Children enjoy snow at the Rudol Čillík Cross-Country Skiing Stadium at Skalka, central Slovakia, on January 9, 2022. (source: TASR - Ján Krošlák)
Winter season begins at Skalka
The season of cross-country skiing started earlier this week at the Skalka ski resort near Kremnica, central Slovakia, after almost 20 centimetres of snow fell in the Kremnické Vrchy mountains on Tuesday.
Eleven kilometres of cross-country trails are now prepared for cross-country skiers, including the stadium and the inline circuit up to the Bystrické Sedlo saddle, the TASR news agency wrote.
Skalka and its wider surroundings offer visitors approximately 100 kilometres of cross-country skiing trails of varying difficulty.
The High Tatras on December 8, 2022, pictured from the town of Svit. (source: TASR - Adriána Hudecová)
Related: The skiing season will start in Štrbské Pleso, High Tatras, on Saturday. In Tatranská Lomnica, the season will kick off the week after.
Ski resorts: You can follow snow news for skiers here.
NA SLOVENSKU AJ PO ANGLICKY PODCAST
Foreigners & friendship
Four foreigners are talking about the friends that they left behind in their home countries and the friends that they made in Slovakia.
Friendships give our lives colour when the world seems grey. (source: Pexels)
Events:
In Martin, central Slovakia, the Slovak Village Museum will showcase Christmas traditionson Sunday. But if you are in Bratislava, you may prefer an overview oftop 10 events in the capital or visit the reopening of the renovated Slovak National Gallery or Christmas markets to drink Pressburger wärmlich. Coca-Cola's Christmas truck is driving around Slovakia, too. People can see it in eastern Slovakia, Bardejov and Košice, during the weekend and on Monday.
US Navy captain with Slovak roots who spacewalked
50 years ago, on December 7, 1972, a Saturn V rocket blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida carrying the crew of the Apollo 17 mission, including Eugene Cernan.
A captain in the US Navy, Cernan went into space three times and became famous as the last man to walk on the moon.
Cernan had Slovak roots – roots he never forgot.
Eugene Cernan, NASA archive picture (source: AP/TASR)
In other news
Archaeology: The remains of an Early Stone Age site have been unearthed in Martin.
Tree: Back in the day, a room was carved out into a large oak tree. Here's a photo of the room.
Tram: A Christmas tram operates in Bratislava until early January. Take a ride.
Nitra has its own Christmas bus this year. (source: Facebook/Mesto Nitra)
PLAY
As Christmas is around the corner and Christmas music is everywhere, here's a little "Can you guess the Christmas song?" game. Here are three hints:
A carol.
A Ukrainian artist.
A 1990 film.
You can listen to the English and Ukrainian versions of the song on Spotify.
PS: The song came to America 100 years ago, NPR reports. The US public radio also explains that the song came to the USA at a time when Ukrainians were fighting for freedom.
That's it for this week. Have a restful weekend. - Peter
Do you have any tips? You can reach Peter at peter.dlhopolec@spectator.sk
