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GentleSpirit Says: in the upper reaches of the castle you have the personal space of the lord of the castle, or the castellan appointed to be in charge of the castle while the lord was away. The interior of the castle would be disappointing if you come expecting some grand fairytale castle...
GentleSpirit Says: As mentioned before, Orava castle's main function was the administration of Arva County. At the time it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Today the area runs from northern Slovakia to Southern Poland. The main town on the Slovak side is Dolny Kubin, the main town on the...
GentleSpirit Says: One of the main functions of Orava castle was as the seat of the region. As such, administrative functions were important. One of the essential functions of this sort of castle in the middle ages was the administration of justice. We in the modern age continue to be...
GentleSpirit Says: Orava Castle has, like most of the other castles you will see, fallen victim to accidents and natural disasters over time. The usual culprit has been fire. So in most castles you will see gradual changes that reflect new work done in a new style as a reflection of a new...
GentleSpirit Says: Once you have come in the main gate, you head up the cobblestone way in the previous pictures. Once you have crossed the plank that might have been the drawbridge (I'm not sure if its still used) you are in the castle proper.Look above, your eyes will first gaze in wonder at...
GentleSpirit Says: Realistically, the best photos of the castle are from the parking lot and a bit farther away. Those will cost you nothing. When you are paying your ticket they don't always ask you if you want to take pictures. Of course walking in with my camera ready to go sort of gave me...
GentleSpirit Says: From the parking lot you will have to cross the street (don't worry not many cars). On the left is the ticket office and souvenir shop. Hours are from 9:00 to 17:00 daily. 6 euro-Jan-March5 Euro May-Decemberclosed in AprilThere is a separate admission of 2 euro for the...
Zamocka4: I enjoy Slovak local cooking
ishikawa Says: There is Zamocka4 at an entrance of Orava Castle according to the name. You must go along in front of this restaurant to enter a castle. We have a clean feeling in this restaurant and am delicious even if a meal eats anything. Will not tableware used in a shop be a Hungarian...
Bistro "Pod hradom": Bryndzove halusky and other highlights
matcrazy1 Says: Sorry, we didn't eat in Bistro "Pod Hradom" ("Down the Castle"). But I noticed that they served typical Slovak dishes there. I found Slovak cuisine delicious and more spicy than Czech or Polish one. Various kinds of roasted meat dominate.There are a couple of dishes that are...
matcrazy1 Says: It gave me some inconvenience to take this picture - read more in my Warning Or Danger tip.Never mind, you must pay for something which is called parking lot (Parkovisko) but in real it's neglected asphalt square with no lanes painted where cars and tour buses parked. How...
matcrazy1 Says: We noticed a few tourist buses on parking lot we stopped in Oravsky Podzamok although we were there in October that was out of the tourist season. The buses were from Slovakia and Poland as well. I think that many tour operators offer bus tours around this region of Slovakia...
next to the admission: Castle souvenir shop
GentleSpirit Says: There was a nice souvenir shop next to where you paid your admission to the castle. Prices were probably average. Please be mindful of labels- I bought a DVD, checked to make sure it was compatible with what we use here in the States. Brought it home and put it in and...
matcrazy1 Says: Maybe it's not at all local custom of Oravsky Podzamok but the flowers looked very nice. And I was a little surprised to see flowers put outdoors in flower-boxes in October there. Hmm... a little cold weather for flowers that time, I thought.When you come from June or even...
matcrazy1 Says: We were looking at goods sold in the first store we noticed located just by a parking lot. Hmm... the salesman was very busy reading newspapers and he didn't pay any attention to us. So, we ignored him as well. Was he a friend of a monster-lady from a parking lot?I noticed...
Helpfulness
Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Comfortable walking shoes preferrably water-resistant: like good trainers or better special walking shoes (Danish Ecco are very comfortable and... expensive but worth the cost).
Sun-glasses esp. in winter and summer and always a rain coat.
Read info on climate in Slovakia:
Climate of Slovakia
Check 10-day weather forecast for Sliac (110 km south of Oravsky Podzamok): Weather forecast for Sliac Region
Check weather (4-day forecast) for Dolny Kubin (10 km south of Oravsky Podzamok, in Slovak language):
Weather forecast for Dolny Kubin
Remember that the weather changes very fast in this mountaineous area!
Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Toilet paper, soap (small bottle of liquid soap), paper towels or tissue papers. Usually available in public toilets (restrooms) but... not always.
Photo Equipment: For pictures at night and bad light (weather) take a tripod.
Miscellaneous: If you are going to climb the mountains buy good map of the area, detailed with mountain trails marked. There are maps covering whole Slovakia by VKU (Vojensky Kartograficky Ustav) which are numbered (area by area) and the best in my opinion. Available in bookstores in Dolny Kubin/Zilina and sometimes (rarely) in bigger petrol/gas stations.
Updated Jan 11, 2004
GentleSpirit Says: I didn't know this, but I was told that the 1922 movie Nosferatu was filmed in part at Orava Castle. I haven't seen the film so its hard for me to say, though its not hard to see why the directors chose this castle if they wanted something a bit mysterious, wild, dark,...
matcrazy1 Says: This building on my picture was located on the left side of the main highway to the castle. Its walls were made of wood and the house was roofed with iron sheet. It didn't look nice in my opinion. I noticed that there were quite many such houses in Oravsky Podzamok. I...
Helpfulness
Many public footpaths pass through the village of Oravsky Podzamok for walking all the year round. The mountains around are not very high: the highest summit of Oravska Magara called Cisty grun is only 1082 m (3550 ft) above see level high. But, never mind, the mountains looked really very nice especially in autumn/fall (early October).
Anyway, first you must climb up to the top of a hill to visit the castle.
Equipment: Good walking shoes.
Updated Dec 19, 2003
matcrazy1 Says: I saw beautiful, tiny, small houses (sometimes a little neglected) roofed with red ceramic tiles in Oravsky Podzamok. But I saw ugly buldings as well. I didn't like especially too massive, cube-shape with flat roof houses like this white one on my picture with almost no...
matcrazy1 Says: The oldest part of Orava Castle is located on the top of the rock and is called the Upper Castle or the Citadel. It looked impressive from the village down and it was partly open to the public.The Citadel was built in the middle of 13th century at the place of wooden watch...
Unique castle from 13th century!
Oravsky Podzamok is famous of its castle first mentioned in 1267, during the reign of Bela IV. Orava Castle guarded nearby northern Hungarian - Polish border that time. Towards the end of the 16th...
Orava is recognized as one of the more beautiful castles in Slovakia. As castles go it is not in the same league as residential castles like Bojnice, in the sense that it is not as luxuriously...
I step on a raft from Horna Lehota and go down a river to Oravsky Podzamok. This river is Orava River. If a terminal becomes near, Orava Castle soars overhead. http://www.plte-orava.sk/
Build your own Oravsky Podzamok page
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