Devin Castle

A bronze model of Bratislava back in the middle ages. The centre walled structure is where we stayed and we were actually able to figure out which would have been our building.

Overlooking Bratislava is the Bratislava Hrad (castle). It is now a museum that chronicles the history of the immediate area and castle.

We didn't have a lot of time in Bratislava so we had to be particular about what we saw. The weather was supposed to be wet so we decided to take a boat trip up the Danube River to a castle named Devin Castle.

Along the river on the Austrian side were these little fishing huts on stilts. The river can flood. The huts are passed down through families and they use the square nets to fish for pike, walleye, catfish, carp and other white fish.

Devin Castle in the distance. As we were going against the current the 12km ride took 1.5 hours to go upstream and 30 minutes to come back.

Getting closer.

Karl Rastilav was the second ruler of Morovia and built the first fort here.

Maiden Tower, precariously perched on a rock outcropping. There are many legends of maidens throwing themselves out of the tower. It is also the most photograghed part of Devin Castle.

Right next the Maiden Tower is another outcropping with a tower on it. If you look very closely you will see two men using a pneumatic drill.

When castles were built in this area there wasn't much lime for mortar and it was very expensive. About 40% of Devin Castle has been restored over the last 50 years. In the 80's and 90's, cement was cheap easy and available. Throw lots of rocks in and apply cement. It was used in many caslte restorations in Europe. Unfortunately cement has twice the thermal expansion coefficient of stone so rapid temperature changes, extreme hot and cold, or heavy rains cause the cement to break apart. Today climate change is speeding this up and pieces of cement are falling out leaving stones hanging. Replacing cement with lime mortar is a hard job as lime needs constant CO2, and moisture to become limestone. The conservationists have come up with a brilliant workable idea of planting sedum or stone crops. The plants produce CO2, maintain moisture and protect the limestone from severe temperature changes. This is being used at several castles including Devin as erosion control and I bet they look pretty after awhile.

The hill where Devin Castle sits has always been an intersection. The border between kingdoms and countries. The meeting of the Danube and Morova river. The meeting on the Danube and Amber trade roads.

The castle grounds are 60,000 sq metre and 212 m above the river. 

Ed fascinated by the robotic lawnmower. There are some pretty steep hills inside the castle to mow.

Statue of a Slav woman.

The present ruins consisting of an upper, middle and lower castle.

In prehistoric times this area was the crossroads of humans and animals. In fact mammoth bones have been found in the area. As humans were settling in Europe, civilizations from all over Europe came here. The oldest evidence of settlers in this area (wooden and clay fortifications) are from the New Stone Age, about 6 million years BC.

Next came the Bronze and Iron Age. The militant culture of Caka fortified this area and it became a military and cultural area. Next the Celts built forts here.

1st century it was part of the Linus Romanus of the Roman Empire. The 9th century brought the Moravians and the first hill fort.

This castle was built in the second half of the 13th century to protect West Hungary.

15th century saw the Garay Family come into possession of the castle and the palace was added. The castle was never conquered and eventually became useless. There is a story that Stephan Bathiry was given the castle by the King of Poland but Kelglevic the owner pawned it to the Palocsali family for 40,000 guilders then spent the money. It took 100 years for the money to be paid back. In 1809, Napoleon's army was retreating. They undermined the castle and blew it up. Today it is a natural cultural heritage site.

The Danube i think.

 Wes , Ed and I climbed the big tower of the castle. If you look closely you might be able to see Roz down there.

The Morovia River.

Every Castle needs a well.

Such a cool castle with so much history attached to it.

On our way back to the boat we walked along the water. There were some symbolic works here. This is the Heart of Europe sculpture, made of barbed wire and represents the fence used to control the people under Soviet control.

After War II, Europe was divided into East and West and the Iron Curtain was put in place. It was 2.2 m tall with barbed wire, restored every 5 years, electrified and had guard dogs. The iron curtain was torn down by the local people in 1989 during the Velvet Revolution.

This White Arch was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth. The Iron Curtain stood here. In 1951,The Act of Protection of State Borders granted border guards the right to prevent Czech citizens from fleeing. The Death Zone was several km along the Austrian border and the border guards were given the right to shoot their own citizens. Guards were usually young, about 18 years old, and were rewarded with commendation and leave but punished, for failure to kill, with military prison. More than 400 people were shot and killed trying reach freedom. Only a few managed to escape. 

One story I found was about a fellow named Joseph Halvaty and his family. In 1988, he sent his wife and one son to Yugoslavia on the pretense of holidays. Josef, along with his parents, took his 3 year old son "camping" in south Slovakia. Josef and his dad had made a hang glider. They put it together and Josef and set off for the 7km ride. Unfortunately, in the dark Josef went off course and corrected it as dawn was approaching but they were spotted by a guard tower who raised the alarm. Josef headed back into the dark and flew just above the trees landing just in time before a helicopter came over. Josef and his son made it to safety. His wife and other son snuck out a hotel room and the family reunited in Austria. Not sure if i would be that brave.

On our river boat ride we were passed both ways by this boat, the ferry to Vienna, about a 90 min ride. What was cool about it was that it did a donut in the water to turn the boat around.

The UFO bridge over the Danube in Bratislava.

Wes found a friend.

Our walk back to our apartment via Michael's gate.