Spectacular Slovakia

Peter chats to Michal Kaščák, Pohoda Festival founder, about what will follow after the festival was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19.

Ecuadorian Jorge Mancero, who is helping a community in northern Slovakia, sat down with Peter to talk about Čadca, Slovakia and Ecuador. Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

The former royal town, Pukanec, has a rich history of mining, pottery and growing vines. But the story of Samko Šikeť of Pukanec is a whole new story. Presenter: Anna Fay Guest: Peter Dlhopolec

Spectacular Slovakia welcomes back Sergei (Russia) and Ingeborg (Norway), who live in Košice. This time, they will take listeners to the Belianske Tatry mountain range. Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

Volunteers Suna Uzun from Turkey and Sebastian Pellizzari from Austria talk about one of their first hikes in Slovakia. Did they find any gold at the top of Veľký Rozsutec in the national park Malá Fatra? Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

Súľovské skaly, or the Súľov Rocks, are must-climb mountains for everyone as they offer much more than a hiking experience. Presenters: Anna Fay, Peter Dlhopolec

Anna and Peter talk about hiking Šíp peak, or Arrow peak in English, located in northern Slovakia. It’s time to pack up and seek out an adventure in the hills. Presenters: Anna Fay, Peter Dlhopolec

People in Slovakia are often inconvenienced by delayed trains and buses, but Briton Graham Strouts managed to avoid wasted hours at the train station by cycling all the way from Spain to Slovakia. Find out how he managed to cycle such a long way and what ultimately brought him to Bratislava, a place he has called home for over two years now, on this episode. Presenter: Anna Fay

Ingeborg Jørgensen and Sergei Batiashov reveal what their life in the capital of eastern Slovakia has been like in the last three years, what to do in Košice, and where to go. Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

Spectacular Slovakia sets out on a trip to Banská Štiavnica to relive an actual love story. Listen to how a bank, without money but filled with love boxes, preserves the old love story of Andrej Sládkovič and Marína Pišlová. Guest: Katarína Javorská Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

What would MasterChef judges say if they were served pampúchy? Peter has finally learned how to make Slovak doughnuts thanks to his grandma. Guest: Ľudmila Kučerová Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

Spectacular Slovakia will take you for a walk near Bratislava in the first episode of 2020. Have a listen to learn more about two hills, Malá Baňa (Small Mine) and Veľká Baňa (Big Mine), and how to get there. Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec Guest: Ľubo Mäkký (Hiking.sk) Map Guide: https://mapy.hiking.sk/?trasa=kpI23

The Spectacular Slovakia podcast will return with its first episode of 2020 on January 29. Get your candle ready. Why? Anna and Peter will explain in the teaser.

Listen to the last and festive Spectacular Slovakia episode of 2019. Peter will take you on a tour of Slovak Christmas traditions with help of Viktória, Janka, Katka, Alžbetka and Marek – five students from the Lutheran Grammar School in Bratislava. Sing along to some Slovak carols featured in the podcast. Veselé Vianoce and Happy 2020! Photo: TASR

Anna and Peter discover more spellbinding and unknown facts about Bratislava in this episode. Join them and you will learn why beer has long been considered liquid bread. Photo: TASR Book: Po stopách dávnej Bratislavy by V. Tomčík

James Thomson takes Peter on a tour around the biggest and best-known open-air market in the country, Trhovisko Miletičová, or simply Miletička. What will they find there? Photo: TASR

Anna and Peter will reveal where you can find the oldest Bratislava cinema and introduce you to a few forgotten Bratislava greats, including the iconic Schöne Náci. The latter even has something in common with one of the most successful US rappers. Photo: TASR Source: Po stopách dávnej Bratislavy by V. Tomčík

Ľubo Mäkký of Hiking.sk returns to Spectacular Slovakia to give listeners easy hiking tips in western Slovakia. He will take you to spectacular hills: Vápeč of the Strážovské vrchy range and Kršlenica of the Small Carpathians. Lace up your hiking boots! Photo: FB Vápeč - 956 m Presenter: Peter Dlhopolec

Ľubica Lacinová, a researcher at the Centre of Biological Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, recalls communist times and the Velvet Revolution (Nežná revolúcia). Photo: TASR (The Velvet Revolution Square street sign)

With complicated grammatical rules and verb forms, Slovak is a tough language for foreigners to learn. But there's hope! Listen to student Ali to find out which Slovak-language courses you can take in Bratislava to improve your language skills. Photo: TASR Presenter: Anna Fay

How does a fun-loving American and her family celebrate Halloween in Slovakia? With a strobe light dance party, indoor trick-or-treating and some pumpkin carving of course! Experience a multicultural Halloween by proxy on this week’s episode of Spectacular Slovakia. Photo: TASR Presenter: Anna Fay

Anna and Peter will travel back in time, to the year of 1907, this week. Back then, people in the settlement of Černová, nowadays a borough of Ružomberok, demanded their native, Andrej Hlinka, consecrate their new church. Little did they know bloodshed would occur instead. Listen to the latest episode about the Černová Tragedy to find out more. Photo: TASR Sources: Historická Revue (history magazi...

Mountaineer Ľubomír Mäkký of the hiking.sk website joins Peter in this week’s Spectacular Slovakia episode to explain why it is worth walking up to mountain huts in the High Tatras. Learn more about some cosy mountain huts and must-do (and manageable)hikes in the mountains on this week's episode. Photo: Chata pri Zelenom plese/Hut by the Green Lake (TASR)

Anna and Peter are inviting you to their listening party on this week’s Spectacular Slovakia. They will reveal just how many Slovak folk songs there are, but most importantly, they will play a few folk songs with whimsical lyrics. Can you help them fix a furnace that fell apart? A list of folk groups featured in the podcast by YouTube: Heľpan, Hradišťanka, Hromnica, Ištvánci, and Darinka & Milan S...

Peter and Anna talk about Martin Benka, a Slovak painter, in this week's Spectacular Slovakia. Join them on their quest to learn more about his life, paintings, and why he is important to the country's history. They will also tell you where to go to see his artwork and why he loved Amsterdam.