In the forests of north eastern Slovakia, standing atop a rocking hill rising from the _______ river, lies a dark castle . . . blah blah blah. Enough Gothic romance trash.

The facts: leave Jablonka and travel 45 kilometers south:

It's a curving, pleasantly downhill ride. Suddenly, though, you turn to the left and see

The plan was to stop on the way to Budapest and actually tour the castle, and so this time round (something of a practice run), we just gazed from afar. Sometime, though, I must go back and spend some time there.

(A friend told me that this was where the original Dracula (from the '30s) was filmed.)