So, after that good night’s sleep, I was ready and rearing
to go exploring! I got a sub-par breakfast (but filling, nonetheless) and
headed over to the bus station so I could get to the Devin Castle ruins, about
20 minutes away. I was really confused about the buses, and I don’t think I did
everything right as far as my tickets are concerned, but I didn’t get arrested,
so the day started as an overall success. =)
When at long last I made my way to the castle, with the help
of some kindly Bratislavans, I started getting really excited! I am just
fascinated with castles, and particularly with ruins. It’s just amazing to me
that anything can be that old. And castles are only for fairytales, right? Not
here! It was only about 3 Euro (a little less than $4), which I thought was
quite the deal! There was a one-room church at the foot of the big hill leading
up to the castle, and a couple of houses/workshops, too. The castle itself was
used from the 9th century, and owned by people up until the mid 20th
century. The last family who owned it acquired it in the 17th
century, and I guess they’re the ones who let it get into a state of ruin,
although I’m not sure what the circumstances were. There was an interesting
exhibit all about weaponry and defense systems for fortifications and castles
back in the day. They actually had stone cannons, hand-made bullets, tools,
swords, maces, torture devices, arrows and crossbows, and lots of other things
all on display—the biggest of which were not behind glass or in any kind of
case! This would not happen in American for several reasons, but it’s pretty
cool to see that stuff up-close and personal here! =)
Another interesting part was the well. It still has water in
it! It’s 55 meters deep, which is about 170 feet or something close to that.
The lady there talking about it dumped a mug of water in and we waited… and
waited… and waited… and then… SPLASH! There’s still water in there! The well
was a very important thing to explore when they were excavating the place. Apparently,
there was pottery, trash, tools, and other stuff to be found way down in there.
They used the stuff they found do determine dates of when the castle was built,
what they used it for, who lived there, etc. It’s amazing what they can find
out from people’s trash. I think if someone were to explore my trash, they’d
find a lot of nasty stuff—why would anyone want to explore trash?!
At any rate, I roamed around there for a bit—it’s very
pretty. It’s situated up on a big hill between the Danube and Moravian Rivers, and they
offer boat rides between here, Bratislava, and Vienna. Quite nice!
So off I went to the bus stop. I either just missed the bus,
or someone didn’t know what they were talking about when they said the bus
comes every 15-20 minutes. I was definitely sitting there waiting for at least
40 minutes! Oh well. I got some blogging done because I’d taken my laptop with
me. =)
Back in Bratislava’s Old Town, I found another sub-par
eating place (bummer!) where I got Hungarian Goulash with “dumplings”, which
were really just slices of bread. Better luck next time.
Time to change into the dress! I was supposed to meet my new
friend, Lucia, from the church here between 4 and 5, and there were a coupel of
other things I wanted to see. So I walked back to the hotel to change to give
myself the most time at my next stop—the city history museum—before meeting her
at Hviezdoslav’s statue. And boy am I glad I did—it got hotter and hotter as
the day wore on!
So, two hours was definitely not enough time at the city
history museum! I could have spent the better part of a full day there. There
was so much to see and so much to read. I went all the way up to the top of the
big clock tower (the one with Napoleon’s bullet in it!) and got to see the best
view of the main square. =) There were clothes, weapons, tools, pottery, keys,
official wax seals, and targets (which had pictures of Bratislava and things
like that painted on them—and they used these for target practice! I thought it
was really funny!), as well as things from more modern times, all the way up to
the 20th century. If I go back to Bratislava, I am dedicating at
least 5 hours, if not a while day, to this museum!
Next up: Meeting Lucia! I sat and read up on the last
chapter of John for our study that night, and Lucia came there to meet me
around 4:30-ish. She is about my age and is SO nice! I think we really enjoyed
our time together. I was just excited to be spending time with another
Christian in a foreign place. We went an got walnut Bratislava Rolls (REALLY
good!), sat by the river, and just talked for a while till it was time to go to
the study. Lucia said there are around 30 (or 40? I don’t remember) people in
the church there; some come just to come, and some are Christians. Lucia said
tonight there would only be about six or seven of us. Of course, people were
VERY nice, and I really enjoyed the study! It was in Slovakian and English as
best it could be (there’s another American who lives there and is married for a
Slovak, her name is Amy), and I got a lot out of our time together. Hooray!
That really is what I needed to help lift my spirits!
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