Day 03. Poprad - Bratislava

The best thing about Poprad is its geographical location close to the High Tatras, which have always been my favourite mountain range. Many people come to Poprad because of the aquapark, though winter isn't exactly the season for open-air swimming.

Poprad is also known for its architecture. My host Martina resides in the most historical part of the town, which is called Spišská Sobota (due to Slovene influence, most probably :P).

Martina took me to the hitchhiking spot. The High Tatras were literally by the road.

I had been quite disappointed with my Prešov hitchhiking misfortune, so I decided I would accept at once if somebody offered me a ride.

Surely enough, a car stopped minutes after I started hitchhiking. It was heading a different way, but I didn't care anymore. I thought it was enough that it was going westbound. (I was heading to Bratislava, and this driver's point of destination was called Svit, which I had no idea where it was).

Some ten minutes passed, and I found myself in the magnificent town of Svit. I could perceive mountain skiers somewhere distantly. I had no other option left than to keep walking in the direction of Bratislava, trying to hitchhike occasionally. This resulted in nothing. I decided to go back to Poprad. Halfway back, a driver stopped on the other side of the road who asked me whether I wanted a lift. That's how I got to the main hitchhiking spot in Poprad once again.

Finally, I was taken by a guy who took me to the town of Brezno in Central Slovakia, where I got one more ride from a female dentist who was going to the town of Žiar nad Hronom. Now I realize I should have asked her to let me out in Banská Bystrica or at least in Zvolen.

I got out in a suburb of Žiar nad Hronom called Ladomerská Vieska. It was getting really dark and cold. I went to check the timetables of the bus terminus in Žiar (the way took me more than half an hour). The only bus headed to Trenčin and not to Bratislava. :/ Fortunately, I bumped into a train station that looked closed but was actually open, so I was able to buy a train ticket to Bratislava.

After some twenty minutes in the train, it stopped suddenly. The train assistant told me that somebody had just got run over by the train. That's why I spent some three hours in the train somewhere in Nitriansky kraj.

I arrived in Bratislava around 3 a.m. (instead of 11 p.m. planned). My Portuguese-speaking friend Zdenka met me from the station but we had a hard time looking for her house, since she had just moved there recently and the night bus stop was located differently than the usual one. But miracles do happen, don't they.