Levoca and around

Friday, May 4, 2018

Up first for us today was Levoca, whose old town is still surrounded by its medieval walls.  We parked (illegally??) along the main square and arrived at its main attraction, the Church of St. Jacob (James) just as it was being unlocked for a tour (in Slovak).  The guide provided us with an English explanation of the interior’s highlights, most notably the world’s tallest Gothic altarpiece; at over 61 feet, it grazes the arch of the ceiling above.   A wooden sculpture, carved without nails, its representations of the Last Supper, Madonna and Child, the lives of James and John, and other hovering angels and saints glow with gold leaf.  There are numerous other altars and some lovely frescoes in the church as well.

Leaving the church, we walked along the old town walls and were able to see the pilgrimage church dedicated to Mary on the green hill above town.

Back in the square, we enjoyed seeing the variety of facades on the old merchants’ homes, the Town Hall’s interesting roofline, and the Cage of Shame, a decorated box of iron bars used for public punishment of miscreants and “women who went into the streets at night, unaccompanied by their men!”

Rather than take the pilgrims’ footpath up the hill, we drove, and were treated to a fine view of Levoca.  The red tile roofs of the old town, the spire of the church we’d just visited, and the encircling medieval walls were clearly visible.

A short distance from Levoca, the village of Spisske Podhradie is flanked by two notable sights.  We stopped first at Spisska Kapitula (Spis Chapter) a still-active 13^th – century Catholic walled complex. For the second time today, we arrived just as a guide was unlocking the church for a tour.  We joined the group and wandered around the Cathedral of St. Martin on our own, as the Slovak explanation was lost on us.

Our next stop was at Spis Castle, which dominates the landscape for miles around from the top of a hill.  Actually, the castle’s almost 10 acres are too much for the hilltop; the complex spills down the hill, with walls encircling it all.  Our initial approach to the castle was somewhat daunting, especially given this afternoon’s warm weather.  The directions from the center of town took us to a parking lot at the very bottom of a steep, treeless path up to the lowest point of the castle’s walls.  The lovely parking lot attendant suggested that we might want to go to another parking area, higher up the hill.  Despite the fact that she spoke no English, her gestures were enough to get us to a much better position.  (We’d read about the better approach and tried to locate it on our own and at the local TI, where we were told that we would, indeed, have to use the “park and climb” lot!)  Even so, once we did park, we still had a bit of a hike uphill (no valet parking at the portcullis!), but it was a much better option.  The castle complex dates from the 12^th century and has served not only as defensive fortifications, but also as palaces for rulers and the aristocracy.  We used audioguides to guide us around and through the many levels, rooms, and buildings of the castle ruins and their explanations helped us understand what we were seeing.

As if Spisske Podhradie’s two UNESCO-listed attractions were not enough, it has another claim to fame.  It has four Sister Cities and two of them, Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside are in Arizona!  What are the chances – especially since I don’t think either of those places have ever been referred to as cities before?!?  In any case, Tom insists that this little factoid is blogworthy and knows how interested you all are!

En route back to our digs in Poprad, we stopped to see the oldest part of this town, Spisska Sobota.  We walked down the narrow tree-lined square, which is bordered by 16^th- century buildings that were once the homes of merchants and artisans.

With that, we beat the rain and a bit of thunder to arrive back for happy hour and to pack our bags for tomorrow’s departure for Bratislava.