Slovakia/Czech Republic/Slovakia

Slovakia:

We enter Slovakia through the High Tatras. We spend the night at a campground near Lake Orvara. A cute little lake with an alpine panorama. Well-rested and freshly showered, we set off to explore Slovakia. Here, they use the Euro again, and as we drive by, we notice right away: Diesel costs 1.35 Euro per liter!! Wow... that's a difference compared to Poland's 1.10 Euro. We need to do some shopping. Unfortunately, the joy is not as great as before. The Euro is noticeable. It only costs slightly less here than in Germany. But that doesn't help... we need a few things.

Then we continue towards the Czech border - (we'll be back in Slovakia on the way back). Through the mountains. It's simply beautiful here, and we're happy to have mountains in front of us again. The roads are a disaster, but the scenery is beautiful:) We pass through small mountain villages. The architectural style changes again. Sometimes you could think you're driving through northern Italy... sometimes it looks like Austria. Here, the power lines are excitingly laid above ground, and so in the villages, hundreds of colorful power lines are crisscrossing from house to house... across the street.... just wild chaos.... Wow!! Our Knut climbs the mountains again... the sky is cloudless... the thermometer shows 28 degrees Celsius (mid-September)!!... what more could you want?

Czech Republic

In the mountains near Cadca, we enter the Czech Republic. We quickly buy a vignette for 17 Euro (the first one since the beginning of our journey) and off we go. Here in the Czech Republic, it's unfortunately very foggy and grey. Yesterday we had almost 30 degrees in the Slovakian mountains... today it's only 15 degrees. We quickly withdraw Czech crowns from the ATM and continue along the Polish border... We look for a place to spend the night. We find one at a lake in the middle of nowhere. There are local anglers all around us. One of them comes over to us and starts talking to us in Czech. We don't understand a word... but that's okay... we nod friendly... that's enough for him... he grins friendly... we do too. Then we go for a walk and when we come back to the bus, we think from a distance that it's on fire. Smoke everywhere... oh God, what's going on? But we thought wrong. That's the Czech way of disposing of garbage. They just set the whole bin on fire!! Hhhmmmppfff. The smelly smoke blows into our bus - but we are guests - and behave accordingly!! Namely quietly :) We go to bed early because it's pouring rain (something new). The next morning (the sun is shining), we wake up, open the bus door, and from all sides, we hear a friendly good morning and Dobra rahno. More anglers have arrived and somehow they all seem happy that we're here. One of them comes over right away (he can speak a little German) and starts talking. They're really nice... the Czechs. Amy sees a partridge!! She's gone (the little hunter). I shout loudly NO... the Czechs shout: YES!! The partridge saves itself in the bushes... phewwww lucky. I'm happy... the Czechs think it's a pity :) - We say goodbye, and from all sides, a friendly farewell comes.... We feel comfortable in the Czech Republic.

We continue driving along the Czech/Polish border. We want to visit the Javoricko cave. When we arrive, we park the bus, let the dog have a run and park her in the bus... and off we go into the cave. Discovered by chance in 1935, it is now accessible to tourists. Over the years, new cave passages and chambers have been discovered. We take a one-hour guided tour (unfortunately in Czech). We are the only Germans and receive a brochure in German. And off we go into the depths. It's 7 degrees Celsius. We see a cave beautifully illuminated with thousands of stalagmites, stalactites, and flowstone formations. What a sight... We continue through many passageways into other large chambers. At some point, the guide turns off the lights to show what it's really like in the cave. You can't see anything. Literally nothing. It's just pitch black. When you consider that people explored the cave with a torch in 1935...Wow!! That's why we're happy to have hundreds of spotlights everywhere. After an hour, we return to the warm daylight. The trip was worth it. We are impressed.

We continue driving and pick up a young Czech hitchhiker by the roadside. He wants to go another 20km to a marathon race - which he is participating in. We decide to drive him there. He can't believe it and thanks us about 150 times. With good karma, we continue. Our destination today is Litomysl: a small town with a nice old town and a great Renaissance castle. The so-called 'Bürgerhäuser' line up endlessly. They are beautiful to look at in their pastel colors. There is a beautiful market square to see. We treat ourselves to an ice cream sundae and continue towards the castle. We are not allowed in (of course) because of the dog! Not even in the castle garden. Traveling with a dog is not always easy!! We leave the castle behind and continue driving... out of the city. Victim of the day: our sliding door - culprit: a roller has said goodbye :( We find a place to spend the night at a small fishing lake. There are busy Czechs fishing here. We quickly park the bus. Unpack the picnic blanket and beer... and then we lie down by the lake and watch the bustling activity. Amy catches a mole (in passing)!! Oh no!! But it's too late. He's dead. Broken neck!! Hhhmmmpppffff... sorry little mole... life isn't always a bed of roses!! We scold.... Amy looks innocent :(... we go to bed early. Victim of the day: 1 cute mole :( Culprit of the day: Our dog Amy!!

The next morning, we start early. Today we want to go to the Adrspach Rocks. When we arrive, we find a great hiking area with extraordinary rock formations in the Bohemian Forest. The fantasy movies 'The Chronicles of Narnia' were filmed here. We wander through this great area in awe. Rock formations in all variations reach high into the sky. Sometimes the passages are only 50cm wide. The rocks have names like "the mayor's wife