A few days ago, we have returned from our Christmas break in Slovakia. It didn't go as planned, but we spent a lot of time with our family, so it was not too bad in the end. In the recent years, we preferred to travel there by car as we had many unpleasant situations with the airlines because there were no direct flights to Kosice, and we always had to change the flight in Vienna which caused many delays, cancelled flights, etc. However, as of March this year there will be direct flights from Zurich, so this was the last time that we went to Slovakia by car.
To celebrate the occasion, we stayed one night at a chateau in Pezinok on the way back home, about 30 minutes drive from Bratislava. Staying at a chateau kind of became our new tradition 😊 We love it and it's often much cheaper than staying at some hotel chains.
When we looked up the chateau we got an impression that it is located on a hill, in the middle of a large park/small forest. It turns out that the photos were deceiving as the chateau is literally a few steps away from the old town, and it is definitely not on a hill. However, it is attached to a large park which gives an impression of a large park. Well, they call it the gardens, but to me it is really a park.
Let me show you around!
The origins of the chateau date back to the 13th century, but at that time it looked very different. It was constructed as a medieval fortress, or rather a water castle surrounded by a moat. It took many centuries to shape the chateau into its current appearance. The biggest contributor to the construction of the chateau was the Pálffy family. History
The family sold the chateau in 1930 to the town of Pezinok which quickly sold it to the Slovak Wine Grower Association. Pezinok is well known for its winemaking traditions, and the chateau played an important role in the cultivation and production of quality wines in the region.
The last reconstruction of the chateau that was finished in 2019 was done by its current owner Štefan Šimák, and the property is now used as the hotel with winery, the wine and the glass exhibition, as well as the exhibition of the Pálffy family.
As I mentioned, the chateau is attached to a large park and you can walk around the property. It's not a long walk, but it's interesting anyway due to the round shape of the chateau which is unusual in the region.
There is a large restaurant on the ground floor and the rooms are above it.
We have tried to stay at the chateau in the past as well, but there are events almost every weekend, so it would become too loud for us. I have always called the reception, and this was the first time when there was no event. It's not only weddings, but also large company team buildings and many concerts of Slovak as well as foreign performers. It seems to be a very popular location.
Here you can see that it has a round shape, and that there was a moat in the past. There is only one entrance which is on the opposite side.
The chateau shows us an interesting blend of architectural styles, reflecting the different eras of its construction and renovations. The are some Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements that are visible on the facade.
The gardens are large with many exotic trees, a few ponds and lots of animals.
During the weekend, the weather changed drastically and the temperature went down from +10 degrees Celsius to -5 in one day only. It was SO cold and we didn't want to stay outside for too long as we've both been recently sick, and didn't want to repeat it.
Initially, we planned to walk straight to the reception to warm up, but then...
We saw the first peacock! I have noticed a sign on the gate saying to close it, so that the peacocks don't roam around the town, but I honestly didn't expect to see them. And then suddenly there was this one just chilling and ignoring me completely. They must be used to people.
And then more of them started approaching us...
There was even a white one. I didn't even know that peacocks could be white. Look how pretty it is!
We spent a few minutes trying to lure them, but they kept ignoring us, so we decided to go inside...
And then we noticed that somebody didn't close the gate as there were some peacocks walking around like it all belonged to them 😊
It looked like they wanted to check in as they were walking to the reception...
But then they decided otherwise and held some sort of a meeting next to the reception. We didn't want to bother their discussion, and quickly left them to it.
The inner medieval courtyard has a fishpond in the middle. Well, I thought it was a fountain at first...
From here, you can enter the hotel, as well as the winery and the restaurant.
BTW, can you see that open window? Yeah, that's our room and I forgot to close it before we went to the park, so it was freezing cold when we came back.
When we visited, there was still an elegant Christmas decoration dominated by a large tree (at least 4 meters) with beautiful fairy lights. On Sunday, we saw how two employees tried to remove the fairy lights, and I was crossing my fingers that none of them falls off the wobbly ladder. Luckily, after about 1 hour (for as long as we had breakfast) and lots of effort they finally managed to remove them.
