a day in komárno (komárno, slovakia)
Komárno sits right on the border between Slovakia and Hungary, split by the Danube from its Hungarian twin city Komárom. I took a morning train from Budapest just to get a taste of Slovakia, not really knowing what to expect. The streets were quiet, almost empty in the spring sun. Crumbling Art Nouveau buildings next to pigeons doing their thing on old church reliefs, a baby's pacifier on a ledge, a tourist poster for a Greek island with someone's tag across it. The kind of place that feels like it's been sitting still for a while, unbothered. Exactly what I was looking for.
still blooming (komárno, slovakia)
I had read that early April might already be too late for cherry blossoms in Slovakia. So I didn't expect much. Then I turned into a side street in Komárno and there they were, pink and completely unbothered, doing their thing in front of a crumbling garage wall. Sometimes you research yourself into low expectations and the city just proves you wrong. In the end, I was happy to see them and to capture their majesty.
nec arte nec marte (komárno, slovakia)
I stumbled across it almost by accident. There was a sign on the gate saying the fortress was only accessible on guided tours, twice a day. I had arrived an hour and a half early, so I translated the notice on the board, found out the next tour was at 2pm and came back. I half expected to be the only one there. Instead I ended up joining a group of about 20 Chinese tourists with their own guide, who translated everything on the spot from English into Mandarin. I just tagged along, the only person not part of either group.
The fortress itself has a wild history. Construction began in 1546, built to protect against Ottoman advances into Habsburg-ruled Hungary. In 1594 the Ottomans tried to take the city with an army of 100,000 men and failed. That spirit is literally carved into the wall. On the western bastion of the New Fortress stands the statue of a young girl holding a laurel wreath, symbolizing the invincibility of the fortress, with the Latin inscription "NEC ARTE NEC MARTE" beneath her, meaning neither by trick nor by force. The restoration is still unfinished, half the complex somewhere between ruin and museum. Which somehow made it feel more honest.
