On April 28, 2011 my brother and sister-in-law took me on an excursion to Burgenland (literally: "castle country"), one of Austria's eastern provinces. Indeed castles were on the menu: we started with Schloss Bernstein (today a privately owned luxury hotel) and continued with Burg Lockenhaus -- built around 1200 AD - that often houses medieval festivals.
We then drove across the border into Hungary, into the border town of Köszeg. This pretty town has a castle, an old town centre with medieval buildings, an impressive Neo-Gothic church and an apothecary museum. Since the fall of Communism the town has been nicely renovated and become a local tourist destination.
Then we returned via the village of Rechnitz which was also the site of a massacre against 200 Jewish slave labourers at the end of WWII. As a counterpoint we visited Burg Schlaining, a 13th century fortress that is home to the European Museum of Peace. It holds an excellent exhibition on Peace, Conflict, Violence and Environment and often hosts international conferences that focus on peace-building and conflict resolution.
