Spišské Podhradie

Slovakia, the land of castles! It was just a quick 2 night stay in this smallish country, but what's fascinating about Slovakia is this little country has more castles per capita than any other country in the world! So the first day we spent exploring one of the better known castle ruins by the name of Spis Castle, which is a massive castle on a very dramatic hillside in the more eastern part of the country. In fact, it is one of the largest castles in Europe and was built in the 12th century (so almost 900 years ago!). The next day we were due to do some more exploring, but the weather was - for the first time in a while - miserable. So we ended up having a catch up day at the hostel instead. That evening, we went to a local restaurant to try some Slovakian food. Once again the starters were delicious with a homemade duck pâté that Emz and I shared. For mains, I had essentially a pork roast and Emz had some Slovakian potato dumplings. Both meals were delicious! The next day we visited another castle ruin by the name of Sasov castle on our way to Hungary. A far smaller 14th century castle but still quite impressive for how it was built on this steep hill on the edge of a cliff face. They'd also dug a tunnel into the mountain where they used to place large blocks of ice cut out from the river below to use as a sort of rustic fridge which was also interesting to note. Overall, Slovakia was a brief visit. The country is probably a little more run down that some of the other Eastern European countries, but interesting all the same!Read more