Talk:Slovakia/Archive 2004-2011

For future reference the Project:CIA World Factbook 2002 import can be found at Talk:Slovakia/CIA World Factbook 2002 import.

Removed this timeline from main article... someone who knows the country should either throw it away totally or write the relevant bits up for the "Understand" section. --(WT-en) Nils 19:42, 25 Mar 2004 (EST)

Catholicism
According to the latest poll, 62% of citizens are Catholic, which is much less than in Poland

History
[623 - 658] Slavonic tribes revolt against Avar rule and create the first Slavonic state. Frankish merchant Samo leads this new tribal confederation, but its unity was short-lived. After his death, the state disintegrated.

[First third of the 9th century] Moravian prince Mojmir conquered Slovak prince Pribina and established the Great Moravian empire. The castle site in Bratislava and nearby Devin became important fortifications.

[907] The Salzburg Chronicles mention Bratislava for the first time, in connection with the battle between the Hungarians and the Bavarians below the castle.

[Early Middle Ages] The so-called Amber Road between northern and southern Europe makes Bratislava an important trade center, due to its strategic location on the Danube halfway between the Baltic and Black Seas. Trading, wine production and crafts become Bratislava's most important sources of income.

[12th century] On the eastern slope of Castle Hill a medieval Romanesque city rose from a small village below the castle.

[1291] Hungarian king Andrew III granted the city extensive political, economic and administrative privileges. Bratislava became an autonomous unit under Hungarian rule, and new city fortification walls surrounded by a moat were built.

[14th - 15th century] The flourishing city builds a second zone of fortification walls around the suburbs, now with five gates instead of three. Craftsmens' guilds and winemaking expanded exponentially.

[1405] Hungarian king Zigmund Luxemburg made Bratislava a free royal town. The Bratislava mint was established in 1430, and the king gave the town the right to use its own coat-of-arms in 1436.

[1464] Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus proclaimed The Golden Bull, adding new privileges to those already enjoyed by the city.

[20 July 1467] Matthias Corvinus founded the Academia Istropolitana, the first university on the territory of today's Slovakia.

[1536] After the Battle of Mohac (29 August 1526), Habsburg Ferdinand I became the Hungarian king. As Buda had been occupied by the Turks, Ferdinand proclaimed Bratislava the capital, parliamentary center and coronation town of Hungary.

[1543] Bratislava became the seat of the Esztergom bishop.

[1606] Establishment of the Evangelic school, which played an important role in the years of the Slovak National Revival.

[1698] Russian czar Peter the Great paid a visit to Bratislava.

[1735] The first extensive history of Bratislava was written by Slovak historian Matej Bel in the first volume in his monumental work Historical and Geographical Knowledge About The New Hungary.

[1775] Empress Maria Teresa ordered the destruction of the city fortification walls.

[1776] A professional theatre was established.

[1783] Austrian mperor / Hungarian king Josef II transferred all government back to Buda and the coronation jewels back to Vienna. Bratislava, with 33,000 inhabitants, was the largest city in Hungary, but as the government officials left, so did the entrepreneurs, craftsmen and merchants. After few years, the number of inhabitants dropped by one-third.

[1787] Linguist Anton Bernolak codified the first written form of Slovak.

[1809] Napoleon invades Bratislava. Devin was burnt down, and two years later so was Bratislava Castle.

[11 April 1848] At the last session of the Hungarian Assembly held in Bratislava, in the Primate's Palace, Hungarian king Ferdinand V signed a law abolishing serfdom in Hungary.

[1843] Ludovit Stur, linguist and noted patriot, codified standard Slovak.

[1891] First manmade bridge across the Danube opened.

[1 January 1919] Bratislava became a part of the Czechoslovak Republic and the seat of the central Slovak authorities.

[14 March 1939] Autonoumous Slovak State is established and Josef Tiso becomes its president. Slovak State is officialy autonomous, however it's just puppet state in the hands of Hitler.

[1945] End of WWII, and liberation of Bratislava by the Soviet army.

[1947] Democratic party beats the Communists in the general after-war elections in Slovakia. Communist Party wins in Czech Republic, part of Czechoslovakia.

[February 1949] Slovak Communists supported by Czech Communist Party on the rise overthrow democratically elected Slovak government. Czechoslovak Communist Party comes into power.

[1950's] Communist dictature creates fictious cases against anti-communists and sentences them to death. So called "monster" processes or "theatre" processes are held against political prisoners.

[1968] The Constitutional Law of Czechoslovak Federation was signed at the Castle of Bratislava on 30 October. Bratislava became the capital of the Slovak Socialistic Republic. Soon after, during the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact armies, there are Soviet tanks in the streets of Bratislava.

[1989] So-called "Velvet Revolution" on SNP Square in Bratislava.

