Slovakia: Presov and Bardejov

We took our time getting going for the day, starting with breakfast in the flat, then more food in a cafe that said it had the best pie in town. (If this was the best pie in town then I do not have high hopes for the rest of the city.)

By the time we got to the train station we realized we wouldn't get any further than Presov for the day. Oh well.

The train ended up stopping at one station and all the guests asked to get off. We didn't know what was going on, but when everyone else got off the train, we figured we should just follow along. Then we all hopped on a bus, which took us a bit further. Then we all hopped onto an old school train that took us the last bit.
The rides were very scenic, I loved the fields with bright yellow flowers. Gorgeous.

We figured out how to get from the train station up to the main street, passing a lovely wall mural along the way. Before leaving the station we made sure to check what time to catch trains back to Kosice.

We followed the main street in the direction of the city center square, with a walk down a side street to an Orthodox church. This church was surrounded by a locked fence, we didn't see a way in.

The main street took us to the city center square, stopping at St John the Baptist church. This one was very tall, on the skinny street. Inside the decor was nice, not overwhelming. I think it was a Greek Catholic church.

In the middle of the old town square was a church, and on one side of the church was a small landscaped park area. In the middle of this park area was a square column dedicated as a WW2 memorial. It was surrounded by colourful flowers, very pretty.

When I talk about an old town square I should point out that this one is like that of Kosice, in that it is a squashed oval rather than a square.

We went into the church in the middle of the platz, it seemed like the one place we shouldn't miss. I expected more than I got. The outside of the church was big, and not as impressive as many churches I've seen in Europe. The inside also felt really big, and not as decorate as it could've been. Most of the decoration was near the front, with a lovely, big, organ up high on the back wall. Since the church was made of stone, it was rather chilly.

Near the church was a small chocolate shop; somehow I managed to exercise some willpower and didn't buy anything. Also near the church was a small souvenir shop, where I found postcards and a magnet. I saw one postcard with a picture of a church that I hadn't seen on a travel app, so I asked the lady where it was in town. She showed me on a city map, yay!

Our next stop was a pizza place for 1 euro slices for lunch. Cheap, adequate. We could've eaten more, but didn't want to sit around for long. Since we'd gotten such a late start to the day we had only about four hours to explore the city.

We managed to find the Orthodox synagogue and realized we'd arrived too late to visit. I don't know if it is an active synagogue anymore, but the museum on the property is only open for limited hours. 1100-1500 a few days a week. Darnit. Even if we'd gotten going earlier in the day, we would not have been able to visit the synagogue museum and make it to another city. The timing of everything didn't work out. Argh.

A bit more wandering took us to a big fountain with another memorial. This one looked like a typical big Soviet memorial, but I don't really know. Behind this memorial was a big, boring, official state looking building. Who knows.

At that point we looked at our watches, and realized how much time we had left before getting back to the train station. I asked Bo if he was interested in walking to Kalvaria, the random place I'd seen in the photo in the souvenir shop. He said yes, so we started walking in that direction.

It took us longer to get there than we expected, but it was worth it. Kalvaria is a monastery/convent, on a small hill. To get to the top of the hill we walked on a path that took us past the stations of the cross, very pretty. At the top there is a small chapel, with a view over the entire city. The view wasn't stunning, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I have no idea why this isn't listed on a travel app.

We made our way back down, and went in the direction that would take us back to the train station. Along the way we discovered an old, outdoor, concrete velodrome. Awesome!! We saw people riding on the track in the middle, and wondered when the banked part of the track was last used for an official race/competition.

When we entered the velodrome area, we didn't realize that the gate we used wasn't always open. When we tried to exit, the gate was locked.

Ooops. It was an adventure to figure out how to get back to the street! Good times.

The train that took us back to Kosice was the same train the whole way. We didn't have to switch to a bus or another train, phew.

The next morning we check out of the flat by leaving the key in a potted plant. (Since we left at 0745, and didn't want to wake the landlord, we'd arranged this the night before.)

We dropped our bags at a luggage storage room in the train station. So cheap, and convenient. I wish that sort of thing was available around the world.

