Continuing east towards Ukraine, we bused to Levoca just an hour away. Our program included touring St James Church which sits on the square in Levoca and is known for its many magnificent wood altars which are a treasure guarded so closely that that I do not have a photo. ;-) You can see them here...On our one full day we day-tripped to Spiš Castle with a long walk to another UNESCO monument.
After our first half-day and evening stroll we had that ho-hum feeling about Levoca, but after a great daytrip and our second evening stroll, on a Friday evening, we began to like the place. While it's not lively on a Friday evening, it's not quite dead either. Teenagers are hanging out in semi-secluded spots on the city wall, while at least one restaurant on the business side of the wall is busy. We hear singing from the Mass at St James. A man walks his small dog with a large bark. Three young women ask me to take their photo. And a young man is teaching, with not much success, his girl friend to drive a stick shift.
The Square with (left to right) St James Church, Town Hall and Lutheran Church.
On the Square.
The only Pilsner Urquell so far this trip. Tasty.
The German-built Gymnazium sits on the City Wall.
A quiet Levoca back street, just inside the northern section of the city wall.
City Wall with Tower and facing graffiti.
Sunset over the western side of the Town Square.
The Walk.
We got off the bus at the Spisska Kapitula, on old walled monastery. With views of Spiss Castle behind.
We are headed to Zehra and its UNESCO Monument church. The sign says Zehra can be reached by walking in 1 hr 55 mins, but it will take us 4 hours as there are many viewpoints and photo ops. ;-)
Leaving Kapitula and into Spisske Podhradie to the Castle beyond.
Spisske Podhradie Town Square.
Up to Spis Castle.
And of course there is a tourist bus parking lot at the top. ;-)
Bonus: Three guys were flying their remote control gliders on the hill opposite the Castle. Watching them slowed us down a bit. One guy had his glider doing barrel rolls and loop de loops.
Bonus: And 10 minutes later, rock climbers.
Viewpoint.
On the yellow trail to Zehra.
And down to Zehra's old onion dome church, a UNESCO Monument.
Turnip fields on the walk back.
Up the west side.
Down the east side towards the bus stop.
Final look at Spiss Castle.
Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Recent Post
Sri Lanka: Trincomalee
Trincomalee, on the east coast of the island, is the least touristed city of our Sri Lankan tour. There are beach resorts a few kilometers t...
Most Popular Posts of Last 30 Days
-
After a "Melaka City Tour" route on local bus #17 we arrived at Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal and in a few minutes - no time for a t...
-
Instead of the usual single loop, our whole Sri Lanka tour is in the shape of an 8 all because of Navam Maha Perahera at the Gangaramaya Tem...
-
In order to guarantee a hassle-free speedy trip from from St Ignacio, Belize to Tikal in Guatemala we eschewed public transport and paid for...
-
Everything happened smoothly with our Galapagos trip. We had really good weather, two full days of sun and a couple of partly cloudy day in...
-
Polonnaruwa is an archeological site in north central Sri Lanka. Between the 11th and 13th century Polonnaruwa was the capital of the island...
-
On the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year, we flew from HCMC to Colombo via Kuala Lumpur. From the airport we took a transfer directly to Galle, ...
-
According to the Tooth Relic Temple website , on Wednesdays there is a ritual of tooth washing, in addition to daily rituals. What we had no...
3 comments:
I really liked Levoca, but I agree it's not at all lively!
Astounding church and castle. I linked off to view the altars, beautiful. Atheists don't have no altars like that. Or like anything else, for that matter. And a sprawling castle off by itself like this? What was it guarding? I guess you had to be there.
Kathy, Yep. It's somewhere btw dead and not lively haha.
Post a Comment