Where solitude comes before style in northern Slovakia a bare-bones treehouse promises something rare in today’s hyper-curated travel world — complete solitude Perched on the edge of Kolárovice village near Bytča, the rustic hideaway offers little more than two worn mattresses and a roof overhead, according to the My Žilina regional news website and guests share the meadow with birdsong and the occasional deer “It’s deliberately simple,” says Martin Hrobárik the shelter feels more like a hunter’s perch than a luxury escape “There are enough fancy places already Find out more about region of folklore, national parks and modern attractions in our Žilina Region Travel Guide That ethos is woven into every creaking floorboard use a dry toilet in the forest and bring their own sleeping bags There are no neighbours — and no chance of running into fellow campers After one guest asked if others might be nearby Hrobárik removed the option to pitch tents altogether “Solitude should mean solitude,” he says attracts a niche crowd: adventurers who value peace over polish “This isn’t the High Tatras,” Hrobárik admits “But it offers something they can’t — the feeling of being alone in the world.” A helping hand in the heart of Europe thanks to our Slovakia travel guide with more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of tourist spots Our detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains Lost in Bratislava? That's impossible with our City Guide Čakajovce — A statue of Jozef Tiso (1887–1947) the Slovakian priest hanged for war crimes due to his eager deportation of tens of thousands of Slovakian Jews who were slaughtered by the Nazis See the New York Times report on the surge of neo-fascism across Europe. (Thank you to Jozef Jakubco of the SME daily for the statue photo.) Above left, Tiso meeting with Hitler in Berlin, October 1, 1941. At a minimum estimate, 68,000 out of Slovakia’s 89,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, mostly via deportations to concentration camps (Thanks to Michal Filek of My Žilinské noviny for the Varín street photo.) Rajec — A bust of nationalist leader Ferdinand Ďurčanský (1906–1974), erected in 2011. Ďurčanský, who was deemed complicit in the death of Jews by the UN, escaped to Argentina and was then admitted into Canada. See report in the Slovak Spectator Ďurčanský (center right) with Jozef Tiso and others LSNS increased their representation in parliament “Slovakia Is Not Africa” reads the LSNS banner Note: the entry below was added during the January 2022 project update The Communist dictatorship indicted Vojtaššák who resisted Communist attempts to control church life in a show trial; the bishop was tortured and spent over a decade in prisons Vojtaššák’s whitewashers try to cover up his complicity in the Holocaust by focusing on his post-war persecution Vojtaššák was a collaborator under the Nazis who was then persecuted by the Communists; revisionists speak solely about the latter while conveniently ignoring the former It’s an extraordinarily common tactic used to rebrand Nazi collaborators across Eastern Europe Lev Golinkin is a regular contributor to the Forward whose work has also appeared in The New York Times I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association Just as support for the extremist parties in Slovakia's parliament is reaching its highest levels in recent history there is a prospect that these same extremists will soon acquire a possible pilgrimage site in the town of Bytča The town is the location of the house in which Jozef Tiso president of the Nazi-allied wartime Slovak State His regime sent thousands of Slovakia's Jewish inhabitants to concentration camps Tiso was later convicted of war crimes and executed self-styled historical association is trying to buy half of Tiso's birth house from the town of Bytča in an act that could come to symbolise the country's inability to deal with crimes committed against its own citizens Tiso condemned to death hundreds of Jews from his hometown despite having grown up alongside them “Tiso grew up in a family that had normal neighbourly relations with the Jewish community,” wrote Pavel Král in a book “Tiso played marbles in the square with other boys After the property of Jews was confiscated during the war in a process euphemistically termed "Aryanisation" the subsequent communist regime turned the Jewish cemetery into a park while the town's synagogue was left to rot is marked by a memorial plaque and portrait The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.skSubscribe now for full access Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail) PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk Also the Berlin duo with Slovak-Greek roots and sometimes even elements of hardstyle come together in a sound that defines the idea of what partying should look like in 2022 We were recommended Brutalismus 3000 by our alternative electronics dramaturgist who said: “We invited Brutalismus 3000 for a double-booking with Nočná and KC Hviezdne noci in Bytča last summer and it was one of the most unforgettable experiences for me not only because I drove them back to the airport using crutches as a crooked Victoriaʼs grandma lives about 20 minutes away from Bytča so we also managed to do a Sunday family visit which was the icing on the cake of their two packed weekend sets when they went absolutely to the limit of exhaustion I can still see the moments from this weekend before my eyes and I believe that all the people who took part in this weekend do as well This is one of the most authentic dance music projects today they give in all and