Top 10 Amazing Facts About CzechoSlovakia
Hello Friends:
We just finished filming a piece for that included several locations in Slovakia. So I had the pleasure of spending time here recently, and it is a country that I really enjoy visiting. Every time I come here,  something new surprises me, so i made a list of  the top 10 things, that I found to be odd, peculiar, interesting, or great on this trip to Slovakia. Starting with the way Slovakians drive. When you cross the border into this country from Poland  you'll notice immediately, that people start going the speed limit almost exactly.  Especially in urban spaces.
1 A Slovakian police give a very hefty fine. I'm also inclined to believe that there's a certain orderness or culture to the driving here that  just prevails good behavior on the road. Now that being said, I've also seen the complete opposite  end of the spectrum. Any time that I was driving in snow-covered Slovakian hills the drivers seem to  go berserk! I'm talking about blizzard conditions that I panic to drive through slowly because the roads are so foggy, curvy and slippery.
2 Slovakian drivers are not phased, they treat it like a racetrack! The next observation, and this is something that I really appreciate about Slovakia  it does not feel commercial by any measure, you go to the main historic center of any given town  and you will not be overwhelmed by advertisements, international brands, and franchises.  This is one of the few places in the world that you can really feel that old authentic European essence that I love so much.  Now that being said, you can find some international brands in strip malls and shops things of that nature. By no means is the heart of the city designated to be a commercial shopping center and I love it.
3 A Imagine that I could annoy some people by saying this. Slovakia is not Poland. I'm sure that's obvious to anyone watching this who's not Polish. but as a polish citizen myself someone who's lived in Poland for many years,  you gain this odd feeling that Slovakia should somehow be like Poland, that Slovakians should speak Polish  and visiting anywhere beyond the border area you find out that it's completely the opposite case . In fact, I'll tell you something funny because when I was just learning polish.
4 I would visit the thermal pools on the border area of Slovakia, where people did speak Polish. I thought that thanks  to the fact that I was learning polish, I could communicate now with people who spoke Slovakian  but when I traveled further into Slovakia it turned out that I was just speaking to  Slovakian people who spoke Polish with an accent and in fact, my Polish did not get me very far  at all.
5 The spaces here are open vast, you don't encounter that many people as compared to other tourist destinations it's something that I love. You feel this void  in fact of the overwhelming hustle and bustle of city life, and I find this to be a positive. Other people might think that it's depressing or it might not be their cup of tea  but it is one of the reasons that I frequently travel to this country, no one knows me I know no one, and i doubt that's going to change. Upon every turn in Slovakia.
6 Slovakia s a castle  This is incredible, I've never been to a country with such a historic abundance of these incredible  medieval fortresses and as an American, this will never get old to me. I will always  feel that childlike excitement, when I see the figure on top of a hill in the distance and say  well that's not a tree, you get closer it turns out to be a castle ruin. You see this time and time again as you travel through the country but there's one negative if you wish to visit almost any of those castles you better be prepared to pay for parking, this is one of the things that I don't really enjoy when traveling in Slovakia.
7 Slovakia Because I frequently don't have cash on me, but it seems that  you have to pay for parking nearly everywhere you go and i don't think that that's just targeted to tourists but it seems to be the culture of the place, if it's a pool if it's a castle you're going to be paying for parking. I mentioned the thermal pools earlier and this is a really fun  oddity. One hand, europeans they get a little bit freaked out if you sit down on a cold stone they say you're going to be sick, don't sit there, but at the same time the concept of swimming in naturally hot water outdoors when there's snow when there's wind  and the conditions are freezing is perfectly okay.
8  People go out of the pool and roll around  in the snow. I love the thermal pools it is one of the best places for reflection for solitude and  wellness. I wanted to point out something that's a little bit unusual in the restaurants. Most countries you have salt and pepper shakers, here in Slovakia there's a third shaker  I found out today that it contains cinnamon. Now in the context of the salt and the pepper I assume that the third one would have a spicy pepper, so i put it on my potatoes and was  very surprised to find out that for the remainder of that meal i would be eating cinnamon flavoured potatoes interesting little oddity in the country. one of the things i love about slovakian language  and i don't know much about slovakian language but anytime that i try to converse with someone they  ultimately end up saying hey and yo all the time so slovakia is the only place other than  the united states i can think about that people are constantly saying yo actually  that's not entirely true because kashubians also say hey and yo to the best of my memory  and i'm curious if koshubians in poland have any direct connection to slovakians and finally  my favorite thing about Slovakia.
9 Slovakia the thing that keeps me coming back here and the thing that has  that most countries are lacking is mystery and i don't just mean mystery in the sense that there are castles and medieval buildings everywhere but there's a certain barrier to the culture  here that seems very very difficult to penetrate, it seems hard to make friends with the slovakian  they're approachable and open, but reserved at the same time.
10 I have the feeling that  relationships here would have to be earned, that is completely opposite to the relationships that i've  experienced in the united states where you can become friends in an instance.  so if you'd like to see something from my previous visits here check out the s linked in the description cards and  probably appearing on the screen right now.
A make sure you subscribe to our website because from time to time we will re-examine the magic that is slovakia you we will see you soon in the next Article Goodbye.
