Norm, Oct 18, 2010: On reading our posts you may get the impression that we are on a vacation rather than a mission. Please don't judge us too quickly as being mission slackers. When sight seeing we are camera equipped which make for good blog visuals. The Lord's work is spiritual and personal and seldom merits Internet display, but consists of little daily miracles that are more felt than seen. Our next series of posts will bring you up to date on our Castle Crawling adventures.
Heather: Sümeg is an ancient town a few kilometers north of Tapolca in the Balaton area. The castle is situated on an imposing rocky hill, which has a commanding view of the surrounding plains. The watch tower was built in the thirteenth century and has been restored recently. You can see why this castle was never taken by the Turks in the 16Th century. But as with other Hungarian strongholds, it was blown up in 1713 by the Imperial Hapsburg troops.
When we saw these twin heavy beams protruding from the castle wall right above the main entrance, we decided that they were probably used for hanging criminals as a warning to all who entered the castle gate -- a grisly medieval crime deterrent.
The old roofs are home to a rich texture of various types of likens , mosses, and even hardy flowers. Some of them are on the verge of collapse and are being replaced by bright new tiles. That makes them safer but destroys their ancient look.
During the summer Sümeg has jousting tourneys and other medieval entertainment for the tourists in this ring below the castle. In town there is also an Franciscan Church built in the 1750's ,which contains frescoes by the famous Austrian artist, Anton Maulbertsch. Hungary is soaked with history and wonderful places to see. We hope to visit many of these beautiful sites in our comings and goings while we are here.
This was so interesting. I'm amazed at how OLD everything is. Every building in Europe seems to have a story.
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