they undoubtedly deserve the attention they are currently getting.” Brutalismus 3000 are fast-paced rough kicks and classic 909 sounds produced by Theo Zeitner that meet catchy and diverse vocals of multilingual singer Victoria Vassiliki Daldas Even though their first few tracks came out right before the pandemic they nevertheless managed to gather a fair amount of attention during 2020 They especially gained attention with a unique live set at Berlin’s infamous streaming channel Hör for The Brvtalist It was Victoria’s voice that first brought the Slovak language to HÖR they attracted interest with single Atmosféra a performance within the stellar Berlin team DURCH and a great set at the London Boiler Roome With a lot of exciting shows coming up this summer they’re looking to play for a wide audience while keeping the originality and rawness of their sound They will perform at events such as Possession and ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) By using this website you agree to the use of cookies. More information I understand Bad weather at the end of April destroyed roads and caused several problems The end of April brought intense rain to Slovakia The river levels increased and in many regions floods caused problems for local inhabitants in Hvozdnica near Bytča a 56-year-old man was discovered in a local brook in Ochodnica village near Kysucké Nové Mesto two men in a car tried to cross a flooded stream The 40-year-old man was saved but unfortunately the body of the 59-year-old was found the following morning with no signs of life The last victim was a 45-year-old Pole who was rafting with a group of friends in Kráľová Lehota on the Váh river The man fell into the water near Liptovská Porúbka and rescuers did not succeed in retrieving his body from the water until he reached Liptovský Hrádok The centre of Čadca also faced a critical situation when the surface of the Kysuca exceeded two metres The problems mainly affected drivers who were travelling under the railway flyover near the hypermarket The inhabitants of Svrčinovec had a different problem when their local watercourse became diverted we had problems with sewage contamination and later the fouled water flooded the road and the fields,” said mayor Renáta Majchráková In the Liptov region the Demänovka river washed out part of the road and flooded several houses in the Demänovská valley Several villages in Liptov were fighting with flooded roads and high river levels which endangered their homes US FILM studio The Weinstein Company finished filming on location in Slovakia for the second season of the television series Marco Polo in the Súľovské skaly mountains in Bytča district (Žilina Region) on September 9 “The second season was shot in Hungary Slovakia and Malaysia,” said Slovak producer Dalibor Vašica It involves around 500-550 foreign and 100-150 Slovak crew members.” The filmmakers began shooting in the High Tatras at Sliezsky Dom mountain chalet then moved to the Slovenský Raj National Park and finally to the Súľovské skaly mountains They have not used only Slovak locations transportation and catering services and have stayed in more than 20 Slovak hotels The mountain chain of the High Tatras was arranged to resemble the Mongolian countryside.  “The story of the series takes place in Mongolia everything in the Tatras must look like it is in Mongolia,” one of the cameramen He added that the film crew did not have to change the environment very much the zone of coniferous forests of the Siberian taiga They tried to leave the scene as it is in reality but sometimes they had to adjust it a bit so that it looked more like Mongolia He added that shooting in Slovakia was easier than they spent a lot of time travelling and moving around in Kazakhstan as the distances are much greater than in Slovakia as everything was under control and the shooting took place in a closed complex Filmmakers were working for 12 hours a day as shooting lasted only for a short time at the end of August The hiking trails to and from Velická dolina valley were limited due to filming Cameramen were surprised by the high temperatures in the mountains but they evaluated the cooperation with Slovaks positively In the Súľovské skaly mountains the scenes that were shot are also supposed to be located in Mongolia and China The case includes people of about 20 nationalities from all over the world “The second season will feature 10 episodes,” said Vašica Tom Wu (Skyfall) and Zhu Thu (Cloud Atlas) The second season's directors are Alik Sakharov and Dan Minahan (who also directed episodes of Game of Thrones The Newsroom) and Jon Amiel. Director Sean Cameron Guest who participated in several famous Hollywood movies (starring e.g also participated in the production and directing of this season which includes more than 350 people and 120 extras from 20 countries was also in Vrátna dolina valley Mengusovce and Hrabušice,” Slovak service producer Dalibor Vašica told the Popradský Korzár the studio has invested more than €2.1 million in Slovakia Thanks to this, it can apply for a subsidy through the Slovak Audio-visual Fund Popradský Korzár wrote.  US filmmakers did not just use Slovak localities but also Slovak construction and transport companies They may be aided financially thanks to the amendment to the law on the Audio-visual Fund which enables the fund to render a retrospective subsidy of 20 percent to those film projects whose budget of justified expenses spent in Slovakia amounts to at least two million euros – mostly feature documentary and animated audio-visual works meant for distribution to cinemas or TV broadcasting.