Contemplative Wandering Through Forests & Fields - Katarínka Monastery I Little Carpathians, SK

Katarínka leaves quite an impression on a person. In its present form, it seems to even more underline our connection with our surroundings, like nature, universe or God... Non-existent roofs, windows or doors are not missing at all, they seem to reinforce this atmosphere of eternity. Anyways, the Franciscan monastery and church were built at the beginning of the 17th century and later became not only an ecclesiastical center, but also a place of pilgrimage. They began to decay in the 18th century. Since the 90s of the 20th century, they have experienced partial renewal thanks to volunteers, on the other hand, also an increased traffic.

We met a bus of tourists here on Saturday morning at around 8:00 am, which quickly pushed us away to hike into the surrounding forests. A few quotes from the Bible reminded us of the proximity of the temple for a while, but we gradually began to perceive more and more the presence of nature. We, sadly, did not pay enough attention to the village of Dobrá Voda and in a while returned to the fields, where electric fences complicated the passage a bit. But in the end we found viable places by the stream and grove. Towards the place called Skala on mapy.cz, we passed through a less lively forest still covered with some autumn foliage and then found ourselves on peak meadows with flowering shrubs and oaks here and there. The views from them were nice, we especially liked the one from Skala. On the way back, already in the early evening sun, we stopped at the Planinka Manor House and the spring, which did not look very drinkable. But it was excellent as a refreshment almost at the end of our 23km long hike :)

Points of interest on our route:
Nature reserve Katarína
Church and Monastery of St. Catherine of Alexandria ("Katarínka")
Forest railway to transport timber to the local chemical factory
Nature trail with spiritual quotes
Dobrá Voda Spring (not in the video)
Memorial room and grave of Ján Hollý in Dobrá Voda (not in the video)
Cross in front of /behind the village of Dobrá Voda
View of Považský Inovec - 48.5769539N, 17.5921186E
Skala 346m, the slightly lower situated Kresaná skala - beautiful views of Little Carpathians from the North, Katarínka is not visible
Planinka Manor House - today a somewhat strange recreation center
Katarínka Spring

Route: https://sk.mapy.cz/s/doruvusoja
Vzdialenosť: ~ 23 km
Elevation difference: ~ 490 m
Terrain: flat, partly slightly undulating, asphalt, forest and dirt roads, 3/4 of the length of the route is shaded
Difficulty: probably already medium - due to the length of the route
5-4-2024