The alarm was set for 5:00 a.m. - UGH - but at the end of the day, it was well worth the early wake-up call!! I had made sandwiches for us and for Carol the night before, so we quickly showered, packed lunches in our backpack, and got ready to walk to church by 5:35. The pastor (who also teaches religion classes at school) had asked a student to come along and translate for us. Lucy and her mom sat across the aisle from us on the bus all day, and she was awesome at helping us to get something out of the tours!
On our walk to meet the bus, it was still pitch dark, so we were treated to a beautiful array of stars and a full moon in the pre-dawn sky. Since we left so early, we also brought breakfast along to eat in the bus. We had sweet rolls, bananas, and a thermos of hot tea, which was nice on a cool fall morning. The sunrise out the bus window was gorgeous, and it was amazing seeing views of God's creation slowly take shape out of night's shadows.
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| Krivan - this mountain peak's distinctive shape makes it the most well-known in Slovakia -- it's on coins! It was beautiful seeing its silhouette just before dawn. |
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| Sunrise over Slovakia! |
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| The mountains changed color in the early morning lighting |
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| A lake with morning mist rising over it |
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| A view from the bus window overlooking the valley |
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| Villages far below as we took hairpin turns up the side of a mountain |
The tour was of many historic Lutheran churches in the region. Our first stop was in Štítnik, a couple of hours to the east and south. The town of Štítnik dates back to the 10th century, and the Gothic church begun in the 1400's was originally Catholic. The interior is covered in layers of frescoes, and the church has been declared a national cultural treasure. The choir sang a beautiful a cappella SATB piece from the 1600's in several of the churches. I'm still unable to upload any videos - sorry!
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| This is the Catholic church in Štítnik, which we didn't go inside, but it's like an island in the middle of the road, with traffic going one direction on either side of it! |
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| This is the Lutheran Church in Štítnik |
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| Notice two organs - a bigger, newer Baroque organ from 1776, and up above it, a smaller organ built in 1492 which is the oldest in Slovakia. |
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| The mountains in this region were rich with many minerals used as pigments for the detailed frescoes covering the walls. |
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| Painted pews for the important townspeople |
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| The town well outside the church |
To be perfectly honest, we aren't certain of the names of all the churches and towns we visited because there were so many, and because everything was being translated from Slovak! The churches were all very old by American standards, but they represented many architectural styles and were in various conditions depending on funds available for restoration. In each location, a local pastor greeted us and spoke about the church's history and significance. This area was heavily Lutheran during and after the Reformation. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing and learning about all the churches.
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| Typical Lutheran church in Slovakia - can't remember where? :-( |
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| This one is for Tom Meyer ---- we saw a John Deere!! :-) |
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| This church was another really old one, still in use today. |
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| I just thought this was a pretty scene out the balcony window |
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| The church was at the highest point of a hill above the village |
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| A view from the front of the church |
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| These bachelor buttons were just so pretty by an old rusted iron fence! |
At one village, the pastor and others from the church treated us to dessert cakes and beverages in the hall where they now worship. (The church needs renovations, and it is up a steep hill that is dangerous for walking in the winter.) There were pots of coffee and hot water for tea, bottles of water and Kofola (Slovak version of cola), and a wonderful assortment of yummy cakes, strudel, cookies, and some amazing savory bite-sized buns. And two bottles of Slivovica with a tray of shot glasses. After everyone had eaten dessert with the non-alcoholic beverages, the tray was passed around to everyone, and hearty "na zdravie"'s were heard all around. (That's "to your health".) Empty glasses are returned to the tray, then they're all refilled and the tray is passed around again. Evidently the alcohol content is high enough to kill any germs, because no one ever gets sick we are told. LOL! Tim was offered a second helping and he made the mistake of saying "uh no", but of course "ano" means "yes" in Slovak. When he realized his mistake and still tried to refuse, he was told that he had to have a second, or he'd walk crooked. The other leg needed to be filled up as well, so he could walk straight. :-) Anyway, it was a definite cultural shift for us to be drinking shots in a church hall with pastors, but it was really a fun time. The pastor was even disappointed that there was still one bottle untouched when we left! I should also clarify that these shot glasses were more like mini-shot glasses, and smaller than those used in the USA.
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| This is the only picture I got of Lucia - our wonderful student translator! |
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| This church had a wooden ceiling, all painted in blues |
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| This is the bell tower uphill from the church - bell towers were often "stand-alone" structures |
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| One of our group impishly ringing the biggest bell! |
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| View from up in the bell tower. |
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| Tim thought these flowers and the stone wall were photo-worthy! |
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| This is one of the figures of the giant sundial way up a hill in a meadow above the bell tower - in the middle of nowhere!! |
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| Too bad it was cloudy when we visited the sundial. |
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| This is the top end of the covered staircase leading up the hill to the church |
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| The sign showing the path to the sundial --- literally "sun clock" in Slovak |
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| "Na sdravie" --- with the tray of slivovica glasses |
After another church stop, we had about a 1/2-hour drive, so we ate our lunch of sandwiches and apples. Carol had brought along some Polish caramels and chocolates, and we brought a package of cookies to share, so we had lots of snacks off and on during the bus rides too. :-) It was so fun being with this group of people - just like our old church choir at Augustana, these folks have so much fun being together, laughing, talking, and enjoying fellowship!
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| The Lutheran Church in Lukovištia - the domed tops are typical of most churches in Slovakia. There is always a steeple with a similar dome in every village! |
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| This was the ceiling of the church - all detailed paintings on each panel. |
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| This is also typical of most altars we've seen - with columns on the sides and a painting in the middle |
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| Another Baroque organ |
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| Lukovištia is also the hometown of this famous Slovak poet. We visited his museum after seeing the church. |
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| Walking tour of churches in the last town..... #1 |
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| This was the top of the spire on the previous church - I'm not sure about the significance of a rooster on top?? |
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| Church #2 |
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| This picture keeps coming back to mind, absolutely haunting me. It is an enormous Jewish synagogue, which has fallen into ruins. There is also a beautiful synagogue in L.M., but there are basically no Jews left in Slovakia after the Holocaust. A horrible reminder of evil. |
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| The last church we visited |
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| The gate into the church courtyard |
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| I took this picture to show how all the pews are in all the churches, including ours. There are handy-dandy racks for the worship books to sit on, and pegs below for purses! |
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| This picture was taken in the church courtyard, with the empty Jewish synagogue in the distance. |
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| This bas-relief sculpture was on a bland, gray, box-like communist era building - typical socialist propaganda artwork. |
When we got on the bus, lo and behold, that second bottle of Slivovica from earlier in the day appeared with one little shot glass. Our friendly server brought the bottle and glass around to each of us for another round or two as we got rolling! Can you imagine Dave Swenson doing that on a choir tour bus with Everett Johnson as the director back at Augustana?? That's not how it was when we went up to St. Olaf on the bus for the choir festival many years ago! LOL!! Originally we thought we'd be back in Liptovsy Mikuláš by around 5 or 6, but it ended up being after 9:00 p.m.! It was a wonderful day!!
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