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You are here: Home / Archives for castle

Photo: Ethiopia’s Castle

September 15, 2011 By Jillian

Traveling in Ethiopia is a bit like traveling through a fantasy novel.  Each town has its own spectacular draw, from the rock hewn churches of Lalibela, to the monasteries dotting the islands near Bahir Dar and the royal castles in Gondar.  In each town you meet people you certainly wouldn’t otherwise, people whose personalities and stories may surprise and delight you, much like a fairy tale character.

The castle complex in Gondar was like visiting a fairy tale.  We were so surprised at the architecture, which closely resembled European castles, unlike anything else we’d seen on the entire continent.  The complex hosts castles from various time periods and from various monarchs, but despite the ruined state of some of the structures, places like King Fasilides bath, the steam rooms and the lion cages still exist.  Of course nothing is gilded or lavishly covered in tiles or textiles anymore,  but you can only imagine the wealth of the kingdom—the size of the buildings alone makes them remarkable for Africa.

Gondar Castle, Ethiopia

IF YOU GO: Gondar castle is actually a complex of buildings, so give yourself some time to explore the site.  Guided tours are available on site, I think we paid 100 birr for four people and the tour was decent.  If fly into Ethiopia, you’ll likely get the inter-country airline ticket, but if you’re overlanding like we were, it’s two days to Gondar from Lalibela or Adis Abbaba.   Take your time as the roads are narrow and buses are a bit err… erratic!  Gondar is a decent sized city, if you stay near the center you should be able to walk almost everywhere.  Don’t miss the Dashen Brewery near the center of town, draft beers are very inexpensive and they have somewhat of a beer garden with live music.  There are other historical sites in the area, so if you have the time it’s worth more than a day.  Don’t try to do the Simien Mountains as a day trip from Gondar, it’s too far and you’d be wasting your time!

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: castle, ruins

Photo Tuesday: Cinderella’s Castle

December 14, 2010 By Jillian

Schloss Neuschwanstein, outside of Munich, is probably the stereotype of every little girl’s dream castle.  That’s mostly thanks to Disney, but without a doubt it’s our modern ideal of a castle.  We showed up on a dreary, rainy, foggy day, so frankly our pictures are awful.  Once inside, no photography was allowed and we spent our time giggling at our tour guide who would have been the perfect count dracula.  There’s no princess in the tower, but its about the best photo we have from that day.

Filed Under: Headline, photos Tagged With: castle, germany, photos

Budapest

July 7, 2010 By Jillian

Pushing further into Central Europe we headed to Budapest. Famous for its castle, thermal baths and well quite a bit of history Budapest has captured my imagination since middle school. For me there is just some mystic surrounding Budapest that I can’t explain. Exotic and historical, Budapest seeps in its own past.

Buda castle and it’s old city were beautiful and interesting, but it was beneath Buda castle that we found the really intriguing part of Budapest. The labyrinth as its called is a series of caves underneath Buda castle. A vast network dug out over time, starting with the Romans, the caves have been witness to the history of Budapest, from providing refuge during times of war, to cellars to ferment wine and store food, the caves have a history as far back as Budapest it’s self. Not that you’d ever know that going to the Labyrinth itself. Dark, damp and slightly mildewy, the caves have been turned into a rather hokey tourist attraction. Strange counterfeit cave drawings decorate the walls and there are mysterious statues and sculptures throught the caves. Without any explanation the whole things seemed a bit bizarre and by the end it had collapsed into a joke. We emerged into the daylight wondering why we had paid entrance to the place.

Fortunately, there were few surprises at Budapest´s famous thermal baths.

It is said if you dig a hole in Budapest you´ll find a thermal spring. This of course is Europe, so the hot springs (baths) aren´t natural pools, they are magnificent victorian bath houses, ornately decorated with fountains, roman columns, the whole nine yards. We checked in to the Szechenyi Baths , changed and emerged on the deck ready to relax.

IMGP5369

Unfortunately, the baths themselves didn´t seem very hot so after soaking in luke warm water for a few minutes we headed for the saunas. Marked, 60-80 degrees Celcius, the sauna thermometer actually read 81. Finally a little heat. Less than 2 minutes after getting to the sauna we left sweating profusely, showered off and jumped into an ice cold bath. Heat and repeat seemed to be the motto, and we completed the cycle a few times before tapping out. Feeling healthy and sort of like steamed vegetables, we decided enough was enough and went out for some ice cream. (Ok, we didn´t, but I wanted to!)

Budapest is a lovely city and despite failing to obtain visas for central asia, another of our goals while in Budapest, we had a great time and definitely would love to return.

*Pictures from Rick Steves .  Promise we´ll upload some soon!

Filed Under: Europe, Headline, Hungary Tagged With: castle, caves, hot springs, travel

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