We were off to an early start. The weird Aire we stayed in did not lend itself to lingering so we were both ready to go quite early. The drive to our destination of Levoca was pretty short so we found ourselves parking at the base of the walls of the city before 10:30.
Levoca was part of Hungary until 1918. But avoided most wars from the middle ages on, so the town and its walls are well preserved. It was a major market town, but it was bypassed the railroad in 1871 so it became a backwater which led to the town staying largely unchanged.
What was a problem in the 19th century is now an asset in the 21st century. The town is now a UNESCO site because the town contains so many old buildings.
The town is small and easily walkable in a couple of hours. We noticed that St. James Bascilliaca had a guided tour at 11:30 so we wandered around the square. The day was bright blue, but the temperatures were in the low 50’s and the wind was really howling so we were happy when the tour began.
St. James is one of the newest Basilicas in the Catholic church having just been made a Basilica by Pope John Paul in 1995. The church dates back to the 1300’s but is famous for its gigantic Gothic wooden altar. It stands over 70 feet tall and is carved wood that is painted. There are no nails used in the structure which is amazing.
Unfortunately the tour guide didn’t speak English. She escorted us into the church and gave us a written guide in English, but to compensate said Ton could take pictures despite the no photography signs. Ton was in heaven. In the end the lady broke out her limited English mixed with German to give us some details about the church which was very nice.
After the church we headed back to François for the trip to our final destination in Kosice. As we were driving we discussed visiting Spis Castle, but as we were approaching the exit we decided it was way to windy to climb on another castle so we settled for a picture from the freeway.
As we were driving Ton told me that Slovakia has the most castles per capita in Europe. The countryside in Eastern Slovakia is really beautiful, with large valleys surrounded by high mountains. The towns are often dominated by large block Communist era apartments. Even small towns have multi-story apartments, and they often dominate the skyline of the town. The Slovaks are doing their best to pretty them up with paint, but they are pretty monotonous in such a beautiful countryside.
