Slovak Trip 5

On Saturday we decided to visit the town of Humenne which was about 100 km northeast of Kosice. Along the way we passed the power plant that generates the electricity for eastern Slovakia as well as the village of Brekov and stopped to take a few pictures of the ruins of the Brekov Castle. It is one of the oldest castles in Slovakia known as guard castle and king's castle. It belonged to Matus Cak Trenciansky in 14th century but he donated it to King Stibor of Stiborice in 1388. King Stibor rebuilt the castle to a luxurious residence. The great fire in 1729 destroyed the castle.

In Humenne there is a reconstructed Slovak village with the buildings dating back to the mid 1700's. All the buildings were from the area except the church, which was brought in from elsewhere in Slovakia. It is like the Slovak version of Pennsylvania's Meadowcroft Village.

At the top of Dargov Pass in the Slanské mountains east of Košice, two tanks lie quietly rusting. They are casualties of the intense battle which took place here between the Soviet liberators and the entrenched Nazis towards the end of the Second World War. The Soviets faced a tough campaign: the mountains are steeper on the eastern side and rear up from the low, flat plains of Východoslovenská Rovina. The attackers suffered heavy losses, and the original village of Dargov was completely destroyed in the fighting before the Germans finally retreated and the Russians advanced to Košice. It is common in Slovakia to see many such monuments honoring the Soviet's contributions during World War II.

Later in the day we met Angela and her family and had a nice dinner. Afterwards we walked to a nice open air pub for a few drinks. We had a very busy but wonderful day.