Would you set off across the country with the intention of not reaching its end as quickly as possible, but enjoying every single kilometer of the drive?
The answer to this question is quite clear to combustion engine enthusiasts. If you are not one of them, know that the Okresky project, behind which Miloš Fusek is standing, will convince you that sometimes taking a detour is worth it.
One of the most famous "road trip" projects in Slovakia has long been more than just an Instagram account documenting interesting trips in our country. Just a few years ago, Okresky published their first book, which will give you the perfect guide to a trip along the best Slovak roads. Today, their catalog also includes other publications documenting trips in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Croatia.
Last summer, we went on a quick vacation across Slovakia with the help of the book Okresky: Slovakia. From the first page, we planned to experience the adventure that the book so thrillingly transported us through.
Today we are sitting opposite its author, Miloš Fusek. Our acquaintance took place in a really appropriate way to the content of the books that Miloš publishes. On one of the most beautiful roads in Slovakia, Homôlka. We met quite by chance at a rest stop where Miloš was taking photos. We immediately took advantage of the opportunity and agreed with him to tell us more about Okresky sometime.
Over a pleasant coffee, we talked about all sorts of things, not just Okresky, traveling, and cars. From his story, it is clear that Okresky is the result of his hobbies and passions, which have merged into one.
"In the past, I used to just go for a drive, and since there was no Instagram, it was really just about driving. Then my friends and I founded the RevRats editorial team, where we went everywhere, the Gemer Alps, the Dolomites, Romania. And when we posted photos from our trips on social media, people would write - Where is it? How do you get there? - They had a lot of questions about it. So the guys and I started talking about how it would be cool to be inspired by Curves magazine and do something similar, Slovak. Suddenly, corona came and I had a lot of free time. The guys had other jobs at the time, so I started it myself.
Moreover, I enjoy traveling. And traveling by car evokes freedom in me. You add to that an interesting car, which does not necessarily have to have extreme downforce and be fast. Then the roads tie the whole experience together well. And that's where the book itself came from."
Over time, car shows have become an integral part of Slovak automotive culture. However, the popularity of traveling and finding new ways to spend your vacation is not only rooted among car enthusiasts.
"Some time ago, I was asked if we noticed that people have started going on trips more recently. I say that people are learning. In the past, we didn't know how different ways of traveling could be, there was no culture of traveling here. It was about packing up the car, cutting the tires, and going. The journey was suffering, we traveled overnight so that everyone could sleep during the journey, so you didn't even see anything about it."
But now it's changing, people have more time, they think more, time is more precious. I can extract more from the whole vacation and it's not just that you go somewhere for a week to Croatia and here is my square meter of concrete. You see something nice during the trip, you stop. That's what it's about."
Each edition of the Okresky books is designed as a comprehensive guide. You can complete the entire journey or divide it into several stages. There is an attached map to help you navigate. But why did Miloš decide not to stick to Instagram, but to publish his travel tips in a printed version?
"When we went on trips in the past, mobile phones didn't work very well at that time. They had maps, but they were so useless. Moreover, when you're in a group of three or four people and you sit down in the evening to see what's going to happen the next day and then start tapping on a small screen, the experience is like minus one. But when you take out a book, you can clearly see where you're going, what you're going to see, where you're going to stop. It's something tangible. And when you take out a printed map on top of that, it gives you another dimension to the whole experience. Just imagine a group of people planning a trip over a map and over a mobile phone. I'm a bit old school and it feels like a more analog experience to me.
But now we are also adding QR codes to the latest books, which, when scanned, will take you to maps with a marked route. Although I was very resistant to this, it is true that it adds a little carefreeness to driving. I like to plan trips so that it does not become a navigation rally during which you have to constantly look and be alert where to turn. It does not matter if you get a little lost from time to time, the main thing is to enjoy driving.
However, the Okresky books are far from just about tips for traveling on interesting roads. The main focus is on beautiful photography, which makes you suddenly realize that even simple photos of a seemingly empty road can be so attractive that you would frame them and display them without any problems. It is not for nothing that the first edition of the book Okresky: Slovakia was nominated for the National Design Award. The book was even ordered by the presidential office as a gift for the Czech president on his first visit to Slovakia. He is a passionate biker.
"Photography was so interesting for me. I bought my first camera, a film Nikon, in 2012. So I went to Morocco with a friend for a month with a bunch of film in my hand. And I just took pictures and took pictures... And when you take pictures on film, you don't see the result... On the last day of the trip, I had the films developed before the flight and suddenly I saw, wow, it looks good.
This has developed into another hobby, when I'm bored I go on a "photowalk". I just have time, when the weather is nice and I go for a walk. I take a camera, two or three films and take pictures all day. When you walk along those paths, mostly on foot, and you take the same picture for the fourth time, you start looking for ways to take it differently. And so I learned how to take the same thing from more interesting angles. Of course, there is always a risk in how people will perceive any photographs. That is why the final selection for the books is made by graphic designer Dušan Chmeliar, who has a different, artistic perspective. So that the sequence of photographs has a nice flow.”
You would be hard-pressed to find someone who knows driving roads better than Miloš. But if he had the last can of gasoline in his hand, where would he go and what would he take with him?
"It depends on how big the canister is! I would go to the Balkans. The Alps are beautiful, but the freedom of driving in the Balkans is incomparable. I would partly drive along the Adriatic highway and partly inland, a good 90-liter tank in a Porsche GT3. I highly recommend Croatia, it is larger than Slovakia and has fewer inhabitants, who are concentrated in cities. So you leave the city and thirty kilometers is nothing but a road. Of course, you should avoid the summer season - July and August."
Therefore, the answer to which book is closest to Miloš so far probably won't come as a surprise.
"When the Slovak book was nominated for the final of the National Design Award, I compared it with the just-published Croatia. It is clear that it is much more complex. Plus, the photography there is amazing, it has its own charm. That is why we would like to do Slovakia again next year, with new routes, new photos. So that it reaches the standard of the last book."
Okresky has been published in three editions so far, mapping the journeys through Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Croatia. The trio is complemented by special editions Fully Charged – about the journey by electric car and the book The Journey Home celebrating the 55th anniversary of Mercedes AMG on the road from Bratislava through the Black Forest to the AMG kitchen in Affalterbach. But what's next?
"I would like to publish at least one every year. The next book will be about northern Italy and southern Switzerland with a bonus chapter about the Dolomites. My big plan is that when you put all the books together, they will create one big trip. So this year we will end with the Italy/Switzerland book in Chamonix and then next year we would like to continue with another one down to the sea through France and Spain."
Next, I would like to publish a book about Romania. That's a hundred and one compared to the Alps. If you want to feel free, then definitely go there. I don't know if it would happen to you at the border in Switzerland that customs officers start you off and ask if we wouldn't mind "revving" the engine a little with the gas. (laughs) The people there are incredibly warm.
Also, along with Italy and Switzerland, a newspaper format will be released, where there will be eight of the best roads in Slovakia, which I previously posted on Instagram. I saw that people like to save and forward it, so now it will be released in print form and whoever pre-orders the book Italy/Switzerland before November will receive a newspaper with the book as a gift.
So we definitely know what we'll be writing to Santa. We can't wait for the next adventures that Okresky will plan for us. And to top it off, you can now listen to their new podcast autoRÁDIO, which Okresky has started publishing, along with the road trip.
We thank Miloš for the fact that projects are being created here that we can be proud of.
Photo: Miloš Fusek, Martin Mondok
