Danube - Day 4: Hainburg to Mosonmagyárovár (by bike, 59km)

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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

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