Sloavkia's capital was a bit of a disappointment for us. After people in previous hostels had referred to it as "Eastern Europe's hidden gem", we found that sentiment to be a bit misplaced. One should always proceed with caution when you hear or read those words, "hidden gem".
Whilst in Brat we made sure to get our fix of sheep cheese, dumplings and combinations of the two.
And we also climbed Machnac Hill to get supposed panoramic views of the city. Unfortunately it was like pea soup up there and we couldn't see a thing however the war memorial did look particularly eerie in the dense fog.
After a couple of nights in Brat we headed off into the Slovakian mountains for our supposed white Christmas. There was snow around but nothing too fresh and nothing imminent. Oh well, you take the good with the bad.
Our first morning there, whilst still full of enthusiasm, we headed off on the Forest Walk where we had some fun,
took photos of what some may consider arty shit
and got to see some breathtaking scenery and views of the High Tatras.
On Christmas Eve the hostel had a bit of a warm up and then Christmas Day we got stuck into it. The beer, mulled wine, slivovitz (plum spirit), hruška (pear spirit) and borovička (pine/gin-like spirit) all flowed in copious quantities and led to a very messy, very eventful, very memorable night. It also led to very memorable hangovers the following day.
After that we headed to Košice, the 2013 European City of Culture (hmm), for a night before getting up at five to catch a train to Budapest.
P.S. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