[1 January 1993] Bratislava became the capital of the independent Slovak Republic.

[May 2004] Slovakia joins the European Union.

Research Links
Ext links deleted from main article which may or may not be useful for research purposes (feel free to delete any which are not useful)
 * http://www.travelslovakia.sk
 * http://www.slovakia.org
 * http://www.slovensko.com
 * http://www.bratislavaguide.com
 * http://slovakia-travelguide.info

Hostel film
As weird as it is to consider placing a disclaimer in the "Stay safe" section for Slovakia for a ficitonal horror film it may actually belong there. I was discussing a planned trip to Europe with a friend and told him we'd spend a couple nights at a hostel when he interjected with "Do people really get murdered in hostels?" I hadn't seen the film, but rented that same night to see what he was talking about. Does this disclaimer belong there or can people (like my friend) really be swayed to believe East Europe and Slovakia are exceptionally dangerous because of some Hollywood crock storyline? - (WT-en) Andrew Haggard (Sapphire) 17:08, 25 June 2006 (EDT)
 * Well of course people get murdered in hostels. It happens in East Europe all the time ;) (WT-en) Jamboo 05:52, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

Mobile Phones
T-Mobile sells SIM Cards for less than 150sk.

Regions
I've broken Slovakia into the basic three regions which I found referred to in several places, and I parceled out the long list of cities from the main article. In addition, Wikipedia has a list of "official" tourism regions which I've attempted to place by large-region here. Please correct this placement if you know better. Once this is settled, these lists can be exported to the three region articles.

Western Slovakia
 * Bratislava Area
 * Záhorie
 * Slovakian Danube
 * Lower Váh (Dolné Považie)
 * Lower Nitra (Nitriansko)
 * Pohronie

Central Slovakia
 * Middle Váh (Stredné Považie)
 * Northern Váh (Severné Považie)
 * Upper Nitra (Horná Nitra)
 * Orava
 * Turiec
 * Horehronie
 * Ipeľ (Ipeľsko)
 * Gemer
 * Liptov
 * Slovakian Tatras

Eastern Slovakia
 * Spiš
 * Košice Area
 * Šariš
 * Upper Zemplín (Horný Zemplín)
 * Lower Zemplín (Dolný Zemplín)


 * I have now drawn the map and finished the regionalisation, as per the scheme above. This is based on the three regions of Zapadoslovensky (western), Stredoslovensky (central) and Vychodoslovensky (eastern) as shown on the CIA map here.
 * There are 16 cities listed in the country article - 7 too many. Please let's sort this out. None of them will be orphaned as they are all on the relevant region pages. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 08:23, 27 April 2010 (EDT)

Anonymous edits by P-Kut
I have made several edits on the page from this IP in places where I found the information to be incorrect or strange from a Slovak's point of view. I don't really follow wiki editing rules, so if I vandalized anything, I'm sorry. :)

One more thing, quoting the article: "Dishes served in restaurants are usually small and often many items from menu are unavailable. Fried cheese is often considered as substitute of meat."

While this may be some traveller's experience from Slovakia, I have found restaurant food in proper restaurants to be more ample than or on par with that in Czech Republic, or indeed anywhere else I have eaten in a restaurant. (I am a Slovak living in Prague, been to Germany a lot, had meals in most of western Europe :-)))

Too many cities
That list of cities should be cut down to nine, and the descriptions shortened as well, with the overflow pushed into the regional articles. (WT-en) Jpatokal 03:44, 4 January 2009 (EST)


 * Does anyone know Slovakia well enough to get that list of cities down from 16 to 9? --(WT-en) Burmesedays 12:55, 15 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Although having no travel experience in the country, I've trimmed the list of cities down to 9, with 3 cities from each region of the country. I've left the cities that are either large or have descriptions that sound nice in the list, whenever in doubt, I've taken a look at the article sizes. However, anyone knowing Slovakia better than I is of course welcome to change the list. – (WT-en) Vidimian 17:26, 27 April 2010 (EDT)

Trains
Keep in mind that crossing borders by train anywhere in Europe implies hefty surcharges

I live in Europe but I have never heared of any surcharge?? I am not sure they don't exist travelling in Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg.--81.246.15.38 10:08, 2 March 2009 (EST)


 * That's increasingly less true in Central Europe, but the rule of thumb is still that, once you cross a border, it becomes an international trip and entirely different rules apply. (WT-en) Jpatokal 12:06, 2 March 2009 (EST)

