Old farmers passed each other in the streets and talked about the season to come.
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Fruit trees were ablaze with flowers, even while the hillsides still stood grimly bare.
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Old farmers passed each other in the streets and talked about the season to come.
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Fruit trees were ablaze with flowers, even while the hillsides still stood grimly bare.
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 But
after rounding countless bends along the Danube, I came face to face with
the castle: an immense fortification that had once guarded the flow of
traffic on the river.
The fortifications themselves date from at least 1355, and the strategic chokepoint has been battled over constantly in its history. The Turks, Austrians, Hungarians, and Serbs each held the highlands at one time or another. |
The present-day road cuts right through a section of the wall along the river bank, providing a dramatic look up at the hills above.
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I was kind of glad that Susan and the kids weren't there: they would've loved it and she would've hated it. It was a crazy wild landscape, with enough steep cliff fall possibilities to keep everyone nervous. Coupled with the fact that the wind came roaring down the gorge - and literally nearly blew me off my feet several times - it was certainly a dangerous place for kids to clambor around. But they would've wanted to! |
After climbing around the rocks for a while, I took a stroll along the deserted waterfront. It was late afternoon and the moon was just peeking over the edge of the ramparts. It was fun to 'play' a little bit too - and I caught 2 frogs and a lizard just to remind myself that I still could! |
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