Vienna - Bratislava, 22 July

I The Hapsburgers and Vienna will have to wait until our next visit. We decide to leave the marina at 6 am so that we can arrive in Bratislava in the early afternoon. We only have one lock to pass through and it is just a few km from Vienna. The last lock in Austria, joy!

Arrived at the lock early, please lock meister let us through, but we had to wait for 1 hour and 30 minutes before we could enter behind an enormous double barge. 

Breakfast while waiting for the lock.

All along the river from Vienna, in Austria, we saw these little holiday houses, with big nets erected on poles hanging over the river.

Small houses on stilts all along the riverbank after leaving Vienna. 

And one more little house.

We read that as we leave Austria we will see the Braunberg, and we thought this was it, it it was not.

Dead trees along the banks of the river, presumably after last years floods.

The Braunberg, the real one,

Hainsburg, the last town in Austria.

Ruins outside Hainsburg.

Same Ruins of an roman castle

And so we enter Slovakia and into Bratislava. The Bratislava castle from the river. 

We stayed in the Bratslava marina about 8 km out of the town. The daughter of the owner gave us a lift into town and fetched us 4 hours later. We needed internet so spent 1 hour and two cokes at MacDonalds before setting off to see the sights. Bratislava is a place of contrasts. There is the old town, the "in" town the, old soviet style town and the depalidated town. But charming none the less.

We walked unto the castle which is built on a Stone Age site. We read about King Sigimund and that 19 kings/queens were crowned in Bratislava. We have discovered that our knowledge of Slovakia is naught. Going to have to do something about it!

The Donau seen from the castle. The UFO like thing on top of the bridge support is actually called the UFO. Inside is a famous and popular restaurant. 

At the castle

Säpoluc on his horse and Carl keeping him upright. This is knight from 700 something and probably needs some support. Never heard of him and I think Carl got the spelling wrong.

I have now done a bit of research and found out that this is a statue of Svätopluk, the greatest king of the Moravian Empire, round 800 AD.

Leslie in front of the city on the left bank 

City from Castle view.

City life seen from gutter level.

City life seen from a sidewalk cafe. 

At marina Bratislava we met up with Hans and Thea again.  We met them previously in Vienna. They are also on their way to the Black Sea. We all enjoyed a superb dinner at Elli's Hexe pontoon restaurant.  Elli is the owner of the marina and a wonderful warm person.