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