Here are some more photos of Bardejov in  north  eastern Slovakia, this one showing a part of the mural fortifications which have been declared as a world heritage site.

Click to enlarge!

The lovely old museum of icons at the southern end of
 the square.

So now our next stop on going westward by bus through Slovakia was to be the fascinating little village of Bojnice where one of Europe's most enchanting castles sits so immaculately on a travertine hill at the end of the local main street.

On entering the castle on a guided tour (unfortunately held exclusively in Slovakian), the first thing we laid our eyes on was this clay model of the palace itself.

A wild boar gave its life once upon a time to this very special rag.

One of the finest rooms boasting a carved ceiling all embellished in gold.

On top of a deep well in the courtyard stands this triumphant figure.

Me trying on my new Slovakian sandals on a grassy slope near our hostel.

Between  Bojnice zoo and the castle, these birds of pray were being displayed to the tourists passing by.

A red flamingo at Bojnice zoo.





Coral fish in the aquarium of Bojnice zoo.

Click to enlarge!

And of course God was smiling down on us during our visit of Bojnice making sure our experience wouldn not go without a few East European thunderstorms!

After nearly missing out on our dinner because everything closes in Slovakia at precisely 6 o'clock, we found the bus station and traveled the remaining 2½ hours back to Poprad. On doing so we left behind one of the prettiest little towns we've ever had the chance to visit, with its meandering stone walls, its polychromatic burgher houses and cobbled lanes, promising ourselves (with fingers crossed) that one day we will come back again.

Bojnice castle, the most fairy tale like palace I have ever seen in my entire life, here captured in the misty light of the late evening.

Carina posing inside the cave that lies beneath the very basement of the castle.

If the owl made a "woo" now and then the volume was nothing compared with the shrieks of this domesticated Golden eagle, claimed to be the biggest eagle in the world. 

This was the main attraction of the zoo on both our visits during those few days, an orangutan mother with her fluffy, little baby.