The Church of All Saints in Tvrdošín, at the edge of the town in the Orava valley, is a wooden Gothic church from the fifteenth century, built of larch and fir, with a shingled roof, a tower with a distinctive spire and a painted interior, and it is one of the oldest of the wooden churches listed as a World Heritage Site in Slovakia. Its Renaissance and Baroque decorations, including a carved altar and paintings, were added over the centuries.
Orava is a valley in northern Slovakia, along the river of the same name, surrounded by mountains: the Tatras to the east, the Malá Fatra to the west and the Polish border to the north. Orava Castle, perched on a cliff above the river at Oravský Podzámok, is one of the most spectacular castles in Central Europe, used as a setting for the 1922 film Nosferatu. The Orava reservoir, a large lake near Tvrdošín, is a popular summer destination, and the open air museum at Zuberec shows traditional village life.
The landscape here is green and mountainous, with forests, meadows and wooden villages, and the views of the Tatras are superb on clear days. Winters are long and snowy, summers mild and pleasant.
The riding in Orava is excellent: winding roads through valleys and over passes, with good surfaces and views. The road over the Western Tatras toward Liptov via Zuberec and the Huty pass is particularly good, and the routes along the Orava river are pleasant. Traffic is moderate, heavier on weekends and in summer. The border crossing to Poland at Trstená leads to the Podhale region and Zakopane.
Larch shingles weather to a silver grey, and the church at Tvrdošín seems to grow out of its graveyard among old trees, with a wooden fence around it. Tvrdošín is your fuel stop, and Trstená, five kilometres away, also has everything you need. Local food includes bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with sheep cheese, and Orava cheeses, including smoked oštiepok.