Back in the Summer of 2013, my family and I drove down through Europe to Croatia, stopping in…
Times visited: 3 (2 days in 2013, 1 day in 2016 & 3 weeks in 2022)
Cities visited: Bratislava, Považská Bystrica, Trenčín and Nitra
Villages visited: Predmier, Radava, Podhájska, Vráble and Vel’ké Lovce
I visited Slovakia for the first time in the summer of 2013, during a family roadtrip from Denmark to Croatia. It was my idea to have a stop in Bratislava en route, because I’d been interested in Slovakia for many years. We spent a few days in the city and stayed in a botel (a hotel on a boat!) on the Danube river.
I fell head over heels in love with the city during our visit. I’d never seen such a charming and cozy capital city before. I even thought about moving there after high school.
I never got around to doing that though as I fell harder for the north, but I did get to visit Bratislava again. When I went to Budapest in January 2016, I decided to take a day trip to Bratislava, so I could revisit the city that I’d fallen in love with three years earlier. Despite the difference in season and the thick mist that laid over the city, Bratislava in winter did not disappoint. The atmosphere was completely different, but I loved it nonetheless. It’s definitely one of my favourite cities in Europe!
In the summer of 2022, I returned to Slovakia for three weeks of excavations in the Nitra region, but first, I spent a few days travelling around with my boyfriend, eager to explore the country outside of Bratislava. We based ourselves for two days in Považská Bystrica, an eyesore of a city but nonetheless a great base for exploring the Súl’ov Mountains. We went on a memorable sunset hike up to the Považský Castle and spent a day hiking among the otherworldly Súl’ov Rocks. On our way south to meet the team of archaeologists, we stopped for a day in the cute castle town of Trenčín and a half day in the city of Nitra where a small medieval stone church stole my attention.
The following three weeks were spent excavating two exciting archaeological sites near Podhájska and Vráble, which included 2-5 metre deep ditches, lots of amazing single finds and 31 headless skeletons! We were based in the tiny village of Radava, which I got to know well on my morning runs and afternoon walks, and I even found time for a 15 km hike in the countryside on one of our few days off!