The most interesting part of the inner courtyard is the half tower of the knight Ján Krušič who was one of the former owners of the chateau. I have never seen a half tower before.
And the view from our room...
You can purchase some beautiful regional ceramics at the hotel. We got something for the garden, but now I see that I took the photo after we took the items out of the racks, so what we got will remain a secret 😊
Inside, there are also some items reminding us of the former owners, such as the coat of arms of the Pálffy family. There are also 5 chambers furnished with original furniture of the family that you can visit with a guide. Unfortunately, we were not able to see them because the tours were late and we had to leave early because we had almost 900 km ahead of us.
The breakfast was served in an elegant restaurant with the views of the courtyard...
There was also a regional wine collection as well as a glass collection...
The place is so cozy!
And the chateau looks even better at night...
There are two restaurants in the chateau. The first one is used only for breakfast, and the second one looks more like a medieval restaurant. The food was great too!
I didn't know that my husband was taking photos of me, and when he showed them to me I was surprised to see that they are exactly how I like them 😊 He has some practice already! But it makes me wonder how come that I look the same regardless if I'm posing or not...
I could watch them all day if it wouldn't be that cold (or if I was more clever and took a beanie and gloves)
It started to snow when we left Pezinok and it was snowing all the way through Austria and Germany. There was a lot of traffic and snowplows, so it took us almost 11 hours to get home. We arrived exhausted and happy for the future direct flights.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina
Takže Galicia Nueva nebyla náhoda, vy se teď prostě chcete vyspat na všech slovenských hradech a zámcích, které to umožňují, že? :D Tomu říkám vznešený plán!
Tady v Praze je taky několik míst (parků/zahrad), kde se volně pohybují pávi, ale netuším, co s něma dělají v zimě. Tihle ptáci původně pocházejí z Indie, kde je trošku jiné klima, než u nás :)
Btw, opět se potvrdilo to, co jsi mi říkala, když jsme se naposledy viděli. Takový megapost a jenom zmínka? Schválně se jdu podívat, jaké články se včera dostaly do top trojky a jak je možné, že tenhle tam není...
@tipu curate 7
Hahaha, odhalil si nás 😂 Zistili sme, že je to fakt komfortnejšie ako napríklad v Radisonne a stojí to menej peňazí. Zároveň sa na chvíľu cítim ako princezná a aj sa niečo naučím. Teraz to už bude teda pomenej, keď budeme lietať, ale stihli sme ich už zopár 😊
No tam bola strašná zima a oni si tam len tak pobehovali a nevyzerali, že by im bola zima. Ale pravdupovediac, tiež som bola prekvapená, že tam boli.
Presne tak, ja fakt neviem.. a ešte si aj menia dni, tak si to človek nevie ani naplánovať. Viac to tu nerozoberajme, keďže nám tu môže dosť veľa ľudí rozumieť 😉 Ale veľmi pekne ti ďakujem za podporu 😘
No to věřím, že to musí být úžasný pocit :) Vždycky mi to připomene ten starý devadesátkový seriál Život na zámku, nevím, jestli to běželo i u vás na Slovensku :)
Neboj, rozebírat to nebudeme a ani jsme neřekli nic konkrétního, ale máš fakt pravdu a docela mě to překvapilo. Aspoň že ty Tipáky můžu rozdávat, snad mi provozovatelé TipU tu roli kurátora pro neaktivitu neseberou :D
Nespomínam si, ale určite sa pozriem, či sa to dá niekde vidieť, keďže to vyzerá zaujímavo. Mám rada staré česke filmy/seriály, a pozerám, že tam hrajú aj super herci.
Tak to dúfam, že nie. Neverím, že si až taký neaktívny 😊 Máš tu nejakú reputáciu a každý chápe, že máš toho veľa. Prečítala som si nejaké komenty pod tvojím najnovším článkom a máš neskutočnú podporu (samozrejme zasĺuženú) od ľudí. To sa ti musí dobre čítať 😉
Jo, mrkni na to :) Dneska už člověk ty devadesátkové filmy a seriály vnímá jinak, ale tenkrát jako děcka jsme se na to dívali docela rádi :)
Děkuju, máš pravdu, ta odezva na ty madeirské hory byla fakt úžasná. Nebyl čas na víc než pár krátkých odstavců, ale stejně tam mam desítky milých komentářů ze všech koutů světa. To fakt potěšilo, že na mě mí Hive přátelé a sledující nezapomněli, ani když teď nejsem moc aktivní :)
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It would have been nice to see how their room looked. If it is as nice as the furnishings in the restaurants, then I don't even know why anyone would go to a boring hotel that costs more.
