Let’s change the topic a little bit: now we are going the go ahead with another castle, the one of Bojnice (in Hungarian: Bajmóc) which is also located in the Trenčín region and I visited it during another trip earlier this year. 

I have written that we are changing the topic a bit, because although there is one English word for castle, both Slovak and Hungarian languages make a difference between fortified medieval castles (SK.: hrad, H..:vár) and elegant, rich, modern, palace-like residential castles (SK.: zamok, H.: kastély) which are also closer to our age in terms of history.

The Bajmóc Castle obviously belongs to the second group if you have a look at its fairytale like structure, rooftops and towers, which makes it the ‘Disneyland castle’ of Slovakia for sure.

The area of the castle is not less interesting either: there is a small downtown with parks and old houses, while there are people dressing in medieval costumes inviting you to various programs like falconry (actually, Hungarian castles could follow the example of the Slovak ones by having more authentic activities).

The most important sight close to the castle is the Tree of King Mathias: an old linden, under which the Hungarian king famous for being just enjoyed resting a lot during his reign.

Later the linden was also a favorite place for Prince Francis II Rákóczi who wrote many letters and signed many orders there. Seeing such an old tree that witnessed the stormiest days of history was such a feeling that I felt last time when I visited Bartek the Oak in Poland some years ago.

The greatest thing about the castle was the fact that from the top to the bottom, we were able to see everything by an excellent guided trip.

We were walking all the stairs, getting through all the rooms and corridors and saw plenty of furniture, portraits, paintings, armors, art collections, coat-of-arms of different families and many other objects recalling different historical periods. 

My personal favorite was the Golden Hall where it is still possible to arrange wedding ceremonies under its pure golden ceiling: the idea came from Count János Pálffy, a former owner of the castle who was an enthusiastic art collector and really admired a similar ceiling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.

It is said that all the 183 angel faces are different, and indeed, the hall recalled my memories when I used to live in the Venetian lagoons and visited plenty of palaces.

Since the castle was built on a cliff, we could see a lot of rocks everywhere in the courtyard, but it was not everything yet: we also entered the caves underneath the castle, where there used to be a well and we could observe the thermal water originating from there – no wonder that Bajmóc is a popular spa destination in Slovakia as well. 

Going downstairs, we entered the crypt of Count Pálffy too; in the middle of the last century, there was a strange fluid leaking from the tomb, therefore the locals said that the soul of the count could not rest in peace and was crying for its beloved castle.

It is certain that the Bojnice Castle had a very unlucky story and was destroyed by fires and many other disasters many times, while some important parts of the art collection were stolen (for instance from the chapel where you can see the representations of saints of the Hungarian royal family, the Árpáds).

Thus, whole wings and towers of the castle had to be reconstructed, but when it finally happened and the castle regained its old shine and beauty, the fluid stopped leaking from the tomb. (It turned out in the end what it was, but I do not want to spoil the legend and leave it up to your imagination.)

People then said Pálffy’s ghost found peace because the castle was whole and unmatched again. Last, but not least, we had some free time to walk on the castle walls and admire the view, which was also breathtaking due to the special location of Bajmóc between mild hills and high mountains.

Although most of the tourism began with the castle and spa tradition, nowadays there are dozens of attractions in the town, mainly on the top of the mountain, surrounded by genuine pine trees.

It is an area where the whole family can have fun: there is a dinosaur park with moving, lifelike dinos, many playgrounds and tiny mushroom houses (like the ones from The Smurfs), and I should not forget about Čajka v oblakoch ('Seagull in the Clouds') either.

This is a wonderful view point where you can see the entire neighborhood of the town with all the hills, fields and houses including the castle itself, providing a view that I saw maybe on the top of Dziewicza Góra near Poznań. 

The nicest concept about this view point is the fact that it is not a tower with stairs, but a long track with a slope rising very slightly, so old and disabled people and those who are afraid of climbing can go to the top and admire the view as well.

From the distance, the whole construction looked like a roller coaster, and apart from the track where one could walk, there were some ropes and other objects to climb for those who needed more adrenaline and adventure – this way they could have a shortcut to the top. 

Well, these two trips altogether were so profound and contentful for me that now when I am writing these lines I am still under their influence.

Apart from the fact that I am enthusiast towards castles, these adventures gave me a lot of beauty, harmony, a better understanding of Slovak-Hungarian common history and realizing what kind of heritage we really have here in this region, embraced by the wreath of the Carpathians. 

And what an incomparable heritage we share!