MORNING: Start your day in the small town Spišské Podhradie. After a shortwalk on the top of the travertine hill on the eastern horizon, you can visit the National Cultural Monument of Spiš Castle. The oldest written reference to the castle dates back to 1120. In the beginning it was a boundary fort placed at the northern frontier of an early feudal Old Hungarian state. Afterwards, it became the seat of the head of the Spiš region for many centuries. At present it holds the collections of the Spišské museum documenting its history. The castle ruins together with the unique environs of Spiš have been registered in UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1993.
LUNCH: Have lunch in Spišský Salaš. In this restaurant you can taste traditional Slovak foods and enjoy gastronomy specialties of the Spiš region.
AFTERNOON: After lunch, visit Spišská Kapitula, the seat of the bishops of Spiš with well-preserved fortification and St. Martin’s Cathedral, also called Little Vatican. The monumental late Romanesque St. Martin’s Cathedral is the most important building of Spišská Kapitula. The Cathedral was built in the first third of the 13th century and is one of the most valuable examples of late-Romanesque and Gothic architecture in Slovakia. In the interior of the Cathedral there is a well-known stone sculpture of a lion with a book in its front paws – leo albus (white lion).
DINNER AND EVENING: For your dinner and evening programme, you should visit the town of Spišská Nová Ves, which is the administration and cultural centre of the Spiš region. You will find the best town nightlife in the lens shaped square which is one of the most beautiful squares in Slovakia and the longest of this type in Europe. In the square you will find almost all the historical monuments of the town and the central greenery, which offers a number of romantic recesses. Various cosy restaurants, cafés, patisseries, and other gastronomic facilities can be found here.
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