Make Things Happen!

I have wanted to visit this castle for a long time, but the distance from Banská Bystrica discouraged me. Now, however, a new section of the highway has finally opened and it shortened the journey to an acceptable hour and a half, so on Saturday, December 5th, we set out to explore the border castle and its surrounding area. And there is so much to see!

You cannot miss the parking lot under the castle, the road to it is perfectly marked, and to my surprise, right next to the parking lot is a new and large playground and a buffet (which, however, is only open in season).

There is also a map of the nature trail by the parking lot, or just a shortened version to the castle and back.

We decided to walk the entire nature trail in the direction of the quarry first, then the castle 🙂 The path to the quarry was made special by the forest stairs and the former school building. It is a ruin of a medium-sized building from which the walls, a few old doors and fallen windows have been preserved. The rest is slowly but surely being reclaimed by the forest.

The quarry is called Mačacia and was founded in 1880. At its peak, up to 1,500 people worked there. A mining settlement with a school, dormitories, a shop and two financial guard buildings gradually grew up around it. Basalt was mined here and cat’s heads were made from it, and the raw material was exported to many European countries.

Above the quarry there is a lookout tower with a beautiful view of Šomoška Castle and Šalgó Castle behind it (which is now in Hungary).

From the lookout we return along the nature trail past the shop building and then past the financial guard building. We descend into the valley, cross the bridge and then the climb to the castle awaits us.

Before we climb to the castle, we still have to see a sea of ​​stones and a basalt stone waterfall. David likes it very much, he would love to climb it all day long 🙂

The castle itself was founded in the late 13th or early 14th century by the Kačič family. It was built from basalt blocks, which were quarried directly from the castle hill. During the construction, a famous stone waterfall was also discovered. In 1310, it became the property of Matúš Čák.

The original appearance of the castle is not clear. It is assumed that it originally consisted of a small towerless layout, approximately triangular in plan. Later in the Middle Ages it was expanded with a Gothic palace in the east and also with an entrance tower. A major reconstruction took place in the 16th century, when it was expanded with two cannon bastions, a barbican and two buildings on the north and south sides. The interiors were equipped with carved shaped elements.

On the way back to the parking lot, we were also impressed by the beautifully renovated ponds, which are supplied with water from a nearby spring. They are interconnected to allow for the migration of aquatic animals. David was 6 at that time.