Saturday, February 3, 2007

Trenčín


New adventures in Slovakia!

My Slovakian adventures were limited to Bratislava and the nearby castle of Devín prior to last weekend and my Lonely Planet (not a plug for those Brits!) described Trenčín as a town "with a distinctly sedate pace of living." Also said it had a bunch of Renaissance buildings as well as a massive castle looming over the town from jutting mountaintop.

The Romans were there ages ago and left their mark in the base of the rock, an inscription that survives today. Pretty wild!

The town only had a few churches. The main one, orange in color and big, was at the end of the main pedestrian walkway under the castle just inside the old gate. It really was a monster and it had two great onion-dome spires. The inside was remarkable too...despite the fact that I've now seen more churches than could ever hope to recount. It had a great deal of ornate artwork, sculpture and the like.

There was also this one abandoned synagogue...much more about that later!

We got there Friday at about 4pm. The sun was breaking the clouds and allowed for a quick round of photos before retreating for good for the evening. So, we dug into relatively good...albeit strange Mexican? food. Slovakian Mexican I guess! Then proceeded to hit the Irish? pub next door for a few beers.

The most famous Slovakian beer as near as I can tell is Zlatý Bažant, which this pub had for 27 Slovak Crowns. That's equal to $1 exactly. Not bad. They had Guiness for $2.57, but not a full pint.

Anyway, to my absolute surprise...I think my exact words were, "Holy @%&# sh*t.....you gotta be kidding me!" I saw this sign:


I mean in Trenčín, Slovakia of all places in the world to find a Goose sign!?! I couldn't believe it! I'd be surprised to see it in the States...Trenčín, Slovakia...talk about blown away!

So, the next day we got up, ate breakfast at the pension (fantastic omelettey-thingy with a bacon base and egg with cucumber), then climbed up the back of the mountain to the castle. We got rained on a bit, but not really wet.

This castle was about 75% rebuilt. However, the area that we accessed in the back was where the real magic hid. The walls were mostly original with the wooden posts jutting out (albeit broken posts) in many spots.The combination of being completely on our own surrounded by patches of snow with the imposing historic castle staring down at us was enough to make us giddy.We found the castle accessible only from the old town, however. So, after mincing about in the moat and on the walls we clamoured down to the old town and paid the fee to enter for real. The wind was absolutely ripping through our layers of clothes sending shivers through our bodies and a chill straight to the bone.

We ducked in the info center for hot chocolate. Then went to meet the guide at 12:15. The guide was playing hooky apparently, though, so we got barked at by a dog for 15 minutes and left. Next we went to Beckov Castle.....

1 comment:

Shelley said...

Central Europe.....home of Vlad the Impaler and other kindly gentlemen.........