The Winding Road

The winding road is said to offer something new around every corner.  Last night we popped over to Poland for dinner. Now that is a winding road, made up of curves, hairpin curves, some asphalt and mostly bottomless potholes. At the end of the road is Poland's version of Aspen on steroids.  The architecture, which we will photograph for you on another visit, was absolutely grand.  Turn the corner and you are in a new world.  Even the potatoes taste different!  And that has been our story each day of this journey into Slovakia, something new around every corner.  We dropped down into the little village of Spisska Kapitula and were immediately drawn into magic of Spis Castle, the largest castle in Europe, first mentioned in 1120, absolutely dominates the horizon.  As we drive on up the highway we see villlage after village dominated by their village church.  Some are modest, some are grand, but they all proclaim Jesus by their very presence.  As I have mentioned to you before, this land has a tragic spiritual history and as a result there are three main religious groups worshipping here. The Roman Catholics are by far the largest worshipping body, followed by an interesting group, the Greek Catholics....not Greek Orthodox, not Roman Catholics, but GREEK CATHOLICS.  The smallest group of worshipping Christians are the Lutherans.  You might note that most of the small wooden churches we will visit are, in fact, Greek Catholic. We had the distinct privilege to meet and spend time with a Greek Catholic pastor.  Pastor Miroslav IIlko, ThD and PhD., a most delightful young man who reminded me of my good friend Brandt Hoffman, pastor at Zion, Anchorage.  Miroslav is quite bright, quite dedicated to the ministry and obviously a servant in all ways.  He spent months on his hands and knees building a brand new church and then hardly drawing a breath, built a beautiful building for the youth of his town.  We come around a few more corners, and by the strength of memory alone find the church that graces our blog site, the church where my great grandfather is buried.  From the church yard one can look out and see a village in all four directions, maybe a mile or two away.  Guess what?  They all have a church and, in this area, mostly Lutheran or Greek Catholic. Carolyn and I get back in that French car of ours and travel around a few more curves. One curve offers an interesting sight, an old airplane turned Resturant.   A few more curves and we are in the little village of our relatives, Remeniny.  Our cousin Slavo has the newest house in town, and that is how they are numbered. Slavo, the mayor of Remeniny, owns house number 74. They were waiting for us and we began a weekend of feasting, worship, feasting and feasting. We are now in the high Tatras, in the small village of Zdiar, where around the corner you may have to slow for a tractor, or for a horse drawn working cart and maybe view horses being used to haul logs out of the mountains, getting to places where machines cannot get. We are here to see where it is that we will spend the entire month of May, and part of June. Our house is beautiful!  As to the road up to it, I would venture to say that 99 out of 100 people would never attempt to take a sedan up the road that takes us there. I did!  We look out our window and we are eye to eye with the peaks of the High Tatras....they are right across the road!  We went today to Kezmarok to see another of the articular wooden Lutheran Churches, as well as the more modern (1894) Lutheran Cathedral next door. We will spend the next several days of Holy Week with our relatives worshipping Thursday, twice Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. Maundy Thursday we will worship at the big Lutheran Cathedral in Presov. This is the seat of the Bishop. This Slovak Church is the The Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession. They do have bishops and they do have, hang onto you hats, nuns, although it would appear that it is a fading practice in that the nuns I have seen are all approaching 90. Our plan begins to thicken as we join hands with cousin Jan and his wife Luzanna and maybe even son Ludovit, and begin to get into the far reaches of Slovakia seeking the "Wooden Churches". You want to talk winding roads, many of these are less than one lane wide. We are excited!!!! Hope to have lots to share. Now check out these pictures from the winding road.

 This beautifully dressed Slovak woman of Spisska Kapitula is probably gazing at what you will see next.

 Spis Castle in all of her grandeur.

Interior of the new church in town, built in 1617.

 You probably recognize this as the church on the header of my blog.  Immediately behind this church are buried my great grandmother and great grandfather.

As you can see, Remeniny, the home of my relatives, is a very fast-paced town.

A cup of coffee at this restaurant is guaranteed to give you a lift!

 Around a bend we came upon a European stork.  The women in the car got a little nervous.

 This is part of my family in Remeniny.  On the left is Ludovit, next to him his sister-in-law Zlata, the newest member of the family, Karina, being held by her father, Slavo.

 Preparing the toast for our "after two meals snack" is the patriarch of the family, my cousin Jan.

 

The matriarch of the family, Luzana, with her Alaska relatives beside the still waters.

 This is the new Lutheran church in Kezmarok, built in 1894, and designed by an architect who obviously was on a Moorish bender.

 I really am not an expert, but the color and the design of this Lutheran church somehow does not fit.

 This is the old organ loft from the Lutheran articular church next door.  This church is made entirely of wood, but the outside has received a plaster covering.  This is a very difficult place to photograph simply because of all of the dark colors.

 The hand carved pulpit, very ornate to say the least.  The church was built in 1717, following all of the articular orders.  It seats 1,500 people and is used for services only in the months of July and August. 

 Come around the corner and what do we find but a Slovak traffic jam!

We close with a picture of Pastor Miroslav's beautiful new Greek Catholic church.

Let's see where the road goes from here..............   Sola de Gloria