Slovakia – My Homeland

Slovakia – My Homeland

Pictures

Identifiy the places/statue in the pictures. Speak about other famous historical places worth visiting in Bratislava, its political, cultural and everyday life.

In the pictures I can see different places in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

Picture 1. (Nový most v Bratislave)

In the first picture I can see The New Bridge. It´s very interesting because there is a Café which looks like UFO.

Picture 2. (Historická budova SND)

In the second picture I can see the historical building of Slovak National Theatre. It´s situated on Hviezdoslav´s Square. There is a nice fountain in front of the main entrance. We can see different performances here: plays, operas, ballets, etc. But nowadays the new modern building of SNT exists for all kinds of performances.

Picture 3. (socha Paparazzi v Starom meste v Bratislave)

In the next Picture I can see a statue of „Paparazzi“ in the Old town of Bratislava. There are more funny statues like this one in this place. E.g. „Čumil“ . It´s a good attraction for tourists.

There are many interesting places and sights I´d like to visit in Bratislava. E.g. Bratislava Castle, St. Martin´s Cathedral, Grassalkovich Palace – the seat of the president of Slovakia, etc.

Identify the places in the pictures. Speak about what kind of visitors they are suitable for and give reasons why.

I can see different places in Slovakia in the pictures.

Picture 1: (Piešťany)

In the first picture I can see Piestany – the famous spa. The symbol of the town is a healed man breaking his crutch. The spa treats mainly illnesses of the locomotory system and rheumatism. This place is for visitors who have health problems or just want to relax.

Picture 2: (zámok Bojnice)

In the next Picture I can see the castle Bojnice in the town of Bojnice. There is also a nice ZOO nearby. The castle is famous by interesting performances and so called

„Festival of Ghosts“. This place is for visitors who are interested in history and like sightseeing.

Picture 3: (Čachtická pani a Čachtický hrad)

In the last picture I can see the castle of Cachtice and the Lady of the castle - Alžbeta Báthory. She is known as „The Bloody Elisabeth“. She was very cruel. She killed young girls – virgins – and took bath in their blood to be young and beautiful forever.

2 The important facts about Slovakia (geographical facts, climate, population, minorities)

Slovakia lies in the heart of Europe and covers an area of 49.000 square kilometres. It is bordered on the north by Polland, on the south by Austria and Hungary, on the east by Ukraine, on the west by Czech Republic.

The population of Slovakia is about 5 mil. inhabitants. The main nationality are the Slovaks, the largest national minority are the Hungarians, who live mostly along the southern border of Slovakia (Komarno, Velky Krtis, Lucenec), the Poles live on the north and the Ukrainians on the east of Slovakia.

Slovakia lies in the mild zone and has mild winters and relatively warm summers. The average temperature in July is about 20 ⁰C.

The main Slovak rivers are: the Danube (the biggest Slovak river), the Váh (the longest river) with a lot of dams. They play an important recreation and economic function. In Central Slovakia the biggest river is the Hron, in Eastern Slovakia – the Torysa and the Hornád. The majority of lakes are quite small and concentrated in the Tatra region.

Our country can offer the beauties of nature, number of unique caves, many spas and mineral waters, historical monuments and colourful folklore.

The plains in Slovakia are important agricultural areas. The most fertile land is in the south of Slovakia (Žitný ostrov ) and the most common agricultural products are wheat, barley, sugar beet, maize, potatoes, vegetables and fruit.

Make a list of towns and places in your country you would recommend to your foreign friend. Give reasons.

Material and spiritual culture of Slovakia are represented by historical monuments, interesting towns and places as well as many natural areas.

There are 5 national parks and protected gardens, places, animals and plants in Slovakia.

Tatra National Park (TANAP)  is the oldest one in Slovakia. It covers all High Tatras. In the TANAP territory there are good conditions for mountain climbing, hiking, skiing, recreation and climatic treatment. In the High Tatras can be seen Alpine flora and fauna that includes bears, marmots and chamois (šemuaz).

It is a suitable place for winter and summer holidays.

The Low Tatras can offer almost the same as High Tatras do and in addition its large caves – Demänovská cave of Freedom and Demänovská Ice cave – one of the prettiest in Europe.

Pieniny National Park offers beautiful countryside with a number of rocky shapes and deep canyon of the Dunajec river which is famous for attractive rafting.

In Slovakia there are many towns and interesting places worth visiting, e.g. Banská Štiavnica – an old mining town, Kremnica – it has a big tradition in striking coins. Today it makes coins of SR. Banská Bystrica – it was centre of the Slovak National Uprising against Nacism in 1944 and also it was and still is the centre of the political, national and cultural life of Central Slovakia. Trnava – the „Slovak Rome“ because of many churches and monasteries which were built in and around Trnava. Nitra – an important Slovak town with a rich history, one of the centres of the Great Moravian Empire. Today Nitra offers two universities and as well known exhibition place called the Agrokomplex. Čičmany – a little village in the district of Žilina. Nowadays it is a museum of folk architecture with wooden houses.

In Slovakia there are many localities with mineral springs, thermal and hot springs. One of the world known localities is spa Piešťany with its curative water and radioactive mud. The symbol of the town is a healed man breaking his crutch. The spa treats mainly illnesses of the locomotory system and rheumatism.

Trenčianske Teplice – famous spa from the times of the Kingdom of Hungary. The thermal water has excellent properties for treating rheumatism and neurological disorders.

Dudince – a spa where the hot springs have excellent properties for healing illnesses of the joints and digestion problems.

Sliač – the spa specialized in the treatment of heart diseases.

Bardejov – springs of iron-rich mineral water provide healing treatments of the digestion and respiratory system.

The Slovak spas play a very important role in Slovak tourist industry. Many foreign visitors spend their money in our spas for services , which support our economics a lot. The offer of services is not as good as it should be so far but all the Slovak spas try improving their level of services and products offered to clients.

Talk about products/souvenirs produced in our country which you would recommend to buy to a foreigner and explain why.

Slovaks are proud of their traditions. We have nice folklore – dancing, singing, folklore groups, typical products like folklore souvenirs, good cuisine. Our typical food is Bryndzové halušky – gnocchi with sheep cheese – and typical drinks are slivovica – plum brandy and borovička – juniper brandy/gin, or beer. Our products from sheep milk are also very tasty – oštiepok, bryndza, korbáčiky etc.

We have also rich vineyards and we produce good wine.

If you live abroad, what Slovak customs and traditions would you like to keep? Why? Why not?

I like our Christmas traditions. We decorate the Christmas tree, we have the Christmas dinner (carp and potato salad, sourkraut soup, ......), we find our Christmas gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve. We are all together.

I don´t like our Easter traditions. Water and whips are typical for Slovak Easter and it´s not my cup of tea.

I like/don´t like folk music and dancing.

3 Simulation

A friend of yours would like to visit Slovakia. Explain to him/her when the best time to visit our country is. Describe the season, the recommended clothing and the places to stay.

I´d recommend to visit Slovakia in winter. We usually have a lot of snow. It often snows and roads are slippery. We should wear warm clothes: anorak or coat, boots, scarf, cap or hat, gloves. We can go skiing and skating. The best place for winter is High Tatras. There are good skiing conditions.

Also summer is very nice in our country. Summers are quite hot and sunny. We can go swimming to the pools or lakes, or we can go hiking. We need to wear light clothes: shorts, T-shirts, flip-flops.