We spent this morning in Bratislava, which is the capitol of Slovakia. We have been here once before and really enjoyed the old town but were disappointed that we didn’t make it to the castle so that is where we went today. There has been some sort of fortified settlement on this hill for many centuries, likely back to the iron age. There were Celts around and the Romans had an encampment there from the 1-4th centuries as there are bricks and some ruins on the site.

Bratislava Castle

One of the gates to the castle

View from the castle: Slovakia is small…where the windmills are it is Austria

View from the castle in the other direction…where the skinny towers are it is Hungary

Castle tower

Castle

Castle

Flowers in the castle garden

Flower in the castle garden

Castle garden

More flowers

And more flowers because I like them

Around 500 AD the Slavs arrived and they added on to the prior structures. A stone castle was started in the 10th was finished under King Stephen of Hungary in the 11th century. The oldest part of the existing castle is the largest of the 4 towers and it was built around 1250. The remainder of the castle was built and rebuilt over time. For a while, when Buda fell to the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburgs moved their capitol to Bratislava and the Hungarian crown jewels were housed here. The castle survived attack by Napoleon’s troops, but burned in a fire a few years later. It fell into disrepair over the next nearly 150 years, but was restored in the latter half of the 20th century, with its most recent renovation started in 2008.

Statue to memorialize the plague victims of Bratislava

Street in the old town

St Martin’s Cathedral

Part of the old city wall

Michael’s Gate: the only remaining medieval city gate

Cumil: one of the statues in Bratislava

Communist era UFO bridge

After our castle tour we walked around the old town. It is quaint and has been fixed up nicely. It is easily walkable. As I said earlier, we have been here before, but it still was enjoyable. Our time in Bratislava was not long. We sailed away at lunchtime.

On our way towards Austria we went by Devin Castle. This hill has also been settled since neolithic times. This castle was first mentioned in 864, so it was established by then. The current stone building was documented in 1271. It transferred hands multiple times over the centuries, never falling to the Ottomans, but once the Hapsburgs took over it was no longer considered an important location. In 1809, Napoleon’s forces destroyed the castle as they retreated. The ruins have a solitary tower that hangs out over the confluence of the Danube and Morava Rivers. It is known as the Maiden Tower and it is quite striking even though it is not large.

Devin Castle

Devin Castle

Maiden Tower

Hainburg Castle. We happened to sail by this. It was built by Emperor Henry III in 1050.

The remainder of our afternoon was relaxing. I had to bring a little work with me and I managed to get it all done while looking at the pretty scenery (and sipping wine…shhh, don’t tell the boss!).

We docked in Vienna around dinnertime and after dinner they provided us with a concert on board. Very nice!