Cástor and the Camino of Slovakia (video)

After finishing Camino Húngaro (from Budapest, Hungary to the Austrian border), my buddy Viktor and I walked over the border to Bratislava, Slovakia where Cástor had already been waiting for us. He’s a really interesting character, who – born in Colombia – created the Camino of Slovakia. We sat down to chat with him a bit. He told us how he’d gotten from South America to Slovakia, how he’d got familiar with the Camino and how he’d become one of the three founders of the Camino Association in Slovakia.
VIDEO:

It was all teamwork: Viktor handled the camera, Cástor spoke and I made the interview with him, also I was the guy who edited this video. 
If you liked it, then check out these useful bits of information about the way:
Signs
The official sign of the Slovakian Camino is the yellow shell in front of a blue, rectangular background. However, you might find some other signs on the way, as well: such are the arrows on the hiking and biking trails, or the shells made of metal or stone that can be found on the pavements in the cities. Unfortunately, due to the bureaucratic reasons you can hear about in the video, the whole course couldn’t be set yet, but you can download the GPS track from here and there are also descriptions for each track, the help of which you can easily walk along the Slovakian Camino with.
Credencial

The Slovakian Way of the Camino starts off at Kosice (at the Cathedral of Saint Elisabeth, to be precise) and leads to Bratislava, covering about 623 kilometres. The credencial costs 3.50 Euros. You might buy one at multiple locations. 

These are the following ones: 

MIC Kosice – regional and tourist information centre, right across from the cathedral, Hlavná 32, 040 01 Staré Mesto, Kosice, Slovakia, http://www.mickosice.sk/ 

Regional information point, Hlavná 48, Kosice, www.kosiceregion.com Apart from these places, you might get one in Nitra, Levoca, Banská Bystrica, or Bratislava. You can find the addresses here.

In the Cathedral in Kosice, you can only get a stamp. The credencial can be ordered online, or the one you buy at your home country, in Spain or in Portugal can also be used. 

Stamps in general, you can get your credencial stamped at your accommodation, or in a church. The exact locations can be found in the description of the tracks. Accommodation and costs There aren’t many places to stay along the Slovak Way, yet. The list of the existing ones can be found in the track descriptions, too. 

Due to the limited number of beds, it is vital to sign up at least 1-2 days before arrival. The cost of these places is a bit higher than of those on the Spanish Way. Here, you should calculate with 12-15 Euros/person/night. The price of the food is similar or cheaper to that in Spain, which means around 3-6 Euros if you are planning to keep it simple. Set menus for pilgrims are difficult to find in Slovakia, but you can still bump into cheap(er) places. 
Dangers
The Slovakian Camino is basically safe, but there are still some basic rules to keep. Walking on the roads, you’ll need to pay attention to traffic, especially on mountain roads, which tend to be narrow and curvy. (You can find some simple tips here.) Bears might also come your way in the mountains, but luckily, they are pretty rare and they seldom attack people. Still, just to be on the safe side, I wouldn’t recommend hiking after sunset or before sunrise. 

Bears tend to avoid people, but you can still bump into one accidentally in areas with dense vegetation. Therefore, it is advised to make noise in such areas, for example by talking loudly, singing or clapping your hands, so that the bear knows you’re approaching and it has a chance to go away. 

Throwing away food (such as banana peel or apple) is a thing to avoid anyway, since dropping seeds of non-native plants might be harmful for nature. Here, on top of that, you might even attract bears by throwing away food along the trails. You can find the website of the Slovak association here: www.CaminoDeSantiago.sk Soon, it will be available in multiple languages. I’m already getting itchy, so I’m sure I’ll go along the Slovak Way sometime in the future!

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