(source: TASR)
PENSIONER Ladislav Holub of the eastern-Slovak municipality Poša has found an interesting way to enhance his big collection of postcards depicting Slovak cities and villages. He travels across Slovakia and asks municipal offices in each town for postcards and stamps.
So far, Holub has visited more than 1,470 municipalities, and his most recent travel took him across the Gemer region. In mid October, he ended the tour by visiting the municipalities of Rákoš, Nandraž and Jelšava before returning to Poša, in the Vranov nad Topľou district.
“I have been doing sports all my life,” Holub told the TASR newswire. “And this is what I found as a hobby for retirement. I have a passion, collecting postcards of cities and villages, and in this way, I improve my collection. I am not willing to sit at home on the computer and thus, I get unforgettable experiences. For example here in Ratková, I met the mayor, and then the caretaker showed me a unique local church. Moreover, he invited me to his home for a meal,” the collector explained.
Holub is left to the mercy of the weather on his travels, but some people help him. “I do not much look around where I am,” he said. “I simply ride and ride, if it is possible. Initially, I made about 200 kilometres every day, but that’s too much. When the evening comes, I look at the sky and adapt the next course of events to the current situation. In Muráň, for example, the mayor let me sleep in the locker rooms of a local football club. In Lubeník, I simply slept in my sleeping bag next to the municipal office, in the open air.”
“Most of the time, I get positive reactions and people often give me, apart from postcard and stamps, small souvenirs representing the municipality,” he went on. “For example, I get pens, danglers to go with the keys, caps, but also books or DVD presentations. Once I received a book that weighed almost 14 kilograms. Of course, I didn’t carry such weight – I sent it home in a package.”
After returning to Poša, Holub plans to take care of his household and earn some money for the next journey. If he succeeds, he would like to set off for another postcard-collecting trip before the end of this year.
