3-day Slovak Folk Traditions Tour

Meeting with private guide. Cicmany visit.

- Morning meeting with aprivate guide in Bratislava*
- Car transfer to Cicmany village; folk architecture
- Lunch in Klak Salas restaurant
- Accommodation in a hotel in Zilina

The unique and characteristic element of log houses in Cicmany are their exteriors ornamented in a geometrical pattern. The authors of ornaments were traditionally women who originally adorned only the corners of the dwellings, first with mud and later with lime.
The best-preserved ones include Raden's house (Rademov dom) and the neighboring Gregor's house (Gregorov dom), which shelters the ethnographic exhibition. Visitors can learn something more about the history and folklore of this region there.

*Pick up from another place than Bratislava is available on request.

Museum of the Slovak village and Vlkolinec village (UNESCO).

- Breakfast
- Museum of the Slovak village in Martin
- Vlkolinec village visit (UNESCO)
- Accommodation in a hotel in Banska Bystrica

Museum of the Slovak Village is the largest ethnographic open-air exposition in Slovakia. The museum is in Jahodnicke haje in the southeastern part of the town of Martin. Slovak National Museum in Martin built the areal in the 1960s. It provides a picture of traditional folk architecture, housing, and the way of life of people who lived in northwestern Slovakia in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Vlkolinec village - Monument Reserve of Folk Architecture is the extraordinary and remarkable oasis of folk architecture and on the UNESCO list since 1993.
The first written record of the community is from 1376. Originally it was the settlement of loggers, shepherds, and farmers. Its unique compound of original folk buildings remains untouched by modern construction.
ICOMOS (International Council for Monuments and Settlements) classified it as the best-reserved settlement of this time within the Carpathian Arch.

Banska Bystrica sightseeing, Brhlovce tuff dwellings visit.

- Breakfast
- Banska Bystrica town sightseeing including SNP Museum
- Brhlovce tuff dwellings visit
- Afternoon transfer to Bratislava*
- End of the tour

Banska Bystrica, the copper mining town, acquired its present look in the Late Middle Ages. Most of the historical monuments concentrate near SNP Square.

The complex of rock dwellings carved into tuff rocks is in Brhlovce village, several kilometers east of Levice.
The origin of these rare rock dwellings in Slovakia is not altogether clear. Some authors associate it with possible hiding places in the Turkish raids times in the 16th century. Others link it to economic activities, particularly wine growing. The exhibition of the dwellings is in a house with its backyard cut into the tuff rocks. It demonstrates the traditional way of housing in this region.

*Drop off in another place than Bratislava is available on request.