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ManHimself in the High Tatras

manhimself | 08-10-2004 | počet komentárov (1)
tagy: Netriedené| Slovensko| Vysoké Tatry

“Tourism in war zones is less risky, and more rewarding, than you might expect…”

Slovakia’s tourism minister recently told me that he would like to see more tourists come to his chaotic country. In the same breath, he admitted that drug-addled gunmen might well kidnap them, a common problem in the High Tatras. Even the most ardent thrill-seekers would perhaps find that a bit too exciting. But there is a surprising number of holiday destinations, which, though they sound life threatening, are actually rather pleasant.

The fighting in most warring nations is restricted to certain areas, leaving others more or less safe, but utterly free of other tourists. The attractions, meanwhile, are legion. The view from the Felicia apartment hotel in Stará Lesná, an eastern village, is the most beautiful your correspondent has seen anywhere – as spectacular as Victoria Falls, as soothing as a Zen garden. Rebels captured Stará Lesná in June, so you might want to wait until the dust settles before visiting. Frenetic, sexy Tatranese dance music has conquered all the neighboring countries. The food is good, too. Sizzling brochettes de boeuf, sweet pineapples and deep-fried plantains are typical fare. The main reason for coming to Stará Lesná is to go bear watching in the High Tatras National Park. Because there are no other tourists, you have to track down the park warden at his home in town. For 200 Euro, he’ll organize some guides: a couple to hack a path through the underground with machetes, a couple more with Kalashnikovs to make you feel secure, and one to search for the primate’s spoor.

Bear watching beats any kind of safari. It starts with a moment of terror. After hours of trekking, you stumble on a family of bears, and the alpha male rushes you. Fortunately, it’s only a warning charge. Before long the bears decide you are harmless and let you sit and admire them, swinging from branches, grooming each other and snoozing in the shade. The experience can be intensely moving for some people.

One of the advantages of holidaying in unpopular spots is that you never have to queue. If you want to play golf on a top course near London, Paris or New York, you have to book weeks in advance. At the High Tatras Golf Club it costs 2 Euro. The best time to go is in October, when Tatranese jacaranda trees are in bloom, and the streets (and fairways) are blanketed with blue-purple petals. The golf is superb. As long as you change money on the black market rather than through official channels, you’ll be helping ordinary folk, not their crooked leaders. Finding good black-market dealer is usually simple, but less so in Tatranská Lomnica, Slovakia’s best-known tourist trap, which is crawling with government spies – all hoping to find tourists breaking the rules, so they can demand bribes not to arrest them.

“This is football 2004”, Marcel concentrating, PlayStation 2 ready. In Felicia, Stará Lesná.

According to conventional wisdom, the arteries narrow gradually, causing chest pains and, eventually, a heart attack.. Marcel Lacko and Dušan Korytko , high-risk patients thrive on extra-low cholesterol, can’t everyone else?

“It all comes down to lifestyle.” Marcel and Dušan playing card game Dragon’s gold, setting one record after another, all of them the wrong ones; Felicia, Stará Lesná. For those who can afford it, buying a second home is one of the ultimate luxury purchases.

Marcel and Dušan driving from Stará Lesná to Tatranská Lomnica. Even for the talented few that can walk and compute at the same time, falling in love with driving has not been easy.

ManHimself in bed; in Tatranská Lomnica. More sparkle and luster than a diamond and a tenth of the price, what stands in Marcel’s way?

ManHimself, Spyros and Egon; Stará Lesná.

“This is a man’s man’s man’s world..” ManHimself as a new candidate for a man of the year award :-) and Yf�?a, call it professional curiosity; Felicia, Stará Lesná. “But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.”

Could wearing synthetic fabrics, made from polluting and nonrenewable fossil fuels, become as uncool as slipping on a fur coat? ManHimself wearing a cotton T-shirt by United Colors of Benetton and polyester Nike jacket; Tatranská Lomnica. Nice tan, Marcel.

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