Irrelevant "Get In" information
I think the information about how to cross some peculiar local border crossings should be removed entirely. Think what tourists need to know. If you're a tourist and want to travel from Budapest to Bratislava, you'll just take a direct bus or a direct train. Both are quite frequent. You will most certainly NOT want to travel by local trains to the last village before the border, then cross the border on foot (4km walk) and then take a Bratislava city bus. Similarly for travel from Vienna and from Prague. I'm not saying that such information is always useless. It is not. For example, the info about "Malý pohraniční styk" can be useful to occasional hikers around the Czech-slovak border, but generally such details are out of scope for this article. (WT-en) Jancikotuc 11:23, 3 January 2011 (EST)

I agree and I have moved the relevant bits to Bratislava article. Deleting the rest for now:


 * From Austria


 * * There's a pontoon bridge accessible only to pedestrians, cyclists and personal cars just south of the Austrian-Czech-Slovak three country border, between Hohenau an der March (Austria) and Moravský Svätý Ján (Slovakia). The way goes through flat countryside, is very calm and can be conveniently done by bike. Its length is approximately 6 kilometers, of which the 4 kilometers on the Slovak part are a completely straight invariable landscape which may feel somewhat boring.
 * * A ferry operates between the villages of Angern an der March (Austria) and Záhorská Ves (Slovakia), accessible for pedestrians, cyclists and personal cars. Always check this website beforehand! The ferry is frequently out of service due to ice, high water level or strong winds. Hint: "zatvorený" means "closed" in Slovak. This crossing is absolutely not suitable for tourists relying on public transport.


 * [edit] From Czech Republic


 * * When traveling on train between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it is useful to buy a separate ticket for the part of the journey close to and crossing the border. The "minor border communication" (Malý pohraniční styk in Czech and Malý pohraničný styk in Slovak; MPS for short) is a special train fare which may be asked for tickets between stations that are situated closer than 40 (sometimes up to 50) kilometers from the border. These tickets can only be bought at stations which themselves are situated in the respective area.
 * * In the train station Vlárský průsmyk situated on the railway between Brno (Czech Republic) and Trenčianská Teplá (Slovakia), both Czech and Slovak trains terminate and start, so that domestic Czech tickets can be bought to/from there and used in combination with Slovak tickets from/to the virtual border station Nemšová št.hr. In practice, though, because of the MPS (see above), this place is just useful as a convenient shared transfer place between Czech and Slovak trains.
 * * Rail traffic on the railway border crossing between Sudoměřice nad Moravou (Czech Republic; the town itself is called just Sudoměřice) and Skalica na Slovensku (Slovakia; the town itself is called just Skalica) has been discontinued. Czech trains stop in Sudoměřice nad Moravou on their way between Veselí nad Moravou and Hodonín, Slovak trains terminate in Skalica. Between the two stations, it's a short, straight and flat walk of 3 kilometers and you may choose whether you walk on the unused railway, the adjecent busy road or the parallel old local road situated a little more to the east.


 * [edit] From Ukraine


 * * The two border crossings between Slovakia and the Ukraine (Ubla and Uzhhorod) are nowadays external Schengen borders and as a rule cannot be crossed by individuals on foot, even not at the official crossing post. You can, however, get into someone's car just to cross the border.
 * * There's a bus from Košice (Slovakia) going to Vyšné Nemecké, a border town from which you can reach the border crossing on foot. After crossing the border, you can proceed downhill to the center of Uzhhorod, either on foot or by taking a cheap taxi at the margin of the city.

--(WT-en) Scharla 14:19, 19 January 2011 (EST)

Better pictures
Most of the pictures in this article were really of horrible quality, I replaced all but one of them with something more representative. It's important to make a good first impression and pics are an integral part of it. Feel free to add more relevant high-quality pictures, if you find any.(WT-en) Jancikotuc 18:09, 3 January 2011 (EST)

edits
Ive made a number of anonymous edits, mostly just adding new information in the food/drink/stay safe/stay healthy/respect sections

also added a list of national holidays and festivals —The preceding comment was added by (WT-en) Scharla (talk • contribs)


 * Thanks, looks good! -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 11:55, 19 January 2011 (EST)

usable article?
Any suggestions on what more would be needed to upgrade the article from an outline?--(WT-en) Scharla 22:21, 20 January 2011 (EST)

I've found out you can just chamge the status, so I've upgraded it to a usable article, as I believe there is now enough information to get people to Slovakia, point them towards the things and places they might find interesting, and enough cultural info about how to get by. --(WT-en) Scharla 06:09, 21 January 2011 (EST)


 * I've demoted the article back to outline status. From what I understand from Project:Country guide status, the articles linked at "cities" and "other destinations" lists should also be at least "usable" status, so the country article could be considered "usable". However, only a few of the articles linked from here make it past "usable" status. – (WT-en) Vidimian 17:12, 25 January 2011 (EST)

No problem, didnt realise it applied to other articles as well. --(WT-en) Scharla 06:13, 29 January 2011 (EST)