From Banská Bystrica to Kraków

After a simple lunch and a quick tour at Banská Bystrica in central Slovakia, we continued our cross-country ride again to Kraków in southern Poland. It took more than two hours from Banská Bystrica to the border of the two countries.

The border town in southern Poland is called Chyżne where we entered Poland via northern Slovakia. It was another two hours passing by before we entered the city of Kraków.

The Buildings of Banská Bystrica

At the SNP Square of Banská Bystrica, there is this Art Nouveau fountain which is just a normal fountain in the day. It will turn into a musical fountain with sound and vision by night.

Most buildings around the streets of SNP Square are of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. These buildings were mostly the noblemen's and bourgeois' mansions and residences. They are now museums, pose restaurants and cafes, as well as souvenir shops.

A Quick Tour of Banská Bystrica

Banská Bystrica is the sixth largest municipality situated at central Slovakia. It was also one of the earliest Slovak towns. It started off as a copper mining town and acquired its Late Middle Ages setting later which makes it very picturesque.

The main attractions of Banská Bystrica are concentrated around the SNP Square (Námestie SNP) of which the name was derived from the Slovak National Uprising.

Somewhere near the centre of SNP Square is the black obelisk honouring the Soviet soldiers killed during the liberation of the city in 1945.

At the middle-end part of the square stands the leaning clock tower built in 1552. It is 40 centimetres off centre at the top.

To the right of the leaning clock tower is the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral which started to be constructed in 1702 and came to a six-year halt since 1703 due to the anti-Habsburg troops occupation. The construction of the cathedral resumed in 1709 and it was completed in 1715. In front of the cathedral is the St. Mary's pole or the plague column erected in the 18^th century in gratitude to the auspices of Virgin Mary for ending a deadly plague.

Somewhere off the SNP Square is the town castle area with the remains of the fortifications, a barbican, a parish church and the Church of the Holy Cross.

Lunch in Banská Bystrica

We were brought to the basement of a restaurant in Banská Bystrica and the place is like inside the crypt of a cathedral. The lighting makes the place even more medieval. From a second look, it could be a bomb shelter as well.

When we were seated, we were served some white toast bread as a start.

Then came the soup with rice noodles and carrot.

The main course was braised chicken with some potato fries and rice.

And for dessert, we had some chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

From Budapest to Banská Bystrica

It was a cross-country bus ride again after our visit to Budapest. This time, we were crossing from Hungary to Slovakia. The journey began in the morning from Budapest and we arrived at Banská Bystrica in Slovakia just in time for lunch and a short walk around this lovely small town.

On this journey, I took a shot of the road sign when we crossed the border so that I can separate the photos of both countries. So here are the photos when we were moving along the countryside of Hungary.

From here onwards, it was on the road in Slovakia.