A few kilometres downstream towards Trenčín, on a rock above the Váh at Skalka, a hermit named Benedict lived in the early eleventh century. He was the pupil of Svorad — Saint Andrew-Svorad, a Benedictine who had come under King Stephen I to the abbey on Zobor hill above Nitra and lived in a cave there. Their lives were written down a generation later by Bishop Maurus, and their cult was confirmed in 1083. A monastery was later built on the rock, and Skalka is counted as the oldest pilgrimage place in Slovakia; the July pilgrimage still fills it. It is why this stretch of the Váh has a religious history older than any building on it.Pár kilometrov po prúde smerom na Trenčín, na skale nad Váhom pri Skalke, žil začiatkom 11. storočia pustovník Beňadik. Bol žiakom Svorada — svätého Andreja-Svorada, benediktína, ktorý prišiel za kráľa Štefana I. do kláštora na Zobore nad Nitrou a býval tam v jaskyni. Ich životy zapísal o generáciu neskôr biskup Maurus a ich úctu potvrdili roku 1083. Na skale neskôr postavili kláštor a Skalka sa pokladá za najstaršie pútnické miesto na Slovensku; júlová púť ju napĺňa dodnes. Práve preto má tento úsek Váhu náboženské dejiny staršie než ktorákoľvek stavba na ňom.
