Hello everyone!
Honestly, there’s nothing more boring than starting the last day of Erasmus+ project meeting with workshops. Or at least I thought so.
You may have already guessed, that I’m not really into biology or chemistry. However, these two workshops that we had were quite interesting, since they were less scientific than those on Monday. In chemistry we could learn more about pH of different substances and also try it out personally (oh, not to mention, I was the photographer) and in biology were sensors of all kinds the main topic. Blood pressure, EKG, vision, hearing, vital capacity of lungs, amount of oxygen in leaves…it was kind of interesting, even for such hater of these two sciences as me.
Later on we had time to create final presentations about our impressions of this meeting, and let me tell you how amazing that was. I mean, the process was not, but at the end it turned out that all the groups had decided to troll everyone. If you’re still in high school and hesitate with joining the Erasmus+ project…don’t. It’s not as serious as it may seem!
After the final ceremony with certificates, a whole free afternoon was ahead of us. I intended to do so much stuff, catch up on what I’ve missed, but sadly….all I managed to do was some Slovak treats shopping. But at least I can tell you a little bit about what sweets you just have to try during your stay in Slovakia. But first of all I have to mention that some of these are more Czech than Slovak, but since they’ve been here since Czechoslovakia, we consider them our own as well. So let’s begin!
Kávenky are thin wafers attached to one another with smooth coffee filling. Kakaové rezy and Vesna are its varations, one with cocoa flavoured filling and another one with vanilla-lemon flavoured filling. Horalky are another sort of wafers. However, this time not as thin, filled with thicker peanut flavoured substance and coated in a very thin layer of chocolate from sides. This is the most Slovak treat that you can get, people just love it here. Fidorka is a type of circle-shaped wafer that comes with various fillings and coatings. My personal favourite is the coconut one coated in dark chocolate (blue packaging). Yum! Mila is comprised of very thin vanilla flavoured wafers, café latte filling and black chocolate coating. Delisa and Siesta are both wafers coated in various types of chocolate filled with various fillings, however, they are being produced by two different companies and hence they look and taste a little bit different. My favourite is Siesta na cesty, no other wafer will ever beat this one, delicious! Romanca are two thick biscuits glued to one another by thick layer of chocolate cream. Bebe is a sub-brand of various kinds of kinda healthy biscuits. You can get them in numerous shapes, flavours and even fillings. Venčeky are little crusty wreaths with either vanilla or chocolate flavour, they come in little tubes where there’s about twenty of them. Koky and Esíčka are this Slovak version of so-called “tea pastry”. There are more kinds of such pastry from the brand called Opavia, but I can’t think of any right now. But the point is, all of them are really good! Miňonky is a set of 6 small wafers with various coatings and fillings. I personally love the hazelnut ones the most.
Now moving further from this dry kind of stuff, Deva is a tiny chocolate covered bar of hazelnut nougat. Rumba is very similar, however, nougat contains a little bit of rum. Koko is a sweet coconut bar coated in milk chocolate. I think there’s something similar produced by Nestlé as well, however, I prefer this one. Kaštanky is a chestnut nougat bar covered either in dark or in white chocolate, based on your preference. Kofila is similar as well, the only difference is that the nougat is flavoured with Kofola beverage (Czech-Slovak sort of cola). Banánky is not that dissimilar to its Nestlé version as well, it’s basically just a banana flavoured substance coated in datk chocolate. Last but not least, Perník is comprised of two layers of gingerbread dough, jam (usually plum, strawberry or peach jam) inbetween and dark chocolate coating.
As for the candies, I think all of these are originally Czech, but since we’ve had them here for such a long time, they kinda became our own. One can’t forget to mention Bonpari, the fruity caramels, Hašlerky, the mint drops, and Doxy, which are quite spectacular. I don’t really know how to describe them properly to be honest. Do you remember those thin old white circular lollipops which had colourful edges and some sort of little image in the middle? Well this is fundamentally it, they’re just a bit smaller and don’t have a stick. Jojo is our own (well, Czechoslovak) brand for little candies and gummies of all kinds. Sour snakes are my favourite ones.
When it comes to chocolate, the best brands are Figaro and Orion. Another very popular chocolate is called Študentská pečať, the white/milk/dark chocolate full of nuts, raisins and candied fruit of all kinds. Would you believe that we also have our own chocolate spread? Its name is Nugeta and it’s a peanut – cocoa spread. Honestly, I like it even more than the famous Nutella.
I recall saying that I’m gonna talk solely about sweets, but three things salty treats are worthy mentioning as well. Slovakia chips are our own crisps and trust me, they’re way better than Lays or Cheetos. Chrumky is how we call these little fluffy crisps covered in peanut dust and tiny pieces of peanuts. Last but not least, DRU tyčinky are…well, you know these long and thin salty sticks with salty bits on top? Well that’s it, and these DRU ones are the best ones in the entire world, trust me.
Well, I think that’s it for this slight culture insert, now let’s continue with how the day went by. In the evening a farewell party took place at one recreational area near the town. I wanted my Cypriot friend to see this area (called Rybníky), so we went there on foot. Actually, there’s not anything particular to see there, just two lakes, a couple of waterfalls and lots of beautiful nature. It’s also a gauge point for a lot of hikes in the hills. It’s situated right behind Snina, direction state border with Ukraine. In summer there’s also a huge complex with pools and sports facilities available. As for the party, we were offered numerous typical Slovak dishes, for example halušky, pirohy, slonie žrádlo etc. and pastry from the best bakery in the world (or at least in Europe, I have a thing for bakeries and always endeavour to try something they offer so I could review and compare them – this one is still the leader). After the dinner a party took place there, and later in the night everyone thrilled about the next day went home.
The next day a trip to Spiš and High Tatras was in plan, however, the Cypriots were supposed to be leaving already at 8am, so I didn’t go neither. Plus I had another plans, I was leaving to Brno in Czech Republic later in the day! But….that’s the point of the next article.
Have a great day!
Asequibles 