the slav squat

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This post is about a 13km walk from Esztergom to Obid. We cross the bridge to Slovakia and the first Schengen border on The Longest Way.

I forget how many countries I have walked through so far. That isn’t to say that I forgot about them. I just never kept count. Let me think…

the countries

China was the first, then came Kazakhstan. After that I was in Kyrgyzstan for a short time, and then again in Kazakhstan. That makes three. After that it was Uzbekistan and the notoriously difficult Turkmenistan. Five. Then came Iran. Six. Azerbaijan and Georgia. Eight. Turkey. Nine. Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania. Twelve. Hungary. Thirteen.

Schengen FTW!

Brad and I crossed the bridge into Slovakia today. It was the fourteenth country on The Longest Way, and it was the first Schengen border, which meant that there was no wait, no check, no passport control, no police, no nothing.

The border was a red line in the middle of the bridge and a sign that said M (for Magyarorszag aka Hungary) on one side and SR (Slovenská Republika aka Slovakia) on the other.

It was fucking awesome.

Did I say “fucking awesome”? Honestly, that doesn’t even do it justice. It’s a bit hard to believe that there are still people within the European Union (without even mentioning the Brexit morons) who fail to appreciate what the EU and Schengen have given us.

To whoever needs to hear it I would like to say: go to the ridiculous Khorgas border checkpoint between China and Kazakhstan, stand in line there, talk to the border guards about all of your belongings, and then go on a nice 7km ride through no man’s land between the two countries!

Or get lost in the masses that storm the border checkpoint of Zhibek Zholy between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at any given time. Show your passport to a dozen people. Have your luggage x-rayed!

There were many of these terrible border checkpoints on my way, and I haven’t even mentioned the ones having to do with Turkmenistan.

So I will say it once again: the EU, with all her faults, is fuckin A, and Schengen is fuckin A, too.

Slavoslav

Anyway, where was I? Yes, Brad and I had arrived in Slovakia. I didn’t know much about this country, but I was happy to have left Orbanism behind me.

We figured that Slovaks were mostly Slavs, and since Brad was ethnically partly Russian and so was I, we started calling each other Slavoslav, and we attempted a slav squat in front of an ad of a lady dressed in gold with a black panther.

“Davai, Slavoslav!” I would say to Brad, and she would answer: “Okay, Slavoslav!”

Then we, the Brads, the Slavoslavs, would continue walking on our way to Bratislava, the city with the best name.

pictures

the walk from Esztergom to Obid:

Esztergom Basilica

bridge between Hungary and Slovakia

Brad on the border of Hungary and Slovakia

border sign

Slovakia

the old border facilities

first building in Slovakia

they use Euros in Slovakia

I failed at the slav squat

bowling

Brad walking

Brad enjoying the sight of colorful trash containers

friendly cat

we sheltered from a bit of rain here

Obid

our camping spot, sheltered from the wind

the Esztergom Basilica is still visible