Day 5: Fiery Tatratea




One of the things I wanted to do in the High Tatras was hike to the Green Lake, which unfortunately for didn't happen because the trail was closed. But we still took the cable car about halfway up the mountain (the lake is a three hour hike beyond that). 
I probably had had too many carbs by that point to hike that far anyway. 





Representing Beto from Slovakia...#betoisbetter.


My favorite thing about the short hike we did do was this pug, who was killing the trail and audibly snorting like he was about to keel over.





 After the mountain, we stopped at Koliba Zerucha, a traditional Slovakian restaurant near our hotel. There are kolibas all over Slovakia, all built out of wood and I assume sporting the same rustic decor (we ate in one last time called Furman).



This little sheepskin high chair inside cracked me up.



I started with a shot of medovina, which is honey wine...it was very sweet with no alcohol taste at all. (So I might have had three more, but how can you beat $1 a piece?)


For our starters, we had smoked and whipped cheeses and lard spread. The lard spread was sweet...I don't really want to know how they made it.


And of course I had garlic soup, which is my favorite thing to eat in Eastern Europe! 


And finally sheep cheese dumplings, which I can't decide if I like or not. Sheep cheese is pretty pungent, and it's a huge plate of food that could probably feed three.


I did, however, eat all of the plum pancakes with chocolate sauce I ordered for dessert.


After  lunch it was supposed to rain, so we sat at the spa pool and watched the storm. Luckily, that was the only rain we had the whole time in the Tatras.



Because of the weather, we lounged around until dinner, when we walked to Koliba Patria near the hotel. We ordered tatratea, which is a traditional Slovakian drink from the mountain huts (herbal tea doused with alcohol). It was served on fire, and it also burned going down. It tastes kind of like mulled wine but was a little too stout for me (104%).




Also too stout for me? Horseradish, which I mistook for shredded cheese and took a big bite of and then cried. Travel is full of highs and humiliating horseradish lows.


Comments

  1. MomMay 30, 2018 at 5:47 PM

    The pictures are amazing! You should be hired by Food Network to do travel shows!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RachelJune 4, 2018 at 1:44 PM

    I had a similar terrible experience with wasabi, which I mistook for guacamole. I almost died.

    Again, your pictures are amazing. You're definitely selling me on the Tatras.

    ReplyDelete

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