UKRDOUG Castle Tours - Druget Castle (Uzhgorod) Traditional Cache
UKRDOUG Castle Tours - Druget Castle (Uzhgorod)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
There already is a geocache near the entrance of the castle, so I chose this location to give you a different view of the castle you otherwise would never see. I have given the waypoint to the front entrance of the castle. You may want to look for GC25ARD while you are there.
After you find the cache, I have given the waypoint for the historic Ungvarsky Hotel.
Enjoy the billboard-sized photos of Uzhgorod taken nearly a century ago in front of the Ungvarsky Hotel.
**Ungvarsky Hotel**
This unique Hotel is located 3.75 km from the Airport. 1.92km from railway and bus stations, and 900m from the historical center in Uzhgorod. Approximately 25 km or 30 minute drive from Uzhgorod to the beautiful Carpathian Mountains, for Winter skiing or Summer hiking or just relaxing in the beautiful mountain meadows with their breath-taking views.
The hotel offers: 44 moderately priced guest rooms (incl. suites and apartments, 50% with free wireless internet connection). Conference and seminar facilities for up to 150 persons, with all the latest technology. A beautifully designed restaurant with a traditional feel in a contemporary informal atmosphere, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, serving traditional, beautifully prepared dishes of the region, as well as a large selection of wines from the Uzhgorod-Carpathian region, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages at very reasonable prices.
The hotel has a 400m fitness center, huge traditional Spa Complex, with its own famous mineral springs for drinking, spa treatments and baths. We have a Russian bath complex, an ancient Ungvarsky underground steam baths complex, offering treatments in the traditional Carpathian way. A Balnea Center, using local herbs, oils and mineral water to relax the body and renew the spirit. There is nothing like this in Uzhgorod and Western Ukraine.
In addition there is a traditional wine tasting cellar where small groups can enjoy local specialty wines, liquors, cheeses and honey from the Uzhgorod and Trans-Carpathian regions.
**Druget Castle**
Fortified structures were built on this site as early as the 13th century towards the end of the Kyiv-Rus Kingdom. The Hungarian King Charles I gave the land to the Druget Family. They built the rectangular defensive structure with rhomboid towers similar to the castles back home in their native Naples.
The Uzh Castle was never taken by force in its entire history. The Druget held the castle until their male line died out in 1691. Kristina Druget inherited the castle and married the Transylvanian Count Miklos Berscenyi making him the third richest man in Hungary.
It was here where representatives of the Russian czar Peter the Great and the French King Louis XIV met to form an anti-Hapsburg alliance. Berscenyi was forced to flee Hungary in 1711 and the Hapsburgs confiscated his estates.
As the Austrian Hapsburg Empire spread east, the Uzh Castle was no longer needed as a border defense and was given to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church that opened a seminary there. Fires in 1728 and 1879 destroyed much of the castle grounds.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zvpeb Zntarg - ybbx sbe zrgny
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures