35th day - August 12th: Nove Mesto and Pistany. Two different cities.

After breakfast all alone, I went for a hike to the ruins of Beckov Castle before continuing my journey. On the way, I passed a cemetery with Jewish tombstones. However, I couldn't find any information about it anywhere. Neither on a plaque along the way, nor on the internet. From the castle, I had a beautiful view of the upcoming lowland. I didn't find the castle itself very interesting, maybe because I have already visited so many castles in Germany and Europe. My destination for the day was the resort town of Piestany. However, I wanted to visit the "New Town" - called Nove Mesto in Slovak - an industrial town with its own Protestant community, during a stopover. Today, I only had to cycle about 40 km. In Nove Mesto, with its very tall and imposing tower, I initially didn't meet the pastor, but two hours later when I rang the bell again. His community has 2000 members, including two other preaching stations. Before Corona, about 400 worshipers attended the services. After Corona, only 250-300 come. Still a good attendance compared to ours, I thought. For him, regaining the previous attendance level is currently the biggest challenge. He also wants to revive the church choir, which unfortunately had to disband during the pandemic. There are various community groups, and youth work after confirmation is important. He also mentioned that his son and his friends have formed a Christian rap band, which has already performed at various youth festivals. Proudly, he showed me a professionally produced music video of his son. I would have liked to stay longer, but I wanted to reach the resort town of Piestany on the Vah River in the afternoon.

I quickly found the relatively small, but very beautiful city church there, which was also consecrated as Protestant after the Counter-Reformation. Tourists also come to the church services and concerts. Unfortunately, I didn't remember the number of visitors. The community has its own small library, which is also used by spa guests. Unfortunately, the conversation was relatively short. Since the church is located in the center of the city and has no grassy area, there was no possibility to pitch a tent for the night. However, I found a nice and especially quiet spot to spend the night near the reservoir. I cooked something in the pan and enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the reservoir.