Hiking in Malé Karpaty, Slovakia

On my way to INSEAD in France I visited my family in Slovakia and took a weekend trip with my cousin and his friends to the Little Carpathians, or Malé Karpaty, which are just outside of Bratislava and Trnava. These mountains/hills are nice because they are easy to hike and there are ruins of castles. It is tradition in Slovakia to own a small apartment in the city and also have a cabin somewhere in the mountains. We stayed in our friend, Natalia's cabin in the small town of Jahodnik, near the Smolenice Castle. 

Starting our 6-hour (including breaks) hike up the trail. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do and I like it even more than running because of the scenery and difference in terrain. Walking uphill is a great workout, my legs were tired after. I don't really like hiking shoes and usually wear trail running shoes while hiking, I love my New Balance Minimus Trail Running Shoes.

The Jahodnik town had this awesome track and outdoor equipment for crossfit. I didn't get to try it out but apparently workout on this obstacle course in the summer and then go inside and do weights and typical crossfit WODs in the winter. Looks awesome!

This is the castle ruin that we were hiking to, Ostrý Kameň. There are a lot of ruins and restored castles in Slovakia scattered throughout the country.

View from atop the castle ruins of Ostrý Kameň.

That's Natalia with me above and then we went back to her cabin (below) and cooked a delicious meal over the fire and grill. I made skewers with mushrooms and other vegetables. We also had traditional Slovak goulash, cooking over the fire in the big kettle below. Goulash is a stew with beef, potatoes, onion, and other vegetables.