Slovakia in a Day

Saturday, October 29th.

Fot: Painted house in Cicmany, Aneta

The weather is beautiful today and Aneta and I roll out early for a 7:30 AM start to our long day in Slovakia. First stop Cicmany.  Cicmany is an amazing little village in the Slovakian Mala Fatra Mountains. The village is unique and recognized for its unusually painted houses. The houses and bilding - over 70 in all - are painted with interesting symbols and designs in white on the dark brown wood of the old houses. The point of the paintings is to prevent the dark wood from absorbing the sun and degrading more quickly. It is thought that the white designs reflect the sun and keep the wood from rotting. This is an interesting village at the foot of a ski slope - one of many short run ski slopes in the area. There is a wonderful gift shop that sells handmade items unique to the area. I found a few must have souveniers in this store to take back to my younger grandchildren.

As we leave Cicmany the Gps asks us to take a dramatic turn to the left and head up the mountains. We willingly oblige and are climbing up out of the valley when we crest a hill and are greeted by the most amazing fall foliage display I have ever feasted my eyes upon. I start shrieking at Aneta to stop the car so I can leap out and take a few photos. She tries to oblige but there isn't really any safe place to pull off the road and she is mindful of traffic in this hilly area. Finally she gets the car over and I lean out the window and take a few shots but miss the best view with the white rock formations against the fall leaves. We move along and soon come to a greet open area where we can get out of the car and take photos. We are both running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to capture every amazing scene possible. I am quite literally overcome by the incredible display nature has placed in front of me on this mornings drive. So, we stop and start and stop and start all the way to Bojnice to see the castle in our destination city. I have seen the fall colors in Vermont and Northrn Virginia. I have seen the fall colors in Western and Eastern Oregon and I'm here to tell you there is nothing like the fall colors in the Mala Fatra Mountains of Slovakia. I never expected to see such a display in my lifetime because I had no idea something like this existed in this world.

Fot: Fall foliage, Aneta

We arrived in Bojnice a little after noon and made our way down hill from the parking lot to the castle entrance. Now this is a castle. This is fairy tale quality castle. This is castle the way you envision castles in your fantasy life. Bojnice Castle is very tall, has multiple turrets, a moat, lovely grounds, a bridge over the moat, a huge castle door and it is built on a rock with a real cave beneath it! The castle appears to be a good six stories tall and that does not include the crypt and the cave.

Fot: Bojnice Castle, Aneta

We purchased our tickets and gathered with the other visitors in the courtyard while we waited for our tour to begin. The guide only gave the information in Slovakian so I followed as best I could in my guide brochure in English. The thing about this castle is that it is fully furnished with the furnishings that were in use by the last Grand Duke who owned the castle and is entombed in the crypt beneath the castle foundation. This guy had greet taste in furniture, art and collectables.

Fot: One of the castle's chambers, Aneta

Rumor has it he was in love with a French Countess and was renovating the castle for her, but it took 20 years and she got tired of waiting and married someone else while he piddled away at the massive renovation of the palace/castle. I believe he ultimately married someone else and, although he had heirs, he stipulated in his will that this particular castle (he had several others) be made open to the public and that he be buried in the crypt beneath the castle. We were allowed to tour three floors above the main floor and two floors below the main floor over the two hours of our guided tour. I have never climbed so many circular stairs in my life but boy are my legs getting strong! We had to pay extra to take photos inside the castle and since Aneta has a far superior camera to my little happy snap she got all the interior photos of Bojnice Castle but I got some lovely photos as we walked around the exterior and the grounds.

When our tour ended we made our way down the hill to a nice little pizzeria and ordered a pizza and a drink before moving on to the other surprise of our day. Aneta took my aching legs and back to swim/soak/rest in a thermal hot springs pool just over the hill from the castle on the other downhill side from our parking lot. It was quite a little walk to get to the place and then find the entrance but we managed and had a lovely hour long stay in the pool and jacuzzi alcoves. When we left the pool we had to walk all the way back up the hill to the car but my muscles were speaking much more quietly after their nice swim/soak and jet massage. I actually made it back to the car and I wasn't at all sure I would as we were walking down to the pool. In fact, I told Aneta she would have to get the car and come pick me up when we finished our swim. That didn't happen.

We sank into the car seats and began our long journey back to Knurow with me reading from 1Q84 aloud to Aneta while she drives. We arrived home around 10:30 PM, tired and hungry but well satisfied that we had enjoyed a terrific day together with the added bonus of the fall colors to make this day one of the most memorable of my entire stay.

Linda