Velke Pole (Hochwies), Slovakia

While in Vienna & Schwechat I had been researching my family roots. A  lot of information was missing and I decided to start a search at my birthplace. All of my relatives here were of great help in assisting me. One of the things I had found out was that my mother was born in Velke Pole, Slovakia. The German name for that village is Hochweis.  This name I recognized as my mother often spoke of wanting to return, not to visit but to live. At the time this was not possible. My cousin Renate & her husband Michael invited me on a weekend trip to Slovakia to see my mothers birthplace. From there we would continue on to Perosceny, Hungary to visit some Austrian friends who were buildng a summer home there. At first I was undecided however this opportunity might not present itself again. So off we set in their motorhome for the 2 1/2 hour journey.

Passing Bratislava, ET bridge ahead

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Passing Bratislava

The motorhome was equipped with a navigation device which was extremely helpful. Although 45 minutes later it decided to stop for a bit! That was annoying, you come to depend on it. Thank goodness after a bunch of fiddling it functioned again. Phew!!

Bathroom break for Focush

Drive thru coffee shop 


 We travelled farm land and many small villages. The landscape was very pretty.  Later we climbed up into green forested mountains. From there we descended into a valley and there it was,Velke Pole. It is a small village of 450 population. We found a place to the motorhome near the post office and had lunch. The streets were to steep and narrow to be able to manevour in any large vehicle!

After lunch we set about strolling the streets, many of which were steep indeed! I wonder what they would be like in the winter!

Memorial for WW1 victims

Renate & Michael
people in b/ground
filling up bus with wood!

The whole neighbourhood knew we were here. We had Focush with us and all the dogs started barking! It seemed every household had a dog. Focush created quite a ruckas as we made our way down the streets.

Focush

I believe we also caused a stir as not to many tourists stop here. Received a lot of strange looks as we headed up towards the church & cemetary. To my dismay there were a few very large dogs in cages/pens where they barely had room to turn around. So sad to see, such a shame! Hopefully the owner would let them out in the evening. Unlucky for anyone trying to rob a place, the dog would have you for dinner!!

Hello there!

Later that day we travelled to Perosceny, Hungary to visit some friends of  my cousin. They are from Vienna but are building a summer home in Hungary.

At dinner time I was told there was a Hungarian tradition of a Schnapps shooter before the meal? What!!  Holy cow it was strong! During dinner and after there was wine, wine and more wine. After all this is wine country! One of the Hungarian men there Ludwig was very animated when he spoke. I was told he wanted to be my tour guide through the other countries. We could travel on his motorcycle!

Even though I could not understand all that was said the evening was full of laughter and a lot of fun!!

The next morning after breakfast we took a stroll through the streets and up the hill where the wine cellars where. We made sure we stopped by the mayors house and of course she offered us some wine from her vineyard! I had a sampling of white and red.



Not the Mayor's house!



We left Hungary and headed back to Austria. On the way we stopped at a restaurant I was told that  has some the best food. We took it to go as were limited on time, had spent longer visiting in Hungary.  Needless to say they were right, awesome food!!

It was a super weekend and I really appreciated my cousins offer. They had just recently got back from Croatia. A good time was had by all!  It was great to see where my mother had been born and grandparents had lived. I cannot imagine living in those times, being forced from your land, having to flee on foot or horse. Such hard times in those days!

 Where did they draw strength and determination from?



Heading back in the sunset to Austria.