Last Saturday we got back from our yearly Winter Ski Camp and as of today (Tuesday) I still got my mind wandering back to our trip in Jasná, Slovakia. Needless to say it was awesome!And yes, as of this year, Winter Camp is called Ski Camp, because it's really that, a trip mainly for skiers and snowboarders. However, I for one am not a winter sports aficionado and still had a lot of fun in Jasná. There's a lot more to do than skiing there, but more on that in a minute.
Our colleagues together with their partners and kids arrived in Jasná Wednesday night and the next day off they were on the Tatras!
Beginners would take the easier blue slopes, the more advanced the red ones, and our daredevils the walls of the black descents. Some of our colleagues tried skiing for the first time – and I would have done so too if I wasn't so preoccupied with self-preservation…Anyway, this is how the Tatras look from the Chopok peak:
Pics tell the story better than I do, so I'll shut up for a moment:
Well, for one thing, the slopes get closed at about 4. After that we'd all gather for a Czech beer, a delicious traditional Slovak meal, and some very Romanian games and laughs.During the day, some of us "pedestrians" would explore the Jasná resort and its surroundings – the Chopok peak, the Demänovská valley, and its superb Cave of Liberty. For instance, a few friends and myself went for a leisurely trek through the forest, by a frozen lake, and up to a small cosy cabin where we ate excellent food. The cabin looked like this:
The next day, we went to the town nearby, Liptovský Mikuláš, while others went to relax in the Tatralandia Aquapark. I've never been there, but by my colleagues' recount, it's pretty awesome. In Mikuláš we discovered (i.e. found on TripAdvisor) a local coffee roastery where we charged our batteries for what came next:
"What? A museum in this small town? That sounds boring and more like a time killer than a deliberate passtime" I thought. And how wrong I was! The exhibitions were not only interesting, but actually very entertaining. The galleries, freshly renovated as it seems, provided an excellent multimedia experience – the best I had so far in a museum!Here's a video of the part that speaks about the Wallachians (Romanians) who between the 14th and 18th century colonised the Slovak mountains, bringing with them the knowledge and skills for sheep farming and enriching the Slovak vocabulary with words like bryndza (brânză), salaš (sălaş), bača (baci), strunga (do I need to translate this one?):[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://qubiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5096.mp4"][/video]You could spend all day learning about caves, rocks, the origin of the universe, our fauna, extant or extinct, and more. Highly recommended!After visiting the museum, we had lunch in a local microbrewery who served burgers and pretty decent brews.
Thanks Ionuţ for the photos (the pretty ones are his)!And special thanks to the Support Team for organising the whole thing. As a side note: our Support Team is one of the main reasons my colleagues love it at Qubiz, so very well done and thanks a lot!