Bratislava, Slovakia

Our most recent travel adventure landed us in Bratislava, Slovakia. I never thought I would get the chance to visit Slovakia, but the opportunity came and we jumped on it! Martin has been one of J's friends and patients for many years. He came to Italy for a visit and treatment just over a month ago. He plays hockey in Germany now, but he is from Slovakia. His wife and kids are spending the summer at their house in Bratislava and opened their house to us.

Martin picked us up at the airport then took us to his house to meet his wife and their two little babies.

Then we headed to see the Devin Castle. We ate lunch and then walked up the hill to these castle ruins.

This castle was blown up by Napoleon's troops in 1809. It has remained ruins ever since.

From the top of the castle, the views are amazing! You can see across the river to Austria and in the horizon is the Czech Republic. This is also the point where the Danube (the longest river in Europe) and the Morava Rivers converge. You can see the two colors of water where they meet.

This is not what I expected Slovakia to look like. This area was so beautiful!

While we were up enjoying the views, Martin (who is just about the same age as J) started telling us about growing up under Russian communist rule. He remembers barbed wires and armed guards being all along the river to prevent anyone from swimming across to Austria. It was really interesting to hear his stories. How differently we grew up...

And how different Slovakia is today!

Such beautiful landscape!

The next day, we all went out to historic center of Bratislava. Much of the old city was destroyed during WWII and never rebuilt during the Russian occupation. We started at this castle, the major focal point of the historic center.

The Castle has been through many changes and different rulers. It was very pretty and a definite landmark of Bratislava.

Nice views of the old center merging into the modern city. There is still a lot of evidence of the communist rule, including the big cement housing building.

The six of us. Lydia and Martin's kids are so darn cute. Henry is 20 months and Julius is just about 2 months. So cute and fun!

We then headed to the Russian monument. Martin and his brother were telling us about the love/hate relationship they had with the Russians. On one hand, the Russians saved the country from the war but on the other, after the Russians saved them, they enforced an oppressive rule.

The Russians made this memorial and basically forced people to come here to thank them. Martin remembers coming here every year during school.

J with our tour guides - Martin and his brother.

Cumil

This is an interesting sculpture. I like the explanation that he has a smirk on his face because he is stealing peeks up ladies dresses!

The Old Town Hall

On the yellow tower you can see to the left of the first window above the door is an original cannonball that was has been lodged in the building for years and years.

St. Michael's Gate

The only remaining original gate to the city.

We had such a fun time watching Henry - he is very entertaining. Hockey seems to be in his blood. He plays for hours smacking any ball he sees into the goal. He is so coordinated, I can't believe it! Here is Henry rejoicing over his "goooaaaaalllll!!!"

The BBQ got a little out of control! Haha!

Our final day, we set out for another castle. This one was about 1.5 hours outside of the city.

Cerveny Kamen

We had a nice tour (in Slovak) of the inside and the cellars. It was really interesting!

The crest for the family is made up of a deer and a broken wheel. The story is the family was returning home from a party late one night. As they were going through the woods it was so dark they couldn't see anything. Randomly a deer ran by and hit the coach wheel and broke it. Since the family could not continue the trip home they slept there for the night. When they woke the next morning they noticed if they had continued they would have driven off the edge of a cliff. So because the deer and broken wheel saved their lives they made it there crest.

There were peacocks in the trees! It was crazy. They make such a loud and annoying sound! I have never seen a white peacock before. Quite beautiful!

Outside the castle.

Cute Julius with mama.

He was such a snuggler, I definitely got some good baby snuggle time in!

We had a wonderful trip to Bratislava. Martin and Lydia are amazing and fun hosts! Thank you SO much for showing us around and teaching us so much about Bratislava. We has an amazing visit!