Šaštin
This was the first time in three years that I’ve been to Šaštin and it has stayed virtually unchanged - for now.
My friend’s grandmother has a small holiday cottage in this village, just a few kilometres away from the Austrian border, and my friend likes to spend weekends there during the warmer months, keeping both the house and the family tradition alive. I was happy to return to this place which seems both magical and desolate.
The traditional houses, dispersed like mushrooms in the forest, have a narrow build with a pointy roof that often reaches all the way to the ground, allowing the winter snow to slide off it rather than weighing it down. They remind me of illustrations of witches’ cottages in children’s books.
Šaštin is a place where families, bikers, fishers, campers and Roma and Sinti live side by side. It is also a place of extensive sand mining. Lately, it has also been the target of a real estate development program. Much of the wooded area, especially around the artificial lakes which are a result of sand mining and high ground water, will be levelled and parcels of land are supposed to be sold to private individuals at extortionate prices - especially considering the average income in Slovakia.
I hope I can give you a sense of this special place before tradition and mystery gives way to asphalt and luxury holiday homes.
