[ May2016 ] We visited Devin Castle in the suburbs of Bratislava, the captal of Slovakia. This castle is a ruin and located on the hill which is just above the junction of Danube and Morava rivers. Since ancient times, this place was regarded strategically important. Apparently the Amber Route from the Baltic sea to the Mediterranean sea passed here. The castle itself was built in the 13th century on top of the base of the 9th century castle. It survived the attack by Turkish forces in the 17th century, but it was destroyed in 1809 by Napoleon. Since then nobody has rebuilt it.
It was a sunny day when we were there and it had a very relaxing atmosphere with a donkey and goats, but during the Communist era, the border police were deployed here. The other side of the river is the start of Austria, so they were watching people who tried to run away.
