Winter day at Starina
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Today is the last day that we are spending in my hometown in Slovakia. Tomorrow in the morning we will be driving back to Košice from where we will be flying to the Netherlands for a couple of days because my father in law will be celebrating his 79th birthday. I'm already looking forward to a lovely family celebration.
But before we go, we wanted to spend some time with Maxo, so we drove to Starina reservoir. We were there in summer too, but it has a very different atmosphere in winter. It's one of my favorite places in the region as there are dense forests, large fields and you can easily spot some deer or other wild animals here. You shouldn't go deep in the forest as there are bears and wolves too! Unless you want to meet them, of course.
When I was a child, we used to come here quite often. My grandma lives in a village nearby and I know these forests very well. At that time, we could set up a fireplace and grill some food for lunch. Nowadays, it's a protected area and you can't set a fire here anymore.
We left home in the morning and thought that we will come back in the evening. However, it was so cold and windy that we didn't stay there that long. We walked in the forest, played with a snow ball as Maxo loves it and after a couple of hours we went back to the car.
The water in Starina reservoir is crystal clear and it's the largest drinking water reservoir in Slovakia. At the same time, it is the largest source of drinking water in Central Europe. It took 7 years to build this reservoir. I don't remember its official opening ceremony as I was less than 2 years old however I remember coming here from school. I was in awe of its size. We don't have any lakes nearby and I hadn't been to a sea before, so this reservoir was fascinating to me at that time.
It covers an area of 311.4 ha and it's 50 m deep. There is a tunnel underneath the water that will lead you to a platform built in the middle of the reservoir. It is used to regulate the water stream of the river Cirocha which flows from the reservoir to the valley. It was scary to walk in the tunnel. The water is dripping from the ceiling, it is humid and cold inside, and you know that there is such an unbelievable volume of water above you that it makes you shiver.
The tunnel is open to public only once a year. There are thousands of people who want to visit this precious place every year. Today, we will stay outside, and we will only walk in the forest. We wanted to walk to the water as well but the road was closed due to the unstable ground and we didn't want to risk it.
Let's go to the forest!
There is an observation platform from where you can see Starina and surrounding protected are of the national park Poloniny. It was slippery and challenging to walk up this steep path. Maxo didn't mind at all though. He was happy to see the snow.
It is a tranquil place and I always feel here at peace. We couldn't see all the mountains because it was cloudy and snowing at that time.
From there I went deeper to the forest. I was looking for some traces of the wild animals but didn't find any, so I took the opportunity and photographed some plants.
I wondered how the snow got in the middle of this leaf...
The snow was stuck to one side of the trees, so the wind must have been coming from that side only...
It reminded me of how much I enjoy walking in the moss. It's soft and fluffy for your feet, feels like walking on a cloud...
I love winter as it creates such nice patterns. The first snow is the best!
I also came across some fungi. It covered almost the entire tree...
Same fungi, another part of the tree...
This tree had a little bit of snow on this part only, the rest of it was bare...
Does anyone live in that hole? I wanted to check it out, but didn't want to wake up anyone 😊
I am sure that this little fellow was not placed there just randomly...
Now we will walk as close to the water as possible. It was forbidden to enter this road, but we simply walked by the sign. My mom refused to go with us and waited for us in front of the sign 😊
As the area is protected, all broken trees are left behind. It is said that nature will recover itself. I am not that sure as I believe that we should help it in some cases.
We didn't go behind these fallen trees as my mom was stressing out and asking us to return...
This is the closest that we got to the water...
And here is our little friend with his favorite toy - a snow ball 😊
We had a good time back in Slovakia but it is time to go home. Today, we will visit my grandma to say goodbye to her and then we will pack our luggage before leaving tomorrow.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers!
Martina
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Yay first snow. Nice to see this part of Slovakia through your eyes and so glad you got to visit with your grandma.
She has it so difficult right now. She is tied to the bed and can't speak anymore, so my uncle who take care of her doesn't even know what she needs as she can't tell him. It is a difficult time for the entire family and I can't even imagine how she feels. The only things we can do is visit her and this is what we were doing every day for the last two weeks :)
Thank you for stopping by, my dear!
Oh Martina, was a hard thing to witness and go through. It is also so great that you could visit her everyday and be there for her and let her know you love her so much!
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Thank you so much! It's always a pleasure :)
We feel the same way!
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Gorgeous, @delishtreats. Congratulations on the traveldigest feature.
You’re posting on travelfeed.io? I’ve never used it but just signed in for the first time. It doesn’t seem too difficult. Are you still attaching the map coordinates rom steemitworldmap when posting on travelfeed? I messed around with it a little bit just now and was able to ‘search’ a location which pulled up a map similar to steemitworldmap. Is that what you’re doing? Hopefully I’m making sense, I’m not very tech savvy at all.
Is there anything else I need to know in order to post there? I’ve tagged travelfeed a few times but most recently was told I need to post from their platform. So, is it cool to post from their platform and still list the map from steemitworldmap? It looks like that’s what you’re doing, and then tagging both traveldigest and travelfeed, just confirming.
Thanks in advance, hopefully I didn’t burn up all of my free question in one shot. 👍🏿
It's pretty easy on their platform. You simply do whatever you would do on any other platform in terms of writing a post. Formatting works the same. Once you done, you simply search for the location and choose what suits the best from the list that will appear below the map. I don't use traveldigest anymore and travelfeed will come automatically when you post from their platform.
If you want to schedule your posts, you should know that the automatic posting is done every 15 minutes, so it might happen that your post will not get submitted at the time that you wanted. Don't worry, you just need to wait for a few minutes and then it will post.
I think there is nothing more that you should know before using the platform. BUT if there is anything what would not be clear, just let me know :)
Say hello to your lovely wife!
You’re the best, @delishtreats, thank you! If I still need a hand, I know where to go.
Deal!
Hi Martina, I enjoyed your post once again.
That fungi look as if it might be Turkey Tail (as we call it here in the U.S.) My niece is using it in tincture form to help support her chemotherapy treatments for a brain tumor, and her tumor has shrunk in size.
I've heard that, it takes a fallen tree as many years as its age to fully break down and return to the earth. I use small branches and twigs in my compost pile to help nourish my soil in the garden. They break down quickly.
I'm sorry to hear about your niece but I am happy that she found something what helps her. I wish I could send her those mushrooms! There were so many!
Oh, I didn't know it! These trees didn't look that old, so it should go fairly quickly :)
I hope it will help to grow a great produce! Do you have a place to grow veggies in winter too?
The size and type of tree, certainly must be a factor.
No, I don't have a winter place to grow vegetables; perhaps some day.
What a wonderful experience to share with you my dear friend! The photos are brilliant, as usual of course. It’s so nice to see you in Slovakia again. family, forests and so much heart warming ness amongst the snowy scenes. You have definitely put this place on my to visit list, good work! 🤗❤️
It's a long way from where you are to Slovakia but it would be great if you could make it there one day :)
Thank you for stopping by, dear Sallybeth! I wish you a Happy New Year! May it be much better than the last one :) I hope you're doing well!
Howdy Martina! Very interesting and beautiful post! Those trees across the road look like they were but down to act as roadblocks. Why is the ground unstable? Maxo is so cute!
Because it was quite wet for a few weeks so they rather close the road. The water there is very deep and cold plus it's a drinking water reservoir, so they can't risk any accidents..
He is the cutest! :)
Howdy again Martina! Oh that makes sense. I bet the water tastes really good!