The old Slovakian mining town of Banská Štiavnica

The past whispers of grandeur have faded on the streets of Banska Stiavnica.  Heavily mined since the 3rd century BC, the Slovakian town of was once a hotbed for innovation and mineral wealth.  A massive source of gold and silver for Europe in the middle ages, the mining town was home to  a number of firsts.  It was the first mine to use gunpowder and the town housed the first technical school in the world.  Today, the old town is mined out and exists simply as a perfectly preserved medieval town, left as it was in its heyday.

Granted Unesco status in the early 90's, the old city square surrounds a gigantic plague column that looks like a strange art deco version of the eye of Sauron.  So what to do in such a place?  Wander.  Aimlessly.

We loved exploring this strange town and its surroundings, and, we had some bad pizza while watching 30 seconds to Mars videos in a little pastry/pizza shop.

 A log cabin on the road from Bratislava 

 Some kind of weird settlement on the outskirts of town 

 Abandoned 

 Castle on top of the hill

 Cool castle 

 A restaurant

 Some sort of owl 

 Plague column in the middle of old town square

 Rooftops

 Spires

 Some kind of sun

 A cave feeling banquet room

 Castle in the background on a hill

 Details

 Locks

 Great color 

 An old hotel 

 Love the relief over the door

 The other side of the plague column 

 Slovak petrol station

The old border