Some words about Slovakia

    An independent country since 1993, when Czechoslovakia split into two countries, Slovakia should have no difficulty in establishing a strong identity for itself as an attractive tourist destination. Much of the country is mountainous terrain covered in forest, which rises in the High Tatras to the highest peaks in Europe outside the Alps. An almost entirely agricultural country within living memory, and with countless relics of a peasant past, Slovakia was systematically industrialised under Communism.
    Most of the population lives around the capital, Bratislava, in the far west of the country or along the Danube's tributaries that cut through the mountains. Many towns are surrounded by unappealing modern suburbs, but nearly all have a rich heritage of ancient buildings as well as easy access to fine scenery. Nearly every village has interesting old houses or a fine baroque church.
    Slovakia was part of Hungary for a thousand years and still has an important Hungarian minority, as well as a large Roma (Gypsy) population, mostly concentrated in the east of the country. Here too live the Ukrainian-speaking Ruthenians, whose villages are known for their timber churches. In the Middle Ages, German citizens helped to develop fine towns like Levoča, Kežmarok and Spišská Nová Ves, and to mine the metals which brought wealth to Banská Bystrica and its neighbouring towns of Banská Štiavnica and Kremnica. All over the country, an often aggressive nobility built castles, some of them now in ruins, others meticulously restored.