Spisske Hrad, Spisske Podhradie, Slovak Republlic

Spissky Hrad
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Down again off the mountains in scorching hot weather to retrieve our bags and catch several hot, sticky buses to what was to be the poorest town so far on our trip. However, the famous ruins of Spis Castle - one of the largest ruins in Central Europe - tower over the town in which we had landed: Spisske Podhradie. We wandered the streets looking for somewhere to stay, ending up at Penzion Podzomak (bit like a B&B) with top views of the castle. After that, we trooped up the hill 2 miles to the spectacular ruins. The castle was originally founded by the Hungarians in 1209, yaken over and reconstructed by various nations, and then left to decay after being burnt in the 1700's . We enjoyed the castle, but it was a long, HOT day and we headed back to the Penzion.
We had been looking forward to a cool dip in the pool later that evening. We assumed that it was nice and pristine. Little did we know .. once the cover was pulled back pretty murky water was revealed. Since we had asked the hotel to prepare the swimming pool for us - he tested the temperature etcetc, and so we felt obliged to go in. So we did ...for 5 minutes. In terms of visibility I could only see my hand to a depth of about 10 inches!!! Yummmy! Needless to say we showered about 3 times before bed that night!! * Mush