River Boca (Bocianka) - Slovakia
spring (source):
The river sources below Kunst col on north slopes of Low Tatra Mountains.
flow length:
11 km
Article
SK, Nižná and Vyšná Boca – Beautes of Bocianská Valley
Published: 3.2.2021
Today we invite you for a walk through the upper Liptov, where there are two distinctive villages near Numbná and Královoholská part of the Low Tatras - Nižná and Vyšná Boca.
We start in the mountain village of Nižná Boca, whose history dates back to Celtic times. The surrounding mineral wealth (iron, gold, silver, copper) also attracted Slavs here, and later German miners settled here. The first written mention is preserved from 1342. While in the past it was a mining village, today the village is focused on tourism, but does not forget its past.
It offers tourists an amazing walk through unique sights. You can admire old wooden houses, mining houses in a quiet valley, galleries, and even stables scattered around the surrounding meadows. These stables are a characteristic unique of the Stork Valley and document the unique management of the landscape.
You will definitely come across the Zlatá Bocká nature trail, which will take you through the mining history and culture of the surroundings at 11 stops (8 km). You can go on foot or by bike. Equally attractive is the Zlatnica nature trail, which runs along the Kyselka mineral spring with an increased content of CO2 (drinking), mountain huts and evangelical churches.
The Evangelical Church in Nižná Boca is a single-nave late Classicist building with a neo-Romanesque tower, with a wooden ceiling decorated with a mining badge and figures of miners. In Vyšná Boca there is a single-nave classicist church from 1785 with a later added tower and beautiful painted patronage benches from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Do not miss the reverential memory of the memorial house where the insurgents were tortured by the German occupiers during the Slovak National Uprising, or a tourist walk to the lookout tower on Krajčový hill. It is a 14.5 m high building, which is used to observe forest fires, but also as a tourist lookout providing a view of the entire village of Nižná Boca and the Stork Basin bordered by the wreath of the Liptov Hills. A part of the lookout tower is also a tourist cottage with the possibility of overnight stay. The ascent to the lookout tower itself takes about 20 minutes. Please note that the opening hours of the lookout are seasonal and entry is symbolically charged.
Now we move to the mountain village of Vyšná Boca. We have visited this in the past (you can read the article here), but it does not matter, because it offers several interesting things. The first is the Mining House, which houses a museum. The building itself is a typical example of the architecture of mining houses from the 18th to the 19th century.
On the already mentioned evangelical church there is a memorial plaque of Ján Lajčiak, which commemorates an important evangelical pastor, a Slovak awakener and theoretician of culture, who has been working here for a long time. For the sake of completeness, we add that Pavol Doležal, a prominent priest and writer, also worked in the church. The Salvátor gallery from the 16th to the 18th century is definitely worth seeing. The mining corridor is open to the public and you will find historic mining tools and mining tools here.
The winter tourist attraction is definitely the local ski resort (Bačova Roveň) offering groomed snowy trails, night skiing and a complete ski service. There are two ski lifts and one for children. For more demanding skiers, we recommend a visit to the Čertovica ski resort, only 3 km away. Also for fans of skialpinism, both villages are an ideal starting point.
If you are attracted by mountain hiking, you can go on a less demanding half-day hike from Nižná Boca via Rovná hola to Vyšná Boca with an elevation gain of about 870 meters or take more challenging ridges, for example from Čertovice to Ďumbier.
GPS: 48°56'52.0"N 19°45'57.5"E (Nižná Boca)
GPS: 48°55'30.6"N 19°45'06.0"E (Vyšná Boca)
Text: Oskár Mažgút
Photos: HIK, o.z.
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