Fülek - Filakovo

I am going to relate about my journey to Slovakia. I went to an IT competition with a group of kids from the school, with their IT teacher. She asked me, if I wanted to accompany them. The competition lasted for 3 days, 2 days we spent in Filakovo, Slovakia and one in Sajgótarján, Hungary.

First of all, this was my first trip abroad after Romania joined the European Union. We passed quickly all the borders, showing only our passports or our identity cards to the officers.

Filakovo is a pretty little town, near the Slovakian-Hungarian border. The town is inhabited by both Slovakians and Hungarians and other nationalities.

View of Filakovo from the fortress

There are few remarkable sights of historical interest: the Castle of Filakovo, the Roman Catholic Church with a Franciscan Monastery, the Herold's Manor House, which is now the Gymnazium (grammar school), and the Town Hall with the watchtower.

The Castle is situated on the top of a volcanic crater, the bases of the walls are carved in the volcanic rock. The fortress had an important strategical role in the middle age, during the Turkish invasion, but was blown up in 1682, losing it's importance. Nowadays it is under reconstruction, using EU fonds.

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The Catholic Church is decorated in Baroque style and has a low tower, situated unusually on its north-eastern side.

The Catholic Church







Inside the Catholic Church








The Gymnazium

Old and new










Apart from these touristic information, that you can find everywhere, here you have my personal observations. In Filakovo you can find the best ice-cream ever! It is a tongue-twister, to ask for it in Slovakian language, but it is worth the effort!

ZMRZLINA = ice-cream in Slovakian

The local beer, the CORGON is very good, smooth and tasty. You can buy also excellent juice at the local markets, black-currant with hip juice and strawberry with banana juice. They are awesome!
The local wine is not very good, as our tour guide explained, when Petőfi, the famous Hungarian poet visited the town, he was complaining about the wine and said: "If the Turkish invaders had tried this wine, they would have left the town immediately."