STRECNO CASTLE, ZILINA, SLOVAKIA

Just outside the city of Zilina in Northern Slovakia is Strecno Castle.  I found it during my Google Streetview tour of the country for December’s Virtual Paintout.  As of today my painting is the second one down.

Here is my watercolor version of the ancient gothic castle.  It sits high above the Vah River and the outlook from its towers must be amazing.  I used my artistic license to cut down a few trees and move a highway to get the view I wanted of the massive bastions built on a cliff.

According to the information I found it was built long before Columbus sailed his little boats out into the Atlantic to discover the Americas.

It was fought over, conquered and bought and sold by kings, emperors and aristocrats.  In 1686 it was claimed by Emperor Leopold who ordered it destroyed.  It sat in ruins for centuries until restoration was begun in 1993.

During my virtual travels of Slovakia I discovered a unique and beautiful country.  I loved the ancient villages filled with picturesque houses and gardens.  Unlike the western United States the towns and farms were so close together that it appeared to be an excellent place to tour by bicycle.  I did notice many streets paved with cobblestones which could be a trial to a person on a bike after a few miles.

Below is the URL for the point I chose for my virtual view of Strecno Castle. Give it a little time to open.

http://goo.gl/maps/rMA9i

From here you can continue to tour Slovakia using point and click on the highway and by rotating the "N" button around the compass in the upper left corner of the window.  There is also plus and minus to zoom in and out---etc.