Červený Kameň

The road to Červený Kameň is well marked. You'll see the castle itself a few minutes before the sign. The road takes you up a mountain and through thickly wooded forest before opening up into a free parking lot next to free (and clean) water closets.

The entire estate is very well maintained: well manicured lawns and gardens with roaming peacocks, clean outbuildings, non-crumbling walls and gates, and a very large castle. There are several places to purchase a snack and a former watch tower houses a small souvenir shop.

Our first stop was the Astur falconry which offers a live show for 4 euro. The falconry has a large variety of owls, hawks, falcons, eagles, and a raven in its collection. The live show was fun with the handlers guiding (and sometimes trying to guide) a great horned owl, raven, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, and a hawk over the heads of audience members. The most impressive flyby was the Steppe eagle which flew down from the castle tower. Its wing span was easily 5 feet.

We then made our way up to the castle. The view from the tower gave an impressive paranoma of the Little Carpathians and some flatlands to the northeast. We could have paid a few euro for a 75 minute tour of the castle museum but had other sights we wanted to see that day. The museum is supposed to be quite nice, though.

There was one wedding party at the castle, one of three weddings we saw that day. Another was at Devin castle, and the most entertaining was in one of the villages we passed through--this one had a band which was leading the wedding party througout the main street of the village.

After leaving the castle, we stopped at the pizzeria in the nearby village of Casta. The garlic soup was good--nice creamy soup with lots of garlic and a bargain at 1.50 euro. When ordering pizza in Slovakia, don't let the price fool you. 2-3 people can easily eat from one 3 euro pizza as they are easily the size of a North American large pizza. Mind you, someone expecting a thick chewy crust will be disappointed as the pizza brings new meaning to the word thin crust. If you like freshly made, crispy thin crust that tastes of garlic topped with a thin amount of ingredients, you'll like Slovakian pizza.

Slovakian Road Trip

We spent Saturday driving through the Slovakian countryside along the Little Carpathians. Route 502 took us along the Eastern slopes northwards from Bratislava to Trstn where we turned left on 51 to Jablonica where we turned south on the 501 to catch the Western slopes on the return trip to Bratislava.

Once you get used to the total absence of ditches, the roads in Western Slovakia are well maintained and, for the most part, newly paved. Once out of Bratislava, the road is 2 lanes and very busy for the first 40 km. The eastern slopes are low rolling hills and an endless stream of vineyards, punctuated by a drive through a village every 2 minutes or so. We spent some time at Červený Kameň (red rock castle) and drove up to Smolenice castle (which is only open to the public in July and August).

The narrow section between Trstn and Jablonica was deeply forested with the trees overhanging the roadway in many sections. Before turning southwards, we passed a mountain lake dotted with rental cottages and fisherman.

The western slopes were higher and more defined. The ruins of Plavecký hrad (castle) are quite impressive. Before heading into Bratislava, we took a side trip to Devin castle, making it the fourth castle we had visited within the space of an afternoon.

Some notes if you're planning a road trip:

• book your car online about a week ahead of time


• the most reliable rent-a-cars are at the Bratislava or Vienna airports


• double-check that the car has a first aid kit and emergency triangle as these are mandatory in Slovakia


• Slovakia has a 0% blood alcohol policy so forego drinks on the days you're driving


• don't expect roads or streets to be marked--you may drive for some time before you're sure you're on the right road. Take a map, use instinct, and stick to what looks like the main road as it's probably the one you want

Gas is easy to find and every village has a pizzeria and a place to buy pop or ice cream. Outside of the city, few speak English but Slovakians are friendly and can usually figure out what you want. Tourist areas are well marked, but expect any tour guides to be given in Slovakian only.