The place looks simple, yet elegant from the outside, and it gets more beautiful at night. The interior looks very classy, although the chairs with wool on them looked funny. But what really stole the show for me were the peacocks roaming around. They're not that common in the Philippines, and one usually has to go to a zoo to see one.
Oh, I didn't take any photos of the room as we made mess before I realized that I should have taken some photos 😁 But you can find them online.
They're not common in Slovakia either, so it was a special treat for us too 😊
Thank you for stopping by!
Martina,
I was going to tell you about the peacock meeting .... but someone beat me to it. Well, btw, you say "as if everything belongs to them"... yes, they are royals and they are in a castle. It cannot be otherwise.
In Spanish, peacocks are Pavos (turkeys) Reales (Royals) 😁
Wonderful place. And you know I'm curious about what you brought home that you didn't want to reveal.
;)
You see, you need to be faster next time.. just kidding 😂
Owwww, now it makes sense! They really are royal! 😁
It's not that I didn't want to reveal them, it's more that they were already packed when I took the photo. It's a ceramic wall clocks for our garden and a decorated ball for my collection. I'll take a photo and send it to you 😉
😁 This curiosity that I always have to know things... 😊
I am sure it is a beautiful souvenir. I'm glad you have it and also that you have shared this experience with us. I live and travel a lot virtually.
Oh, so sweet that you could participate in the peacock meeting :))
And I see my vehicle... the reindeer, the decoration... if no cars, bicycles or else, I have to say that the reindeer was my means of transportation lol 😂
Omg, the open window 😂 brrrrrrrrr
Oh, there were actually old motorcycles!!!! 😂 I didn't realize that they actually were yours, so forgot to take a picture 😉
Yeah, not so clever.. it was so cold inside!
😂
Wonderful castle 👍
Thank you!
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I loved the night pictures, what a beautiful place! And that picture of the terrace with the chairs and the little table, lovely. But the most wonderful thing are the peacocks, I loved them!😍
Thank you very much @delishtreats 😃
Thank you! I loved those peacocks too 😊
The albino is beautiful! I have painted them many times, thank you!
I didn't even know that albino peacocks existed 😂 Would you care to share some of your art?
They are paintings that I painted when I lived in Argentina. Five years ago I moved to Spain, I couldn't bring them back and I gave them as a present to my friends. But if I paint one again I will give you the photograph, I like both the albino peacocks and the herons, they are beautiful.
White peacocks! so fun. Beautiful place and I agree its even better with the lighting at night 👍
It's very special as the chance of a white peacock is 1 in 30000 😊
Thank you for stopping by!
The chateau looks beautiful, it must be quite a treat staying over in such a unique place steeped in history.
It is 😊 Thank you for stopping by!
A very interesting concept to create inside a castle accommodation or a restaurant (I'm sure both the service and the food were perfect).
Seeing this post here reminded me that we here in Romania have such a concept, but we are not there yet.
It becomes quite common in Slovakia as it's a good source of income for such properties. Museums are cool too, but they don't bring enough resources for the maintenance..
Hope, you're doing well 😊
You are right, I was thinking that if we transform these places where years of history are hidden, they will have the same value if we intervene and give them another use?
Hugs from Romania!
I always like to see when historical places get new purpose. Some might argue that it's lowering their value, but I think it's better to maintain the place than to let it fall in decay... If I had the money I would buy a castle too and turn it into an event location 😁
When it comes to abandoning castles, I don't agree with that either.
And here in Romania, I know several such castles that were bought years ago by some "foreign investors", but since they bought them until today they have done nothing with them, too bad that their history is buried in rubble.
Have a wonderful weekend.
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