I vacationed mainly in Slovakia, leaving 9/1/06 and returning 9/15/06. In addition to hiking in Slovakia, I spent time in Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic visiting the cities of Vienna, Krakow and Prague.
I flew from Cincinnati to Paris to Vienna where we had an afternoon walking tour. We departed the next morning for Slovakia where we first hiked in the Mala Fatra area and then moved to the High Tatras for more hiking. While in Slovakia we took a one day trip to Krakow, Poland. We then flew to Prague where we had a morning talking tour of the city and then had the afternoon on our own. The next day I flew from Prague to New York (JFK) to Cincinnati.
When I was in Switzerland in July I saw a lot of large sunflower fields. The sunflowers were in full bloom - a bright yellow - and were really beautiful. I also saw a fair number of sunflower fields on this trip, too. They didn't look as nice since all the petals had fallen off and things were mostly brown.
I asked our guide about the commercial importance of sunflowers and on getting home did a little web surfing. Oil is the main product of these fields. Sunflower oil is really good for cooking - lots of healthy characteristics. We may be seeing more of this over time.
The first short warm-up hike was down an area known as The Gorge. The hills in the Mala Fatra area are limestone which is softer than granite. So the stream coming down the hillside cut a pretty deep channel. We hiked for about 1.5 hours down the gorge. This took a bit of concentration. First, limestone is more slippery than granite when wet and with the stream, the trail was wet from place to place. Second, there were places where there were chains and metal walkways along the trail which were needed to help you past some tough spots.
The next day on our first full hike we went back to the point where we started hiking down the gorge, turned the other direction and started hiking up it. Up is easier than down when the going is tricky such as in the gorge. But up was also a bit tough. Not only did we have chains and metal walkways like the previous day, we also had metal stairs and steps. And a lot more of the trail contained them.
While we saw other hikers in the Mala Fatra area, when we moved to the High Tatras area, we really saw a lot of hikers. As the itinerary says "... hiking is Slovakia's national sport!". Especially on the weekends I might add. Borek, our guide, was surprised when we commented about just how many hikers there were. We were never very far from other hikers most of the time.
There were huts in the area which served food and drink and were usually the destination of hikers. These were really crowded since all the hikers tended to congregate here. But they were really nice. Each hut had their own type of tea that they sold. This was a great way to rehydrate along the way, with a large cup of herbal tea.
Cat lovers may wish to skip this section.
On our way from the High Tatras to catch our flight to Prague, we visited Spis Castle. This is a large, commanding, partially-restored castle which got its start in the 12th century. On our tour of it we were shown a small opening to the outside which had a small platform and a hole. This was known as the "shit room" for obvious reasons. The guide then asked us if we knew what people of the time used to wipe themselves afterwards. Of course the lower classes used leaves. But the royalty used cats. She didn't mention if it was known what the cats thought about all this.
After posting this I received a great reply from Bruce Anderson concerning this topic.
Now I know why cats have such bad attitudes. Their ancestors were getting the tail end of things.
This trip had some tough hikes earning it a "Strenuous" rating. But unlike a lot of other trips I've done, there was a fair amount of time for tourist type activities. As noted earlier, we spent time in Austria, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic and visited the cities of Vienna, Krakow and Prague. As far as I can tell, this is the first trip I've done where I visited 4 different countries. And all of these countries and cities were places I'd never been before.
Our hiking was only in Slovakia and we did not visit any major city there. We staying in very nice places but they were in small towns, not major cities. The other countries were associated with the major cities we visited, Vienna (Austria), Krakow (Poland) and Prague (Czech Republic).
All of the cities we visited were great - lots of history - elegant and so on. But it's still fun to try to order them as far as my favorite. So allowing that they're all worth visiting, in order starting with my favorite they are Prague, Vienna and Krakow. Other people voted Vienna first instead of Prague. My selection might be based on my personal situation. When I toured Vienna I was jet-lagged and hoping my duffel bag would arrive on the next flight from Paris.
The trip title, "Jill's Lament", refers to Jill Traut, one of our group. She complained about hiking down hill. She complained about hiking up hill. She complained about hiking on the level because it hurt her feet. She complained about a fair number of other things. I think she has a certificate in complaintology. It turns out that Jill's husband, JR, talked her into going on this trip.
But Jill is a good hiker and a very positive contributor to the group and the trip. As she put it, "The time to worry is when I stop complaining."