Crosscarpatia tour 2003 [5.]

Slovakia, Bardejov, September 2003; Ilford Pan 100 negative scan, frame size 6x9 cm; camera: Ercona II.

Crosscarpatia tour 2003r. [ trasa: Presov - Bardejov - Humenne - Michalovce - Użhorod - Mukaczewo - Czerniowce - Chocim - Kamieniec Podolski]

An excerpt from my travel journal, this time the beginning of the trip, still in Poland:

Tuesday September 2, 2003

5.10 am - Main Railway Station in Krakow. I change to the train towards Košice. I have some time, but there is nowhere to sit at the train station, you cannot drink or eat something warm. Sad and gloomy, as in all stations in the morning, between night and dawn. Everything at the station is closed, waiting room, restaurant, ticket offices. Abandoned building. You can use the doubles of various booths in front of the station, but the fast food does not look inviting. But before dawn, bagel sellers show up with their tin, lighted trolleys filled with fresh pastries. Witnesses of the night vigilance of Krakow's bakery and depositories of Krakow's tradition. Only Lajkonik is missing, apparently they have not opened a stable or a catwalk for him yet.

Opposite, by the pekaes, life is already beginning, the first buses depart, you can even go to Zakopane. Most travelers, half asleep, however, go to work and are unlikely to ever go to a resort. Dress code does not indicate this. Such observations and odyssey peregrinations at dawn give great interesting observations. Fortunately, I blend into the background and I am not bothered by the shadows of people, wandering through a hard, sleepless night, sometimes needing a bit of alcohol to reach the end of their consciousness. Somehow I have to wait this hour until 6.05. The train to Košice was empty, a few people in each car. There were even four Chinese, three men and one woman to be exact. One jog, dragging a suitcase on wheels, and in the other hand holding a prophetess with four pairs of socks drying out. Phantoms from the sunrise at sunrise, heading towards sunrise. The journey passes without any problems until the conductor announces that there is an alternative bus communication between Grybów and Nowy Sącz, probably due to the renovation of the track. It's a pity, because touring Grybów along this railway route is very charming, you go through the whole city along the slope, as if you were flying over it. One trip gives you the opportunity to see it from several sides, several perspectives. The train rolls slowly, the wheels squeak, the smoking chimneys of the Grybów Brewery below - closed now? Unfortunately, this time I was deprived of such views. The Chinese are confused and do not know what is happening. After all, they were only supposed to get off in Košice. The conductor insistently wants to explain the complexity of the whole situation to them in Polish, and their nervousness and confusion intensify. Well, the train is after all international relations. Fortunately, someone who knows English takes pity on the fate of the Asians. The delay is already 45 minutes. The train leaves Nowy Sącz at 10:45 AM. It is close to the border, and the railway line meanders picturesquely along with Poprad, in the joint embrace of a turbulent river and high slopes of the nearby hills. The first fall colors begin to appear on the trees. Mountains, hills interspersed with forests, meadows and small plowed fields, a rough river, the slow rattle of a train.

I'm in Presov around noon. Unfortunately, it got cold and it started to drizzle. It's very unpleasant and you don't even want to go out to town. I buy my first beer, in a dear to me Slovak soil, in a train station pub and I immediately decide to go to Bardejov to find accommodation there, because I planned to stop there for the first time. Well, these are memories and returns to places where you've only been a few hours before. Memory suggested that it is worth anchoring here for a longer time, because the atmosphere of the city is unusual. These are my memories of Bardejov from a few years ago. And here I am again, alone. As it once was. According to the information from the guide, it was best to stay in the "Sport Hotel" and it was true.