Best of Slovakia Tour

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Itinerary

Day 1

Arrival to Slovakia, accommodation, informal reception.

Day 2

We will do sightseeing tour of Bratislava old town and Devin castle, afternnon we will transfer to town Banska Stiavnica.

Bratislava Castle: Built on a Castle Hill it dominates the center of Bratislava and its four towers became symbol of the city.--Inhabited from neolithic Hallstadt and Roman eras. First mentioned in 907. It reached its highest importance during the reign of Austro-Hungarian Queen Maria Theresa. In 1761-66 the fortress was rebuilt into a typical royal residence.-- Today, after reconstruction the castle shelters a historical part of the Slovak National Museum. --The Castle was also a residence of the President of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Parliament resides in the new building nearby.

The City: Saint Martin's Cathedral--The Primatial Palace with historical Zrkadlova sien (The Hall of Mirrors). In the museum visitors admire the famous Bratislava tapestries.--Michalska gate. You can go upstairs for a panorama of the Old City.

Devin: The ruins of the ancient Devin Castle tower over the confluence of the rivers Danube and the Morava.--The fortress, used as a watchtower by the Slavonic count Rastislav Dovina, was mentioned in the manuscripts as early as the 9th century AD. After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire of the ancient Slavs, the Devin fortress became an important strategic fortification of the Hungarian Kingdom. As early as in the 13th century, a smaller building with a tower (foundation of a later castle) was situated at the top of rocky hill. Advancing Napoleon troops in 1809 blew up the fortress.--Since 1965 an archaeological research has been carried out in the castle area. The castle ruins have been partially reconstructed under auspices of the Municipal Museum in Bratislava.

Day 3

We will do sightseeing tour of Banska Stiavnica UNESCO site and we will transfer to town Levoca UNESCO town. On the way to Levoca we will have stop in village Hronsek with UNESCO wooden church and village Vlkolinec UNESCO village.

Banska Stiavnica: Banska Stiavnica lies amid the forests of the Stiavnicke Mts. and is included on the List of the World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. The former mining town is one of the most beautiful and in historical terms one of the most interesting towns in Slovakia. Banska Stavnica progressively became the biggest mining centre in the Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th century. Silver ore prevailed among the mined metals and Banska Stiavnica won the attribute of “silver town”. In 1735, the oldest mining school in the Kingdom of Hungary was founded here, which was promoted to the Banska akademia (Mining Academy) in 1762, the first university of its kind in the world. The buildings in the historic centre are included in the Town Monument Reserve. The Banska Stiavnica reserve comprises as many as 360 structures. Together they present a unique set of high cultural and historical value, which is set into the wonderful environment of the Stiavnicke Mts.

Hronsek: The wooden articled church in Hronsek, along with seven wooden churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area, was included on the UNESCO's Word Heritage List in 2008. The wooden articled church from 1726 is set in the wonderful environment of big lime trees. There are 1,100 chairs in this church. Its organ was fitted in 1764. Four bulky lime trees stand in its yard. Fine wooden belfry from 1726 stands nearby.

Vlkolinec: Vlkolinec a monument reserve of folk architecture is extraordinary and remarkable oasis of folk architecture. It was included in the List of the World Cultural and Nature Heritage of UNESCO in 1993. The community was first referred to in 1376. Its unique compound of original folk buildings remained untouched by modern construction. Based in comparative study of ICOMOS (International Council for Monuments and Settlements) it was classified as the best-reserved settlement of this time within the Carpathian Architecture. Originally it was the settlement of loggers, shepherds and farmers.

Day 4

We will do sightseeing tour of UNESCO sites: Levoca and we will visit Spis Castle, Spisska Kapitula and village Zehra.

Levoca: The historic town Levoca situated in the east of the Spis region is a true cultural and historic jewel among the Slovak towns as it possesses a great number of architectural monuments linked with the glorious past of the town. The dominant part of the old Levoca is the large rectangular square, with the Roman-Catholic St. James church from the 14th century, which is one of the most important sacral buildings in Slovakia. The tall slender church tower from the first half of the 19th century is the most distinct feature in the city's silhouette. The Late Gothic wooden main altar of St. James with the height of 18.6 m is the highest of its kind in the world. It was made of lime wood in 1507-1517 in the workshop of Maestro Pavol of Levoca.

Spis Castle: In the eastern horizont of Spisske Podhradie towers the Spis Castle. As a National Cultural Monument, Spis Castle with its area of more than four ha, and partially in ruins, is one of the largest castle compounds in Central Europe. Spis Castle was included in the UNESCO list of monuments belonging to the world cultural heritage in 1993.

Spisska Kapitula: Spisska Kapitula is sometimes also referred to as the "Slovak Vatican". Church life not only in Spisska Kapitula (The Chapter of Spis) was organised from here by the bishops, provosts, and canonists. The most important building of Spisska Kapitula is the Late-Romanesque St Martins Cathedral. It acquired its massive form of a three-nave building with two towers in the years 1245-1275.

Spis community of Zehra: The Spis community of Zehra is known for its precious local Roman-Catholic Holy Spirit church that is, along with other monuments around the Spis Castle, included in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. Unique medieval wall paintings that were created gradually, from the second half of the 13th century till the end of the 15th century, were preserved in the church interior.

Day 5

The High Tatras Mountains: the largest mountain range of Slovakia and the most significant travel center, that is the High Tatras.

There is about 35 valleys found here, 110 sea eyes, but, above all, it is the peaks. There is found here more than 500 peaks, out of which 10 are above 2600 meters high. Every view from a Tatra peak leaves in the heart of a man a life long impression. The silence of the valleys, the cauldrons, the sea eyes, the silky sheen of the waterfalls and simultaneously, the monumental touches with the heights of the peaks- all of that is the magical world of the National Park, High Tatras. This tour is intended for those, who like to walk in the forests and want to, maximally, savor their beauty. The entire tour is marked by breath taking views of the Tatra peaks. The dawns, the sun-sets, an evening atmosphere in the alpine chalets, these are the experiences that etch themselves into the memory for life.

Farewell and departure from Slovakia (or extended program).