Cass - tells

Trencin Castle from the city below and Mister

View of Trencin from the train station


Trencin from below

Matt, Mister, and Me

View from the tower in Trencin

Ancient Roman carvings at the base of the cliffside

Me

Trencin Castle

View from the Castle from above

Matt, Martin, Me at the top of the highest tower

Me, Martin , Matt

Matt and I posing for Martin to take our picture with our own camera (a common theme)

Castle at Night time

Bojnice Castle

Road to Bojnice

Bojnice from the backside

Me and Matt in the "Wedding Room" with the gold ceiling

Martin, Matt, and Me

Me and Matt in the hunting room

Martin, Matt, and Me infront of Bojnice

From the city below we looked up at the spires of castle, cutting up the mountainous skyline that surrounded it. The sheer size of the castle was massive, but when you add in the rocky cliffs that it laid upon, it just became that more dominating. The city below laid in the shadow of a castle for very practical reason of protection – of course ironically enough that lead to most of the cities getting pillaged when crusaders would attempt to take the castle. But the beauty of the castle was what made it my favorite visit in Slovakia when we went to, Trencin, or wait was it Bratislava, or Bojnice?

One of the more beautiful things about Slovakia, at least about the cities that we visited, was that most of the major cities were founded at the base of giant castles. In our 4 days and 3 nights visiting Martin’s homeland, we managed to see 3 different castles in 3 different cities. The first day we were in Bratislava (see my previous blog) and saw the Bratislava castle. Our next castle visit took place in the city of Trencin.

We had planned on going to visit another group of the Loyola troupe who were visiting Bratislava that day, but after our train was delayed an hour because as Martin put it, there was another train “destroyed” (Slovakian for there was a train accident) we decided just to stay in Trencin. Trencin is about a 20 minute train ride, or 40 minute bus ride from Martin’s home village of Kośeča. Martin went to high school in Trencin and naturally knew quiet a few things about the city and castle that loomed over it. We started out by visiting a hotel at the base of the cliffs which was famous because it was built around a carving made by Roman army that build the original foundations for the fort nearly 2000 years ago.

From there we headed for our tour of Trencin castle. We got a private tour guide – not many people tour Trencin in the middle of the week – who didn’t speak any English and thus tested Martin’s knowledge when he was forced to be our translator. One of the main highlights was the views from the center tower at the top of the castle and down on the city itself. The tower was the oldest and original building of the castle that was used as protection for the 10th century Royal family. The main expansion of the castle to its current state today was done by the ruler Matthew Csak in the 13th century. After our tour of the castle, Matt, Martin, and I caught a quick bite to eat in the backroom of another Slovakian restaurant with its own wood burning stove. We then headed back to Martin’s home, for another round of Slovak dinner.

The day after Trencin, we followed Martin to our final Slovak city – Bojnice. Bojnice was famous for the Cinderella-like castle that lies in the center of the city. Of all the castles we saw in Slovakia, or all the castles I’ve seen in general, the castle in Bojnice was by far the most magical. It was first mentioned as far back as 1133, when it was originally just a wooden fort. However, over the course of history, both the castle and city around it began to develop. The castle in its current state was built by King Ladislaus V for his girlfriend of the time in the mid 1200’s. Over the course of its history it passed through various lines of Royalty and was owned by its final owner up until the 1920’s when it was donated back to the city to be used for tourism. One of its famous features is the natural baths that lay below the castle and served as both the castle’s well and a swimming area.

However, the best part about the castle was its views from the outside. Though the weather was bitter cold, the snow cover on the castle added to its beauty. When we first arrived we were lucky enough to catch it in the sunshine, the bright rays illuminating the castle’s colors. Unfortunately by the end of our time there, the clouds had set taking away some of the beauty of the castle – but if there’s one thing I learned it’s that just about everything looks cooler in the sunshine (at least for picture purposes).

After we finished touring Bojnice, we headed back to Martin’s home for our final Slovak dinner. Martin’s mother pulled out all the stops which made our final dinner delicious. Finally, we headed to bed early because we had an early day the next morning. Though our time in Slovakia had come to a close we were only half way through our adventure – Budapest, Vienna, and Prague still awaited us!