When they arrived at the Slovak Embassy in Cairo on September 2, they started to miss their green central European country; however their cheerfulness at arriving in Egypt overwhelmed their mood. The two Slovak citizens, Peter Patsh and Branislav Sykora, had logged 5,789km on their bicycles and passed through ten countries before arriving in Egypt to see their dream of exploring this country come true. "We gathered a lot of information about Egypt and prepared a plan for our journey, but what we have seen has exceeded our expectations," Patsh happily told The Egyptian Gazette. "The journey itself has been very rich but the biggest part is yet to come, as we are still on our way to visit Luxor and Aswan to see Egypt's historical attractions." Patsh is a 58-year-old teacher who, along with his friend Sykora, 50, started travelling across the world on their bicycles 15 years ago. They have visited China, Japan, Iceland and Morocco and have completed around 75,000km since they started their trips in 1995. This passion for exploring and cycling and the will to spread the name of their country around the world is behind their adventures, which are celebrated when the couple goes back home. "People at home are very eager to hear our stories and learn about the places that we've visited," Sykora, a technician, said through a simultaneous interpreter, because neither of the two Slovak cyclists speaks English. This perceived language barrier left many question marks about how these travellers manage, with only their Slovak language, to survive in different parts of the world. Their answer is that "language is never a barrier when people want to communicate". "In China, for instance, people don't speak English, so we instead used our hands, faces and sometimes even drawings until the locals understand us and we reach one another," Patsh said. Patsh and Sykora were touched by several things that they saw in the most populous Arab country, but the fact that they went through places that tourists don't usually go let them get even closer than they expected to the "real Egypt". They noticed that there are many very humble shops and places where they can eat and have fun, apart from the five-star malls and restaurants. They also noticed that a lot of Egyptians are living below poverty line, which for them was quite surprising. Also, as their arrival time coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, they came to learn a lot about this very unique time of the year. "We've previously heard about Ramadan, but coming here we realised how drastic and hard it is to stay with food or water, especially in this hot weather," Sykora explained. "I understood how big your sacrifice is during this month." Those two men in their fifties, who usually go on their trips on summer holidays, are expected to get back to Slovakia through a different route cutting a total distance of 11,000km in a scheduled 120 days. "We believe in the Egyptian proverb el-Haraka Baraka [movement is a blessing]," said Slovak Ambassador Peter Zsoldos in Cairo lightheartedly. "Do you know that Patsh was suffering from high blood pressure and problems with his spinal cord, but it was el-Haraka and cycling that cured him." Zsoldos also stressed that such initiatives are of huge importance to boost cultural ties. "They are taking the name of Slovakia around the world in their trips, and bring news about the cultures of the world to Slovaks when they are back," he said. The Slovak diplomat announced that next month the first common Slovak-Egyptian stamp will be issued, which will combine Egyptian ancient heritage with the Slovak modern technology in the manufacture of stamps. "We chose a very particular ancient Egyptian piece to be depicted on this first-of-its-kind stamp, because it is Egyptian but it has belonged to the Slovak National Museum for over 100 years," Zsoldos explained. "There will be 200,000 of this stamp issued and I'm sure that our Slovak and Egyptian friends will be happy exchanging letters carrying this very stamp."
