In the village of Ladomirová, just north of Svidník in north-eastern Slovakia, a small wooden church dedicated to the Archangel Michael stands on a gentle rise among trees. Built in the eighteenth century by the Greek Catholic community without using a single nail, it has three wooden towers with onion-shaped tops, rising in height from east to west, and its interior holds an iconostasis of painted icons. It is one of the eight wooden churches of the Slovak Carpathians inscribed together by UNESCO in 2008, and its simplicity and craftsmanship are deeply moving.
The surrounding region is the land of the Rusyns, an East Slavic people with their own language and culture, and Svidník has an open-air museum of folk architecture and a museum of Ukrainian and Rusyn culture. The hills around here saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War in central Europe, during the Battle of the Dukla Pass in the autumn of 1944, when Soviet and Czechoslovak troops tried to break through German defences. A large memorial and military cemetery stand near Svidník, and tanks and aircraft are displayed in the so-called Valley of Death north of town.
The riding around Ladomirová is gentle and rural, through rolling hills, forests and small villages. The main road from Svidník to the Dukla Pass and the Polish border carries some trucks, but the side roads are quiet, with gentle bends and a few rough patches. The landscape is green and peaceful, and the wooden churches dotted around the villages make for a rewarding tour. May, with fresh green on every slope, and October, when the woods go russet, are the months to aim for.
Svidník is five minutes down the road for petrol, a supermarket and a plate of halušky. The church at Ladomirová is usually locked, but the key can often be obtained from a local caretaker, and a visit is well worth the effort. Respect the church as a place of worship, and dress modestly.