SUMMER, last 2024 of August. It's our typical family day out. My husband treated us to another adventure we will always remember. Honestly, all his day trips and vacations we cherished forever. Mostly it's out first with Aya.
And those adventures we’ll always talk about. He invited us to explore Vyhliadková veža Bojnice, the beautiful and scenic lookout tower that's offering one of the most picturesque views in Slovakia
In Bojnice, Slovakia the place is known for its majestic castle, zoo, tower and its dinosaur park.
The first thing we saw was two enchanting stone towers. It was the grand entrance that began our adventure.
Our grand entrance went inside to the park. But before that I asked my husband if we needed to stop for a minute and took some snaps. The towers have spiral staircases and roses on either side of the path. It is covered by framed tall pine trees and flowers.
There's a massive black dog-like statue and it looks like a guardian watching over the place. A dog statue that looked mysterious and majestic. His eyes are glowing with a serious expression like a protector.
After taking some snaps of the massive dog statue. We went inside and my husband needed to pay for the parking area. But before we even went to the tower, something caught our attention. Especially Aya was so happy to see the dinosaur park.
It's only Aya who wants to go there and we discouraged her. We can already see most of the dinosaurs and don't even need to go inside. The fences are quite low and dinosaur figures tower above them. And the funny part was, when we saw it we should be scared. Our supposed-to-be-scary dinosaur with four legs. Unfortunately the two front ones were hilariously tiny. For a Jurassic theme looks scary and its was funny for us. We all laughed about it and Aya didn't like it either. And so impossible not to laugh at what we saw.
So instead of spending time and especially money on awkwardly proportioned Jurrassic dinosaurs. We continued on the trail for a more real adventure.
After our snaps in the dinosaur park, we followed the trail leading to the tower. The path were surrounded by tall trees that helps us walking and makes our path shaded together with the fresh forest air
Whenever Aya was on our trip or school trips. She loves collecting unique shapes of rocks and colors as well as the pinecones. I love the moment that we enjoyed walking and together we talked about anything under the sun. Most especially we can't get enough for the tiny dino legs.
The deeper we went into the woods, the quieter it got. From our nature that beautiful birds chirping are like symphonies to our ear. And we also heard the rustling of leaves, our footsteps and the people who passed by. We go for our hike from east to moderate. It's not that too hard because we love hiking.
We hear people passing by, our fellow hikers along our way. They are all happy and great with each other "Dobré den which means good afternoon. With their warm smiles it meant a lot and we were heading to the place we were all waiting for-The Tower.
The moment was waiting for me and then it appeared. Our first glimpse of Vyhliadková veža. Rising above the treetops and standing so proud, tall and majestic. Because it's one other tourist in Bojnice.
It was designed in a spiral and made of wood.But the foundation of it was made of metal.The tower placed in the perfect spot in nature that blended beautifully with its surroundings.
Honestly, I am not afraid to walk but I'm afraid of Aya. I know my daughter, even I will tell multiple times and answer me yes mama. Because of her excitement she will forget what I say. All she knows is that she's happy to see the view on the top.
She really loves more adventure trips and she was so happy to experience going up to the tower. We slowly walked spirals and upward but our adventurous girl made it a contest and ran. Because of what she did, dad got angry. We remind her again to just enjoy the walk and nature around her. Because each turn revealed more of the landscape beyond the trees.
As we ascended, the view was worth more every step and the wind grew more cooler. We started seeing more of Bojnice. From its famous castle, zoo and the panoramic view was getting better to a breathtaking one.
Our accomplishment for hiking was all worth it. And we were at the top of happiness. Aya and I were so grateful. And my husband was ok because he's been there many times already. It's normal for him. 🤣. And it was our first and first experience that meant a lot for us. And on top it was like a 360-degree experience we have, an amazing, breathtaking and magical view. Even the wind was stronger and brushing against our faces and hair was all ok. We took snaps for memories, of course, but also a simple pause. Our mental pause shows that we need time to breath and feel the moments we have.
Even though we were standing the whole time savoring the moment, it was all ok.
It was a beautiful reward from hiking.
If only there were chairs and it would chill on the top. Just watching the panoramic view on the top. And It wasn’t just the view. It was my feeling of being above it all, with my family and together in nature.
We decided to head back home. As we walked back down the spiral and retraced our path through the woods. We couldn’t help but laugh again because we passed by the tiny two legs of dinosaurs.
Who knew that one odd, scary creature with tiny front legs would become our funny joke of the day.
-Playground around the tower-
Our hike gave us something special. The three of us with the laughter, excitement, fresh air, family bonding and breathtaking view were the great moments.
Bojnice is one of the most beautiful places in Slovakia and never disappoints us. And it's one of the most visited attractions, the Vyhliadková veža.