Chronicles on the road: Banská Bystrica
‘While alive, in Banská Bystrica: after death, in heaven. They are very almost the same.’
One thing is for sure: all the places we’ve visited in our Eastern Chronicles road trip were wonderful, but Banská Bystricá turned out to be the most stunning of them all.
“Like a person you pass occasionally, but never pay too much attention to — until one day when you stop to look closer and fall instantly in love — that’s how I would describe my experience in Banská Bystrica. To me, this city has always been a point of transit; I think I passed it four times in the last few years, but never had the curiosity to stop and explore. I was such a fool, underestimating this incredibly beautiful city! If we were to organize an Eastern Chronicles Gala in honor of the most beautiful places we’ve visited in Eastern Europe, I would definitely nominate Banská Bystrica for the Discovery of the Year award. Alexandra D. will make you understand better what I’m saying — see below!”— Alexandra Palconi
“Well done, Slovakia, very well done! After the Prešov experience, I have to say I was a bit worried that Banská Bystrica was not going to shine. I now stand corrected. We had the tour guide experience, and I’ve got to admit that it was really good. Although I’ve used tour guides in other places, the ones I had in mind were rigid and stiff. The guide in Banská Bystrica was (resembling the city itself) warm, nice, and packed with history (packed with know-how, in her case).
We discovered an amazing little burg with a tremendous history — a font of pride for its inhabitants. There’s actually a saying there: ‘While alive, in Banská Bystrica — after death in heaven. They are very almost the same.’ Surrounded by mountains and colorful forests (thank you again, autumn) Banská Bystrica is very well preserved. Almost all the buildings are reconditioned with class and consistency, thus forming a pied historical center. From Gothic architecture, to Baroque, to Art Nouveau, this blend had a very quaint feel to it.
We were able to visit a lot more than we’d anticipated, and I was thrilled to see that my native Romania had played a rather important part in the city’s WW II history, being one of the liberators of the city; they even have Romanian writing commemorating the liberation on a monument! We had a great last day, one which left us all with a craving for more. I definitely intend to see Banská Bystrica again.
All in all, the trip was great: we visited beautiful places, ate great food, and drank good Hungarian and Slovakian wine. You should definitely stay tuned for upcoming articles. We can’t wait to share all the details!” — Alexandra Dragos
The Eastern Chronicles road trip through Hungary and Slovakia has come to an end. Just as Alexandra wrote above, it was wonderful, and we can’t wait to share all the details! As for Stefan, he didn’t join the city tour yesterday, but Banská Bystrica must have inspired him, as he took some time for himself to write some words of wisdom.
By the way, the next Eastern Chronicles road trip will happen in November. Any great stuff in Sofia, Bulgaria? :)
Photo credit: Flavius Neamciuc
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Our latest articles: Chronicles on the road: Prešov and Spiš Castle, Chronicles on the road: Tokaj and Košice, Chronicles on the road: Debrecen, Guča Trumpet Festival, The Roman Galleries of Roşia Montană.
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