And Then, Suddenly...

We emerged from a long, dark tunnel in the mountains and immediately upon my left, a small village lay beneath the towering monolith of what was unmistakably the remains of Csjethe Castle! I recognized it immediately thanks to photos from books and web-sites (Google Earth is truly a remarkable tool!!!), and it even now sat in the dimming sunlight like the skeleton of some mythical beast that made its final roost just above the sleepy cluster of little farm houses beneath.

The train stopped, so I asked the conductor if this was, indeed Visnove. He nodded, and so I jumped off the train without the foggiest idea of what to do other than just head toward the castle.

Visnove itself is thickly wooded, peppered with comfortable little homes, and punctuated by the Carpathian mountains which roll out of the ground like the vertebrae of a gigantic backbone. As I walked, I stopped to admire the soft, whispering gurgle of this little brook and noted that a few of the local villagers I saw walking around had fishing poles and tackle (most probably for this little stream).

The closer I got to the castle, the more I noticed that it is not exactly “easily accessible”, and that the cliffs which lead up to it are pretty sheer. I hadn’t really expected that (though I probably should have), and as I got closer and closer, became more convinced that getting up there was going to be a bit of a trick. Still, one of my goals for the trip out here had been to take a picture of Csjethe Castle at sunset, and I realized that if was going to make that goal a reality, I only had about an hour and a half till sunset and had better get moving.