere, but I wasn’t waiting to find out... I took off running, followed closely by the others. I didn’t need to be the fastest, i just didn’t want to be the slowest... It all worked out though, and we all lived.

Dan, Jordan and I finished the night off at the local bar in Zdiar, with a few beers and shot of slivovicia... what a day!

For a more detailed account of the day’s fun, see journalist Lisa Malmgren’s update here:

http://incurablystircrazy.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/late-season-surprise-at-slovensky- raj/