Archive of articles - July 2001, page 7

Review: Slovak Pub: Redefining country's 'typical' bar scene

The heavy wooden stairs from Bratislava's Obchodná ulica (Shop street) lead up to a mock chapel, appropriate for a country in which over 60% of the inhabitants are Roman Catholic. Walking through the nave and entering the pub area, visitors find walls adorned with Slovak poetry and several framed paintings of famous national heroes.My companion and I seated ourselves near a table overlooking the street below and took our best guesses: that's the poet Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav; there's Anton Bernolák, who first attempted to codify the Slovak language in the 18th century; Ľudovíť Štúr, also pictured in the pub, was credited for successfully completing the feat soon after in the 19th century.

SP privatisation attracts foreign interest

New airline Sky Europe still trying to get off the ground

Sky Europe, a new airline expected to inject life into the flagging Slovak air industry, said June 21 that after protracted negotiations with the government the launch of the first regular scheduled flights from Bratislava to major European destinations has been delayed.While at the beginning of 2001, the company counted on hitting the summer travel rush by becoming the first airline to run regular direct flights to Paris, London and Rome from Bratislava, five months later, its bosses are admitting they were overly optimistic in their original plans.

VÚB bank still a risk, says Standard & Poor's

Klára Orgovánová: Solutions for Roma issues 'must exist'

In 1998 when The Slovak Spectator went to a weekly format, the paper published a feature entitled Seven for the Future, in which we profiled seven Slovaks holding the promise to positively influence the country.One of the seven was Klára Orgovánová, presented in the article as The Activist. At the time she was a programme director for the Open Society Foundation, director of the Foundation for Romany Children, and director of the InfoRoma foundation.Herself a Roma, Orgovánová has been a leading activist on behalf of the country's much maligned minority since the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which brought about the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia.

Letters to the Editor

Roma issues dealt with poorlySchuster was the lesser of two evilsThe Spectator's criticism of Schuster was unfairSlovakia keeps rolling towards the EU

Slovakia: Beautiful country, brutal salesmanship

Thank the government, past and present, for one of the primary reasons expats love this country: nobody knows about it.It can be - and has been - argued that Slovakia is perhaps the most beautiful country in Europe. After all, over 40% of the country is forested, it boasts Europe's largest ice cave (Dobšina), one of the continent's largest castle ruins (Spišský hrad), borders one of Europe's mightiest rivers (the Danube), has the world's tallest wooden altar (in Levoča), sports volcanic formations found in only six other locations on earth, and is home to a handful of the most astonishing of mountain ranges, punctuated by the abrupt High Tatras.That Slovakia is stunning is not in question. That Slovakia has no idea how to sell itself is another matter all together.

Coded message fuels concern over Mečiar

A bizarre incident last week, involving the apparent leak of a secret diplomatic message, has raised questions as to whether Slovakia can expect to receive a firm offer of membership from the NATO military alliance before the results of national elections in September 2002are known.The privately-owned TV Markíza station claimed on June 21 to have obtained the contents of a coded diplomatic cable sent by the Polish Foreign Ministry to its Slovak counterpart. The station claimed the cable described the hostility of US President George W. Bush's advisory team to the potential return to power of former Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar after next year's fall elections.

Anton Kulich selected as new chief investigator

USAID to fund local development in Slovakia

Malé Karpaty: Small mountain range big on natural beauty

Pining for a mountain getaway, yet shackled to Bratislava by the constraints of a light wallet, I trained my hiking sights on some tracks a bit closer to home, in the Malé Karpaty (Small Carpathians) mountain range. Often overlooked in favour of the country's more famous mountains, the relatively small range nevertheless provides beautiful (and convenient) hiking opportunities for capital city residents.Beginning just north-east of Bratislava, the range peaks at over 750 metres above sea level and extends some 70 kilometres to the forests south of Čachtice. Ruins of castles and churches, mountain meadows and forests of beech, oak, ash and maple await visitors. At lower elevations, small towns dot the sloping hillsides, and vineyards produce white wines for which local regions have become famous.

Troubled ŽSR state railway firm gets loan

Pieter Jägers: Private and professional

"I'm just a small Dutch businessman here running this water cooler installation business and I don't like too much publicity," said Pieter Jägers, hesitating to agree to a profile.The initial reaction is misleading. Four days later, sitting in his office at Dolphin Slovakia, a 14 employee strong subsidiary of the Dutch firm Dolphin, which he has headed for more than a year, he is immediately more open, and willing to expound on the virtues of management psychology, the excitement of the post-Communist world, and the human face of the often maligned Slovak state official.

Justice Minister: Slovak prisons best in V-4

President's Office: Lawsuit against paper to continue

How to behave: Being nice to the nice

It's generally not unwelcome to be met at the classroom door by a pod of grinning students with the news that today is your 'name day', an occasion on which you are not permitted to teach but must accompany them forthwith to the pub. Unusual, at eight in the morning, but not entirely unwelcome.But you have to know how to acquit yourself. If it's your name day (meniny), you are expected to do the inviting and at least pay a few rounds - not, as I did on March 7, 1993, to find yourself double-fisting rum and beer without a wallet or any means of contributing.

Poll: EU entry support at 62% in Slovakia

Top Pick: Fourth of July at Grizzly Bar

A balloon "Uncle Sam" - the character which symbolises the US - and an American flag will greet visitors to Montana's Grizzly Bar in the Bratislava Old Town this Fourth of July to mark US Independence Day.Celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Fourth of July is one of the most celebrated holidays in the states. Festivities marking the date became common only after the War of 1812 (between Britain and the US). As its significance grew in the mind of the public, July 4 became a symbolic starting date for several projects key to the country's interests: the digging of the Erie Canal in 1817; the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads in 1828; and the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument in 1850.Festivities at the spacious Grizzly bar will provide entertainment for both American expats as well as visitors of any other nationality. A live music performance will be given by Drink Drank Drunk, an English/Slovak band led by British singer and guitarist John Dale. A cover band, DDD has promised a line-up of surprises sure to please all guests.

Poll: 57% of Slovaks support capital punishment