We caught another train to Presov, again with switching to a bus then back to a train. I was really glad we'd realized this would happen the day before, as taking a later train from Kosice would've caused us to miss our connection in Presov.

We made our connection in Presov, the train took us to Bardejov. Bardejov is a small town, with a Unesco designated city center.

It wasn't difficult to figure out where to go from the train station to get to the city center of Bardejov. We walked a couple blocks down the street, and almost immediately saw the old city walls.

The area we entered had a couple of the old bastions, they were labeled and named. The labeling included information about the history of the walls and the bastions. I took photos of the plaques, and figured I would read and learn later.

We took a couple small streets and wound our way to the old town square. Yet another old city square that isn't actually a square. One end was rather pointy, not squared off. This platz was REALLY photogenic.

I took my photos, then we followed a couple more side streets to churches. The churches weren't open, but the exteriors were photogenic as well. I got the impression that many tourists don't leave the old town square, as the town was really quiet. There weren't many people on the streets.

We went back to the platz, I found a shop with postcards and magnets. With that chore out of the way, we decided to visit the church.

Since Bardejov is Unesco designated, there was an entrance fee for the church. Argh. I opted not to pay the fee for photos when we entered, but ended up paying as we walked out after I decided to take a few photos. There was an additional fee to climb the bell tower, we paid to do that as well. Why not?

The church was similar to that in Presov, but there was more decoration and colour. Plus, the pews had some carving on the ends, which I really liked. This was another church with a large organ on the back wall.

It took us a while to find the stairs to the bell tower, as they were located behind a closed door. There was no sign for these stairs, we ended up asking the ticket ladies where to go. Why isn't there a sign?

At the top of the steep spiral stairs we emerged onto a viewing platform with open views in all directions. The view over the platz was very pretty, and we were able to see mountains/hill surrounding the city in all directions. The weather was great, so the views went for miles and miles. The entry fee we paid wasnt used for cleaning the bell tower, as there was bird poop everywhere. In one corner I almost stepped on a couple of dead birds, their bodies hadn't been removed. Ick. There were flies on the railings on all four sides of the tower.

We opted to grab lunch on the go from a baguette place on the square.

Our next sight was a synagogue. Well, sortof. We used the map on one of my travel apps, it turned out to be marked wrong. The synagogue most definitely was not located correctly. We walked a couple blocks past where the map said, and all around the area. The synagogue was not there.

I decided to turn on roaming data on my phone and google it. Thankfully, google knew what I was talking about and had the correct location. It turned out to be fairly close by, only a 10 minute walk, but nowhere near where the travel app had said it was.

When we got to the synagogue, or at least the correct address, we were really confused. What stood in front of us was definitely NOT a synagogue. We went in the building, and found a hardware store. A HARDWARE STORE!!! We read the plaques on the front of the building, which gave some of the history of the building, and were shocked.

It had indeed been a synagogue. Key word: was. The Jewish community of Bardejov had been completely decimated during WW2, there is no longer an active Jewish community in the city.

There were several thousand before the war, nearly all of them were deported, and very few returned afterward. Because there was no one left to prevent such things from happening, the former synagogue is now a hardware store. AWFUL.

Down the block and around the corner we found the Holocaust Memorial. As this event in history is a very difficult one for many people, such memorials around the world have extra security. When we arrived, it wasn't open. Fortunately, we arrived just a couple minutes before it opened for the afternoon.

The guard arrived and opened the gate, we were able to look around and appreciate what we were seeing. One wall is a list of Jews in the area who were deported. Above the names was the phrase 'everyone has a name' (or something along those lines,) three languages: Hebrew, English, and Slovak.

On another side of the memorial is a set of old train tracks, representing the train cars that took so many people away, many of whom never returned. Above the tracks was the phrase 'never again,' also in three languages: Hebrew, English, and Slovak.
In another section is a set of plaques describing the Jewish history of the area, and some notable names. Really really interesting reading and learning, though very intense and depressing at the same time. The bit of information that haunted me most: there are no Jews left in the city, despite a robust population before the war.

A few minutes after we left the memorial it began to rain. Fortunately, we were on our way back to the train station. We ducked into a supermarket for snacks, and got back to the train station in good time.

The first train took us back to Presov, where we caught another train back to Kosice.