Wow the Banská Štiavnica Calvary is stunning! We really hadn’t got a true grasp of what a wonderful position it had. As morning walks go it was a true gem.
Mark and I then walked into the main town in search of coffee, but actually found a wonderful tea house, with around 50 different teas to choose from, and having a complete mind blank on traditional card games, resorted in playing snap – even with this he has different playing rules to my family – just say snap, no slamming hand on first action 🤣
The town itself is beautiful, cobbled streets, huge houses, lots of cafes, boutique shops, and that juxtaposed newly done up next to boarded up ruin.
There is also the worlds first Love Bank. A place where you can put a token of your love inside the pages of the worlds longest love poem. I thought it a lovely if slightly touristy idea. The ever romantic Mark thought it totally naff, so you won’t find any love token from us. He chose to express his love for me by buying me food, a much appreciated and successful approach.
We visited the tiny restaurant BS Street Food for a big bowl of delicious tofu vegetable noodles, and sat outside in the sun. Trying to look the part I was eating with chop sticks and a lovely local chap sitting opposite us showed me how to hold them properly. I still need a lot of practice, but it does force me to eat slower.
After another lovely walk with the pups, we drove down into Hungary. I’d opted to take the slower route as wanted to visit the impressive Basilica of Esztergom. Arriving at dusk we hot footed it up the hill (so much hill climbing today!), and were afforded a wonderful view over the River Danube. The basilica itself is huge, those green doors are phenomenal, but the best view of it is as you cross the bridge into the city.
We were torn whether to drive on to Budapest or have an early night and ultimately chose the latter. The darker nights definitely encourage an earlier stopping point. While out on our bedtime walk we popped into at a small friendly bar called Trafo (it’s on a traffic island) and Mark tried an Hungarian stout beer while I had hot chocolate. We are recharged for another historic city tomorrow.
SofaWolves 