What I like most about the World Heritage List is that it draws my attention to places I would otherwise never add to my itinerary, and Banska Stiavnica is one of these sites. The main sight and the most enjoyable part of our visit was the town itself, beautifully located in a narrow valley. The town centre has a lot to offer: pretty burgher houses, the Holy Trinity Square with an impressive Plague Column, the Knocking tower (now a cosy tearoom), and several churches. The views are dominated by the two castles. The Old Castle was originally a Romanesque basilica, it was extended in the 16th century to a fortress for the defense against the Turkish raids. The striking New Castle on the opposite hill can be seen from almost anywhere in the town, a real eye-catcher. The photo shows the tip of the Plague Column and the New Castle in the background. You get the best views to the old town and the two castles when you walk along the Vodarenska street north of the town centre, the walk ends at the Vodarenska jezero, the oldest of the artificial water reservoirs around Banska Stiavnica.

We also went to the Calvary, the Baroque chapels are arranged symmetrically on the steep slope of a dormant volcano. It is not far from the town centre, but we followed the advice by Els and go by car - a good decision. There were construction works going on, the lower church was already finished, but in the upper church and some of the chapels the restoration is not yet completed (in August 2014).

We stayed overnight in Baska Stiavnica. Next morning we headed to the Open-Air Mining Museum about one kilometre south of the town centre. It is the only former mine that is open to visitors. We arrived just in time to join a German guided tour to the Bartolomej pit. The tour starts with a short film on the history of mining in the region, then, equipped with coats, helmets and mine lamps, we walked about 1.5 kilometres through the underground galleries. The entire tour takes about 90 minutes. The mining museum is not a must-see, it is very similar to other mining sites, but I like to visit this kind of WHS and the underground tour was a nice completion of our visit.