(I came late and then missed the deadline due to the combination of uncertainty about the rules and time constraints; but at olivia’s request, I repost my ET diary in slightly edited form anyway. Without proper fOtofair layout.)
On Saturday, I took part in my family’s traditional autumn tour of my ancestors’ cemeteries in central Slovakia (also diaried last year), something always followed by an excursion. Some impressions…
After all cemeteries are done, we have a midday picnic at the castle of Bzovík (Hungarian: Bozók). Here on a photo from last year, looking towards the mountain chain Štiavnické vrchy (Hungarian: Selmeci-hegység):
The highest (right of center on the image), 1009 m high Sitno (Hungarian: Szitnya) was our afternoon excursion target this year. En route, on the pass road between Krupina (Hungarian: Korpona, German: Karpfen) and Svätý Anton (Hungarian: Szentantal, German: Sankt Anton in der Au), the cloud mass of a cold front makes way for sunshine:
At the upper end of the next valley lies the centre of the region, picturesque former gold mining town Banská Štiavnica (Hungarian: Selmecbánya, German: Schemnitz). On last year’s photo, we are looking from the Old Castle to the Kalvária:
Later, on the side of Sitno (Hungarian: Szitnya) mountain, the shore of a mountain lake with wild apple tree:
The rocky top portion of Sitno (Hungarian: Szitnya) mountain, a former volcanic dome:
The climb between rocks:
View from the top towards the North:
View to the Northeast: low-angle light on the East side woods, with satellite mining town Štiavnické Bane (Hungarian: Hegybánya, German: Siegelsberg) in the background:
An extra — a photo I made one day later (after visiting cemeteries of another branch of my family), of a freak autumn storm descending on the Danube just to the North of Hungarian capital Budapest:
Thanks for posting your autumn diary. I’ve enjoyed visiting everyone’s world through their photos. As I said over at ET, I especially like the third last photo — the colours and the perspective. Autumn is my favourite season, I enjoy the colour and the cooler temperatures and the smell of fallen leaves.
(Sorry about the time/date posting confusion earlier!)
Unbelievably gorgeous. I would love to visit there someday – my family is from that part of the world.
From where exactly? Maybe I have pictures even closer to your origins.
I am so glad you listened to Olivia! Your photos are delightful. Autumn foliage is just…just so outrageously beautiful. Once I calmed down from the blast of beauty, I noticed how you have composed each photo, providing guidance for my eyes. (Contented sigh) Thanks.
Thanks! BTW, I loved the movie your username was taken from.
And yet another beautiful set of photos. Thanks for posting these DoDo! It’s always fun to see another part of the globe.
I’m so glad you posted these, they’re beautiful.
Thank you, DoDo, for giving us a window into your part of the world. It is very beautiful there. I really enjoyed your photos.
These are lovely pictures, DoDo, thanks for posting them no matter the deadline.
They remind me more than a little of a small journey I made through Hungary at the end of grad school. The varied terrain, the overlapping cultures, the beauty of it all. And to the East, North, and South, so little that we’ve been taught here in the U.S. — so much to understand. I appreciate what you’ve written about these things on ET
Deadline, schmedline, I’m very glad you posted this diary! What wonderful and insightful views you have given us of your part of the world … one, I might admit, I’ve always wanted to visit. And the autumn vistas are just awe inspiring, not just because of the subjects themselves, but the wonderful colors as well.
Thanks for letting me get such a marvelous view of it all!
I had to check out this diary because of the name-my mothers name was DoDo(short for Dorine)and because of Slovakia in the title..how close is that to being the old country of Bohemia?(where my great grandmother was from and great grandfather from Poland).
The photos are truly gorgeous and being late didn’t hurt them a bit.
Slovakia is the Eastern half of former Czechoslovakia (it occupies the mountainous Northern rim of the Carpathian Basin). The Western half, the Czech Republic, consists of two historical regions Czech Lands (the larger part in the West, it lies in a basin surrounded by mountains) and Moravia (the smaller part in the East that borders on Slovakia, it is mostly low mountains and highlands). Bohemia is the older name of the Czech Lands (it originates in the name of a Celtic tribe that resided there in early Roman times).
Before Czechoslovakia was created (after WWI), for the most part of the second millenium, what is now Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary or the Habsburg Empire province named Royal Hungary; while what is now the Czech Republic was part of the Germanic Empre and/or ruled by various German aristocrats and statelets. (Both parts though belonged to other rulers for shorter periods of time.) But even earlier, there has been one time much of what became Czechoslovakia was one country: the empire of Greater Moravia from AD 833 to around 907 (when Hungarians destroyed it). Although this was a Moravian empire that formed by conquering Nitra Principality in what is now Western Slovakia, some Slovakian nationalists count it as the first Slovakian state.
Thanks so much for answering my question!