Гостеприимная Словакия Hospitable Slovakia

We went to Slovakia in mid-December in pursuit of snow, with the hope of skiing on the well-groomed and varied slopes of the Jasna resort in the Low Tatras. Since the snow has been there since December, this tempting idea seemed quite real.
Already two weeks before the trip, when viewing the weather and webcams of the slopes every day, unpleasant suspicions crept in. But everything was already booked and arranged, so there was nowhere to go, there was still hope for a miraculous change in the cyclone and artificial snow.
We got to the place by train Kyiv-Uzhgorod, then by minibus. From Uzhgorod to the border of the drive for about 20 minutes, and on the territory of Slovakia 4 hours to the hotel.

Slovakia itself is small, the whole country can be crossed by bus in about eight hours. There are very few big cities, mostly, as we call them, urban-type settlements lying among mountains and valleys. Although there is no sea in Slovakia, there are mountains all around - the Carpathians, the Low Tatras and the High Tatras. In addition, there is practically no flat terrain, having passed half the country, a beautiful hilly landscape outside the window accompanied us all the way.
It is best to change money immediately at the border - as a rule, the exchange rate is higher there. Of course, in addition to Slovak crowns, both euros and dollars are in use, however, the bill will most likely be brought to you in kroons, and a low exchange rate will be made at the request to convert to euros.
The hotel has clean comfortable rooms, impeccable service, buffet breakfast, dinner - choice from the menu. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of drinks, they were sold separately at the bar. All hotels in Jasna are close to the slopes, which makes it much easier to get to the ski lift with ski boots and equipment. But, unfortunately, they never managed to get up on the lift, they simply did not work - in view of the lack of snow, naturally no one bought ski passes, and the locals did not want to spend state resources on wasted chairs.
The first couple of days we enthusiastically (still hoping that the weather will change to minus with snow) explored the surroundings. The Tatras, of course, are lower than the Alps or the Caucasus, but they are not inferior in beauty, largely due to the careful attitude of the Slovaks to their nature. Spruces are not cut down as mercilessly as in our Carpathians, and therefore, climbing higher, we see not bald clearings, but dense coniferous forests.
The Jasna Ski Center is located on the Chopok mountain, the highest point of the Low Tatras (2.024 meters). The peculiarity of the routes is that they go here both in the northern and in the southern directions. On the northern slope there are many hotels, bars, rental centers, and of course a variety of pistes - blue (one of which is about 3.5 km long), red and black. On the southern slope - places for extreme sports with a predominance of black trails and virgin lands. There are separate ski passes for each slope.