Slovakia (long form: Slovak Republic; Slovak: Slovensko, long form Slovenská republika) is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (almost 19,000 square miles). The Slovak Republic borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, OECD, WTO, and other international organizations. The Slavic people arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia between the 5th and 6th century AD during the Migration Period (Migration of Nations). Various parts of Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire, the first known political unit of Slavs, Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg (Austrian) monarchy, Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia throughout history. Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993, after the Velvet Divorce Slovakia features interesting natural landscapes, mountains, deep caves, medieval castles and towns, folk architecture, spas and ski resorts.

CLIMATE:
The Slovak climate is between temperate and continental climatic zones, with relatively warm summers and cold, cloudy and humid winters. The area of Slovakia can be to divide to the 3 kinds of climatic zones and the first zone can be to divide to two subzones.

A Climate of lowlands

A.a Climate of lowlands with dominance of oceanic influences - average year temperature is about 9-10 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is about 20 °C and average temperature of the coldest month is more than -3 °C. This kind of climate occurs at Záhorská nížina and Podunajská nížina. It is typical climate for capital city Bratislava

A.b Climate of lowlands with dominance of continental influences - average year temperature is about 8-9 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is about 19 °C and average temperature of the coldest month is less than -3 °C. This kind of climate can be found at Košická kotlina and Východoslovenská nížina. It is typical climate for town Košice

B Climate of basins - average year temperature is about 5 – 8,5 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is about 15 – 18,5 °C and average temperature of the coldest month is about -3 - -6 °C. This climate can be found in almost all basins in Slovakia. For example Podtatranská kotlina, Žilinská kotlina, Turcianska kotlina, Zvolenské kotlina. It is typical climate for towns Poprad[3] and Sliac

C Mountain climate - average year temperature is less than 5 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month is less then 15 °C and average temperature of the coldest month is less than -5 °C. This kind of climate occurs in mountains and in some villiages of valleys of Orava and Spiš.

SLOVAK CUISINE
Slovak cuisine varies slightly from region to region. It was influenced by the traditional cuisine of its neighbours and influenced these as well.

Pork, beef and poultry are the main meats consumed in Slovakia, with pork being the most popular by a substantial margin. Among poultry, chicken is most common, although duck, goose, and turkey are also well established. Game meats, especially boar, rabbit, and venison, are also widely available around the year. Lamb and goat are also available, but for the most part are not very popular. The consumption of horse meat is generally frowned upon.

Wine is common throughout all parts of Slovakia. Slovak wine comes predominantly from the southern areas along the Danube and its tributaries; the northern half of the country is too cold and mountainous to grow grapevines. Tokaj wine from the Tokaj region is among the best-known varieties. Traditionally, white wine was more popular than red or rosé (except in some regions), and sweet wine more popular than dry, but both these tastes seem to be changing.

Beer is also popular throughout the country. In most of the country, the Pils is predominant. There are many Slovak beer brands - for example Smädný mních ("thirsty monk") and Šariš. A number of regions have varieties of local beer.

Two brands of soft drinks made in Slovakia stand out. Vinea is a unique grape soda made from grape juice with no aromatic or synthetic colouring additives, stabilised by pasteurisation. It has won several awards at Slovak and international food fairs. Kofola is a cola soft drink developed in former Czechoslovakia in the 1960s. Both these drinks gained a huge nationwide popularity, partly because of their good quality and partly because of the relative inaccessibility of larger brands. Nowadays you can buy them in supermarkets or order them in pubs, either bottled or draught.

Traditionally the main meal of the day is lunch, eaten around noon. However, changing working habits have forced this to be changed in recent decades; today, it is not uncommon for many Slovaks to eat their main meal in the evening.

SLOVAK LANGUAGE
The Slovak language (slovencina, slovenský jazyk), sometimes referred to as "Slovakian", is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Slavic languages (together with Czech, Polish and Sorbian). Slovak is mutually intelligible with Czech.

Slovak is spoken in Slovakia (by 5 million people), the United States (500,000, emigrants), the Czech Republic (320,000, due to the former Czechoslovakia), Hungary (20,000, due to former unitary state), Northern Serbia-Vojvodina (60,000, due to Austria-Hungary), Romania (22,000, due to A-H), Poland (20,000), Canada (20,000, emigrants), Australia (emigrants), Austria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Croatia (5,000) and some other countries

BRATISLAVA
Bratislava (IPA: ['bratj?slava]) is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of some 450,000, the country's largest city; the population of the entire metropolitan area is around 600,000. Bratislava is located in the south west of Slovakia, lies on both banks of the Danube, and it is the only national capital in the world that borders two other countries - Austria and Hungary.

Bratislava is the political, cultural and economic centre of Slovakia. It is the seat of the Slovak presidency, the parliament and government, as well as home to several universities, museums, theatres, galleries and other important economic, cultural and educational institutions. Many of Slovakia's large businesses and financial institutions are headquartered in Bratislava.

The city's history has been strongly influenced by various peoples, including Austrians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, and Slovaks The city, called Pressburg until 1919, was a key economic and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Hungary and later of the Habsburg Monarchy. Bratislava was home to the Slovak national movement in the 19th century and many other Slovak historical figures, including Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Alexander Dubcek.

KOSICE
Košice (Latin: Cassovia or Caschovia, German: Kaschau, Hungarian: Kassa, Polish: Koszyce, Hebrew, Yiddish (kashow), Rusyn, Romany: Kasha) is Slovakia's second largest city and the center of eastern Slovakia.

It lies in the valley of the river Hornád in the Košice Basin, encircled by the spurs of the Cierna Hora mountains to the north and the Volovské vrchy hills to the west.

Košice is the seat of a Region (kraj) or the Košice Self-governing Region (KSK), of universities, of the Slovak Constitutional Court, of a Roman Catholic archbishopric (since 1995), Evangelical Lutheran bishopric and a Greek Catholic bishopric. The town has a relatively large historic center.