Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border
Actors of administration can be implemented, due to their tight budgets, local governments cannot provide the money necessary for the continuous operation of the establishment, which is ordained by grant funding regulations. 6. 5. 2 Local governments of settlements At the level of settlement local governments, there are several processes going on partly simultaneously, partly intertwining with each other. This phenomenon involves first of all the restoration, construction and putting to use of the minor roads connecting villages separated forcefully by borders. Symbolically, this section of the border is counted from the path running to the castle of Somoskő to Dámóc in Bodrogköz, from where, according to the plans, the road to Pribenik will be built. Along the section between the two crossing points, several paths have been, are being or will be restored, cleaned or built. These tiny roads, marked usually with four-digit numbers, solve the isolation of the local population and lead them back to the centuries-long coexistence again. Among them there are also roads of more significance, such as the roads between Ózd-Susa and Janice or Rimavská Seč, the latter one providing connection between Ózd and Rimavská Sobota towards Lučenec and Zvolen, or the road between Hollóháza and Skároš, a short cut which makes it possible for the population of Sátoraljaújhely to get to Košice and to the airport in Košice on a road that is half as long, only 45 km. The reconstruction of the bridges over the river Ipeľ would have the same function because it would need relatively small-scale investment. Paths between villages and bridges connecting minor roads would be necessary. The cooperation of the villages lying close to each other is accompanied by the revival of traditions. This is understandable after such long detachment. The local governments discovering each other again make an inventory of the traditions they have in the fields of the national heritage, the beauty of the landscape and human activities (folk and urban traditions, artistic values). Traditional crafts and world-famous products emerge and are involved in projects. Modernization of traditions means that the rediscovered individual and common values are turned into forms of tourism that can be marketed and into occupations that contribute to making a living and are adjusted to the new conditions. This is how wine tourism is intertwined with the world of thermal baths and spas, regional specialties with hiking and other sports, such as cycling, 175
