Sleepless in Slovakia
A short business trip enabled me to visit a land that hitherto I had not considered for a journey. The country was Slovakia. I had early visited the capital of neighbouring Czech Republic Prague, which was for many years the major city for Slovakia too. Nowadays they are two distinct countries with Bratislava serving as the Slovak capital now. This trip took me not to Bratislava but a northern border town of Zilina which is home to around 80,000 citizens. It has a smart centre with new shopping centre and dominant church. However much like the other Slovak towns I passed it had an ugly industrial plant with giant chimney on one side of the urbanisation. Hidden away though is another industrial giant, the new KIA motor factory. This has brought Zilina new wealth and you can see evidence of the investment throughout the town. It was just a short trip which ended with a five hour rail journey to Prague. The train was clean and comfortable and the Slovakian countryside looked gree