One Day One City Episode One | Banská Štiavnica with the Benelli Leoncino 500 Trail.

This weekend I officially kicked off my new travel seriesOne Day One City, and honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better motorcycle to start the adventure with than the Benelli Leoncino 500 Trail.

Before anything else, a huge thank you goes to Auto Extra in Zlaté Moravce for lending me the bike for this trip. The Leoncino turned out to be the perfect companion for a relaxed day of riding, exploring, and getting slightly lost in the beauty of central Slovakia.

Even though this was just the first trip in the series, I already learned a lot from it. In many ways, this ride was also a test for me personally. I wanted to figure out what gear is actually worth carrying, what camera equipment I really need, what shots work on the road, and most importantly what isn’t worth filming at all. It’s easy to overpack and overthink everything on the first adventure, but that’s exactly why these first trips matter.

And despite all the experimenting, I had an absolute blast riding the Leoncino 500 Trail. The bike felt playful, comfortable, and perfectly suited for wandering through small Slovak roads and historic towns.

The journey started with a stop at Richňava, one of the beautiful tajchs hidden in the Štiavnica mountains. Calm water, forest roads, and peaceful surroundings made it the ideal first break of the day. After another quick lake stop along the way, I finally arrived in Banská Štiavnica.

And honestly, there’s something special about this town.

Banská Štiavnica feels like a place frozen in time. The old mining town, protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is filled with narrow cobblestone streets, colorful historic buildings, hidden cafés, and steep hills that somehow make you feel like you’re walking through a fantasy movie set rather than a Slovak town. Everywhere you look there’s history from medieval mining architecture to old squares and churches stacked on the hillsides.

My first stop in town was coffee at Divná Pani — and what a strange little place. Just like the nameDivná Pani (“Strange Lady”), the café absolutely didn’t disappoint. It was cozy, artistic, slightly weird, and full of character. The kind of place where every corner has something unusual to look at.

After coffee, I spent some time simply walking through the old cobblestone streets and admiring the town. No rushing, no schedule just enjoying the atmosphere.

At this point though, I was absolutely starving after riding and walking all day. I had my heart set on traditional Slovak roasted duck with dumplings, but unfortunately the restaurant was completely packed. And honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to wait over an hour just for a table.

So instead, I headed toward the Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, that also turned into a bit of a fail because parts of it were under reconstruction. I still took a short walk around the area, enjoyed the quiet surroundings for a moment, grabbed a souvenir, and accepted the fact that the day simply wasn’t going according to plan anymore.

But sometimes those unexpected moments are what make trips memorable.

And because hunger was now reaching dangerous levels, I decided to stop at my next trusted option on the way home — Tekovská Kúria. At that point, good food and a place to sit down felt better than any tourist attraction.

Looking back at the first episode of One Day One City, I can already tell this series is going to teach me a lot — not just about travel, filming, or motorcycles, but also about slowing down and enjoying the unexpected parts of the journey.

And that’s exactly what this first trip was about.

One motorcycle.
One day.
One city.

And many more adventures to come.