The Wild East

"I know that there is something seriously wrong."

"The Kosice job"
Before I can check the map, MT thinks it's a good idea to head for the Slovan, and then check our bearings. I agree as I have no other plan.
The street lights are terrible- virtually useless, you can't see kerbs well at all. we get to the hotel Slovan- it looks expensive, and is very smart. We ask at the reception how much it costs. Mark jokes that it might be a bit expensive for us. The blonde receptionist smiles at us disdainfully, and says (in a patronising manor) "yes, I think we are"(cheeky bitch!) .After borrowing a calculator we work out that a double room is £45. We skulk outside.

We make for the budget hotel Europa. There is a map outside which I want to look at, but MT prefers to get moving, although it seems perfectly safe- elderly people and kids on bikes are riding round. We walk along some tram lines, and down the next street.
Some streets don't seem to follow the map exactly- I assume that these must be new...although they don't look it. It's also too dark to see my map properly, but I assume we will be OK, it's only 300m anyway.

• 8.50 Mylanka street should be coming into view soon.
• 9.00 We've walked a good 400 metres now, the Europa should be around here. We carry on walking down the main road, the streets are deserted.
  Trees overhang the footpavement, making it almost pitch black, although I don't feel alarmed (for once MT is the paranoid one!).
  There are streets intersecting the main road, but they don't have names.
• 9.15 We walk past a beer garden and cross the road. The road seems to be going nowhere- towards the Ukraine if anything! We're now miles away from the town centre. I know that there is something seriously wrong.
  We decide to stop when we get to a set of traffic lights outside a deserted hospital. Our torches are at the bottom of our bags, so I have to use the glowing sign of a bus shelter to get my compass out and confirm my worst fear- We've been walking South instead of North!
  That explains why the streets didn't follow the map very well- although they were similar enough to lure me into a false sense of security, and in the dark as well..... The Europa is near the train station!
• 9.45 We walk back past the Slovan.
• 10.00 We find the Europa. There is a small problem. It is CLOSED.
  After a curses, we decide to go back to a hotel we saw about 20mins ago, although the Slovan will laugh at us if we walk past again. But we walk past again anyway, passing through the town square this time. We end up walking too far North this time!
  (1) All the streets look the same (uniform concrete grey, and dark)
  (2) None of them have names. (If they do have a name they either have 3, or its ridiculously complicated e.g. Nazdkhrandize Solkovsky 5 Nr 44 app. 8046.
  If the worst comes to the worst we'll either have to sleep in the station, or grovel at the Slovan, with the receptionist laughing at us.
• 10.45 We walk past the Slovan, and town square bars again. People sitting out are probably enjoying the spectacle of 2 guys with rucksacks walking past from different directions every 20 mins.
  Eventually we find the Hotel Turisme again.

  The receptionist, a guy about 60-70 only speaks Slovak (not unusual) and it's only £4 a night each (£1 if your Slovakian).
  Our passports are confiscated and taken to be checked with the Police/Border controls (as is usual). After all they could be fake passports.
  The Slovakian man starts talking to us, although we don't understand what he is saying- so he starts talking louder- perhaps that will make us understand.

  Feeling tired we find a bar a few doors down. Again no English spoken, but at 28p for proper Czech Budweiser (12%) who's complaining? Lethal Weapon is on in Slovak.
  Mark has an unfortunate experience with a man in the toilets (I couldn't work out what happened. Something about a man being over-friendly in the toilets).
  We have another beer and we go back to the hotel...

Back to Main Page