Weekend: Throwback to unbelievable Easter accidents

Set out on Easter hikes or watch Slovakia's best films of recent years.

An Easter bus on April 8, 2022, in Partizánske, western Slovakia.An Easter bus on April 8, 2022, in Partizánske, western Slovakia. (Source: TASR)

Eating chocolate eggs sounds like a good plan for Easter, but you will hopefully find even better Easter ideas below.

You can spend the Easter long weekend at Slovak castles, go hiking, or watch some of the best Slovak films of 2020 and 2021, including one set in Odessa, Ukraine.

We also invite you to the post-Easter premiere of a dance performance.

Easter can indeed be a dangerous time period; as a 2016 story about curious Easter Monday incidents suggests, so the movie option is probably safest.

Celebrate Easter safely!

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EVENT

Easter adventures at castles

The Slovak National Museum will host Easter events at some of its castles.

Alice will come back from a magical world to the Červený Kameň castle in the Bratislava Region at the start of the Easter weekend, and she will stay until April 18, Easter Monday, to take visitors on an adventure.

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Tours guided by fairy tale characters will also be held in extensive cellars of the castle, starting every hour on the hour from 11:00 to 17:00.

At the Modrý Kameň castle, which serves as the museum of puppets and toys and is located in the south of central Slovakia, visitors will learn more about Easter symbols and traditions during the weekend, including how to make a whip of willows and decorate an Easter egg.

Games will be held in the nearby St. Anna Park as well. Spring flowers will blossom during the coming four days, the castle said, and it is promised to be fun for families to find and identify them all. If they are successful, they will find a surprise in underground cellars.

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In Betliar, Košice Region, children can look forward to an exhibition of animals in the park outside the manor house on April 16, as well as a fair of traditional crafts and a workshop for the little ones. Each child needs to bring two blown-out eggs for the workshop, though.

On Easter Monday, several chocolate and Easter surprises will be waiting for children visiting the manor house and the park.

Note: Fees apply to all three events.

Learn more about Easter in Slovakia


HIKING

Two rocks

As the weekend lasts longer, here are two Easter hiking tips, of which the former is in the west and the latter can be found in the east of Slovakia.

Čierna Skala (Black Rock, 662 m) is a hill in the Small Carpathians that hikers can reach in an hour by following a yellow marked hiking trail from the town of Plavecký Mikuláš.

What makes it attractive to hikers is its long and narrow rocky ridge and high rock walls. From up the hill, they can then observe the forests of the Small Carpathians and the Podunajská Nížina lowland.

From Čierna Skala, hikers can return to the town or walk further on to the Jahodník recreational area, again on the yellow marked trail, and then to the town of Smolenice, which boasts a wonderful castle and a vast English park. The extended version of the hike (13 km) takes four hours to complete.

In eastern Slovakia, a rock called Folkmarská Skala (915 m), a beautiful limestone cliff formation, towers over the town of Kojšov. It dominates the northeastern edge of the Volovské Vrchy mountains.

Although the hill is covered with grass and trees, there are places from which people can enjoy nice views that can go as far as the High Tatras.

To explore this former mining area, hikers need to follow, again, a yellow marked hiking trail, just as in the case of Čierna Skala. It takes about 90 minutes to reach the rock, though the trail is significantly steep. A trail starting in the Ružín-Košické Hámre recreational area is not demanding, but longer.

OTHER TRAVEL IDEAS

Church: Romanesque Church of St Michael the Archangel in Dražovce.

Water: The canoeing experience in the Latorica protected landscape area in eastern Slovakia.

Hike: Baranec in the Liptov region.


DANCE

SĽUK will premiere a new show

The Slovak Folk Art Collective (SĽUK) will present the premiere of its new music and dance show “The Passion - The Story of Man and the Earth”.

“We tried to put together the Christian theme, which relates to the Passion, and the theme of traditional folk culture and customs tied to spring,” SĽUK’s choreographer and artistic director Stanislav Marišler told the TASR newswire.

The performance, which is directed by Alena Weisel Lelková, does not intend to transcribe traditions or confront the Easter liturgy, he added.

“The aim of our show is to interpret the story of man and the earth, the living tradition and biblical motifs by contemporary artistic means.”

From the traditional culture, spectators can recognise the burning of Morena, a goddess of winter and death, and the erecting of Maypoles. As to Christianity, dancers will portray the stories of Judas’ betrayal, The Last Supper, and The Way of the Cross to name a few.

“There is no spoken word,” said the artistic director, “all stories and scenes are portrayed through dancing.”

Premiere: at 19:00 on April 24

Admission: €19 (buy a ticket)

Venue: Divadlo SĽUK

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS FROM THIS WEEK

  • The Zechenter’s House in Kremnica, once owned by a Slovak travel author, will welcome back creative souls, writers and translators.

WEEKEND READ

A Ukraine-based film named Slovakia’s best picture

Coincidence or not, the national film award, Slnko V Sieti, for best picture has been given to a story set in Ukraine. The country is still being ravaged by the Russians.

The award ceremony took place the past weekend.

Ivan Ostrochovský’s black-and-white drama “Servants” was a strong candidate for winning the main prize. The film speaks openly about how representatives of the Catholic Church were forced to collaborate with the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

However, the Slovak Film and Television Academy decided that “107 Mothers” would be named the best feature film. Director Peter Kerekes filmed it with Ukrainian women serving sentences in an Odessa prison, in the south of Ukraine.


That’s it for this week. Enjoy your Easter weekend! - Peter

Do you have any tips? You can reach Peter at peter.dlhopolec@spectator.sk

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