This was the day we crossed two borders, from Austria to Slovakia to Hungary. Because of the EU travel zone, borders are barely marked and you don't have to do anything at all to cross them, which is weird and cool. We spent several hours in Bratislava. Scott and i biked up to the Slavin Russian war memorial. It was raining, and we and our gear got pretty wet, and we had a couple of experiences of restaurants not letting us in ('we're full') before finding a nice place to get a late lunch of pasta. After that, we explored the Bratislava City Museum, then regrouped with Tim, Lisa, and BDan to leave town. Tim and Lisa lost out to Tim's flat tire on the gravel roads and got a ride, and the rest of us finished the ride in pouring rain, ending with a really nice dinner in the hotel restaurant.
vinegar meat salad as part of breakfast at Hotel Altes Kloster |
hotel courtyard |
i didn't ride the glass elevator, but here's a photo of the glass elevator |
the streets of Hainburg in the morning |
the mountain behind some roofs in Hainburg |
the Hainburg gate |
gate closeup |
inside an arch |
down to the river |
other side of the gate |
religious art in Hainburg |
statue in Hainburg square |
leaving town, we saw the ruined castle again |
a cheerful building with a cheerful roof |
looking back to hillside towns in the mist |
Radweg! Lots of signs for EuroVelo 6 |
green fields and mountains |
we saw these purple flowers everywhere |
flood protection dam: do not eat |
first view of Bratislava's castle, across the river |
the castle again, seen from the bike path |
more of Bratislava |
more curves in the bike path |
a random commercial building at the border between Austria and Slovakia |
if memory serves, i had to walk off the path and down a hill a bit to even find this border warning sign |
the path just keeps going |
there was this random casino, which also seemingly had nothing to do with the border |
climbing the ramp to the bridge to Bratislava |
looking down the Danube as we cross to Bratislava |
boats and buildings on the far side of the river |
a hotel in Bratislava with many strange windows |
a crane possibly balanced on a dome |
a building in Bratislava |
the view back along the bridge |
a water feature |
murals on the side of a building |
closeup of pizza-head-person mural |
buildings in Bratislava |
a bus stop and a dome |
a church in Bratislava |
looking up a moderately steep street in Bratislava |
...and down |
...and up |
we did not find out what this building was |
warning signs in Bratislava |
my bike, in front of a large residence |
our destination for this detour, the Slavin war memorial |
information about the memorial |
statue at the memorial |
the memorial park |
view back down to Bratislava center |
another statue |
looking across the memorial grounds |
markers for Soviet soldiers buried in the memorial |
another city view |
green trees in the rain |
cities are listed with their dates of liberation during WWII |
more cities |
Scott in the courtyard |
looking north into a neighborhood of Bratislava |
wide view of the courtyard |
closeup of scene from the door of the memorial |
the door of the memorial |
closeup of scene from the door of the memorial |
a plaque in the memorial |
some roofs of Bratislava |
a street in Bratislava |
the place store |
one more view of the castle |
a statue with a flaming sword and complicated sandals |
a statue near a clock tower |
my lunch: spaghetti carbonara |
Scott's lunch: gnocchi |
figure, Bratislava City Museum |
relief map of Bratislava |
information about the relief map, made in 1913 |
a bell |
stained glass window, City Museum |
a hall in the City Museum |
courtyard, seen from the City Museum |
map of Bratislava |
view from an oval window |
nice tiles, right? |
not the happiest roof you've ever seen |
down a stairwell in the City Museum |
ropes and pulleys |
more Bratislava roofs |
Scott outside at the City Museum |
another roof view, with the castle and many dormers |
view of a square, you can see the Slavin memorial on a hill in the background |
metalwork on a balcony |
facade under construction |
displays in the City Museum |
the museum talked a fair bit about the Magna-Carta-like privileges that were granted to Bratislava in the late 13th century under Hungarian King Adrew III |
illuminated document |
Roman period stone tools, plus bonus Castor and Pollux |
Roman period mosaic |
more about those privileges of Pressburg (Bratislava) |
reconstructed wall in the City Museum |
description of the wall |
garden-variety shield lion |
16th century ceremonial swords |
a 16th century map of uncertain scale, Vienna in the middle, Pressburg in the corner |
nice jacket, though |
a complicated door |
brass coffee containers made in 1920s Prague |
19th century midwife's license |
bicycles! |
horn of plenty |
mid-19th century map of Bratislava |
machinery we found on the way out of Bratislava |
fields |
the Danube |
we were grateful to see this nice paved path |
sign near the Hungarian border |
again, the border isn't really marked |
i think we met Radic by this building |
building with a nice roof |
Scott with the bikes, and the road |
we never learned how a milk automat works |
haybales |
furniture by a stream, outside our hotel |
a bridge in Mosonmagyárovár |
soup, at the hotel restaurant; my notes say that i also had a dish with duck liver, pear, pancake, and blueberry sauce, and that it was fantastic, but sadly i don't have a picture |
our first experience with the Hungarian sweet wine Tokaj |
dessert, a poppyseed-covered vanilla cake |