Marta and I were itching to get out. We was hurtin for that "outdoor fix." To sleep in a tent, travel by the power of our legs, to forget about being domestic for a day or two. As most of you know being outside is a major factor in the quality of life for Marta and me. We were in need of an adventure... so we took a walk. :)
We started out from Marta's parents' house and headed for the hills. Our plan was to walk the 12km to a castle/ruin just outside of Myjava. We figured the journey to be about 3 1/2 hours walking. I bet that you could easily walk those 12km from Marta's parents house to Branc Castle in under 3 1/2... if you don't get lost that is!
We had been walking for a little over an hour, following these nicely-painted trail markers, when something went wrong. (i.e. we stopped seeing the trail markers) We ended up doing a bit more "exploring" than we had planned on, (did you know that wild roses and raspberry bushes with thorns grow in Slovakia?!?) and our 3 1/2 hour trip turned out to be closer to a 5 hour trip. We did reach the castle, and it was so worth it! We pitched our tent in the dark and crashed, dreaming about what our surroundings would look like in the morning... we were not disappointed!
The castle Branc was a relatively large castle. The 13th century ruins that make up this castle are settled on a large hill that looms over the village of Podzamok. From this hill you have an amazing panoramic view of the, small but nice, Carpathian Mountains. Branc, was one of the frontier castles guarding the Slovak-Czech border, and unfortunately was partly destroyed and abandoned in the 17th century because of fire.
As the sun was coming up we walked among the ruins, imagining the castle's past and the people who lived within it's walls. The best part was we had the place to ourselves! Evidently, sleeping outside the castle walls and beating the crowds was the way to go. We ate our breakfast, took one last look around, and started home. This was one adventure we won't be forgetting!
