Spis Castle

From Zakopane we took a bus over the Poland/Slovakia border to a city called Poprad. Once again, to our disappointment, the border crossing was anticlimactic, with no border patrol agents and barely any indication that it was an international border. The only real clue that we had crossed over into a new country was a group of signs on the road informing drivers of Slovakia’s seatbelt and speed limit laws. More than a little boring.

Poprad lacks much of Zakopane’s charm, and has a far grittier and communist-era vibe. But we weren’t there to see Poprad. In addition to being the easiest city to cross over the Tatras, Poprad is the jumping off point for exploring Spis Castle, supposedly the biggest castle in Europe. It’s an awesome sight – perched on a natural rocky hill overlooking the surrounding valleys, the castle dominates everything in sight. The views from the castle were even better, with gorgeous panoramas of the towns and hills below.

The castle also has an interesting history, being at the center of many dynasties and invasions over the years. It seemed like an unusually high percentage of the stories involved either princesses or warriors running off and hiding in the woods, but who knows. According to the audio guide, even with the castle (or its predecessors) being in existence since the 5th century BC, there is no record or evidence of it ever being taken by force. Wikipedia doesn’t mention whether that is actually true.

But despite the cool history and the amazing views, the castle was surprisingly hard to get to. It took a bit of an adventure, a muddy hike up the hill on an unmarked path, and some Monty Python-esque yelling at the deserted castle walls before we and our Aussie companion even found the entrance gate. I think that counts as taking it by force.

Gloomy and deserted castle

Hiking to the top

On the trail to nowhere