If you really want to discover the flavor of an area spend time outside the cities. We discovered Liptovsky Mikulas on accident looking for reasonable places in Europe to ski. We were fortunate that this area had so much more to offer. We stayed in a small suburb outside of town which had rolling mountains bordering the town and a view of the Tatras. In the warmer months, it is a haven for hikers and mountain bike riders. It was a little bit out of the way but well worth the effort.
The ski slopes of Jasna were only 20 minutes away by bus, which was included for free with the purchase of a ticket. While for European standards this area would be considered small It was still plenty big enough for Jon and I to spend the day skiing rarely repeating the same run twice. If you are not a skier, there was and ice caves and other activities nearby as well as plenty of restaurants and après bars to keep anyone entertained. The lift tickets were about $40 for the day, about half the cost of a ticket for other ski areas in Europe without losing the modern amenities.
Jasna skiing.
We had intended two days of skiing but we decided to skipped the second day and head out to one of Europe’s best maintained castles, Oravsky Hrad. Three bus rides and one wrong bus later we arrived at the castle towering above us, perched on the side of a cliff. We were astounded to learned that the castle has been a museum for over 150 years! They had an app in multiple languages that you could easily download to your phone making the tour a breeze. After we sat in a restaurant overlooking the castle with a fire warming the room and delicious cabbage soup and rustic bread warming our bellies.
The view of the castle as we got off the bus.
Jon enjoying the tour.
View from the top.
Jon and I stumbled on a favorite restaurant, Liptoveska izba, serving local specialties in the historic center of Liptovsky Mikulas. I discovered a dish so amazing I can’t even believe it is classified as a meal and not a dessert. It was tender puffy pasta tubes with a poppy seed sauced sprinkled with powered-sugar. Decadent. Our meals, both exceptional, with wine was around $22.
Poppy-seed pasta.
Where we stayed, Pension Manderlak, we had a nice room with twin beds and a sitting area that could be used as a third bed with a bathroom for approximately $20 a night. The pension looked new and there was an attached restaurant with reasonable priced meals. We ordered the daily breakfast for $5 which was substantial and changed each morning. Unfortunately, the restaurant was while we were there but the first evening the host was kind enough to serve us a delicious dinner of goulash and roti for around $5 each.
Our Pension.
Journey with Christina 