Botel Marina Bratislava

... up to the castle grounds to look around. With the fog, there is a limited view. The weather reports in Eastern Europe make the US ones look brilliant. Today for example, the forecast was for sunshine with no chance of rain. It has been foggy all day and is now raining. <br><br>I am amazed at the price difference between Bratislava and Vienna, an hour away. A $5 cup of coffee at a café in Vienna would have just bought my pizza here (or 3 beers if ...

... we left Budapest and they'd had loads available so we thought we'd have no problems. They suggested we try another one around the corner and down the street. Four hostels and four rejections later, we still had nowhere to sleep and it was now 9pm. I left Sam in an alleyway with our bags while I walked up and down the street in search of accommodation. The rain was drizzling though thunder was pounding all around. I went down an alleyway which advertised a hotel ...

... a walk around the Castle and ended up getting great views of the Danube and Slovakia across the river before heading back down to St. Martin's, when we actually got to see inside this time. We stayed for the 3pm Stations mass in Slovakian which was just a whole slew of cultural experiences. We went up with the rest of the congregation to kiss Jesus' feet and accepted communion, but everyone else was just receiving it into their ...

... about 20 minutes up the road, where we bought tickets for Tuesday's trip to the Tatras. The price was only SK 1040 (about $52) for the two of us. This seemed very cheap for a five-hour train trip. From there we walked back towards the Old Town, passing through Námestie Slobody (Freedom Square). Neither the park nor the fountain at its centre was nice. The fountain was probably nice when it was operational, but now the park was run down, with dying ...

I had hoped to be able to amble around Eastern Europe largely unplanned. Its cold, well away from the tourist peaks of July and August, and I had envisaged seas of empty beds and deserted attractions. But after two weekends where I fell victim to hostels being fully booked and was forced to make fast plans to head to another city, I was sure on this leg to make sure my booking extended across Friday and Saturday nights. It is thus a little vexing that my first swing ...

... areas of the High Tatras are beautiful and the place to go in Slovakia, but I wasn't quite confident enough to navigate tiny towns where very little English is spoken as a solo young woman. Anyways, I spent almost the entire day in Bratislava wandering around, rather aimlessly, just soaking up the city. I loved some of the modern art exhibits that dotted the various parks and squares in the ...

... big, ugly, concrete housing blocks. They had then carried on and built another eighty of the same design. If you like good views than it's best not to look in that direction. After that there was nothing much else to do but head to the pub (where they refused to serve us some types of beer because we weren't students there! Must be a Slovakian thing).

... when you don't get in until 4:00 a.m. - because I found this huge subterranean pub open only from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. - which I probably would have passed by 50 times because the front door is so unassuming and you can't hear the noise from outside - and the place with the automated roulette game where I won 2000 Krone (Whoo Hoo! I'm a high roller betting 100 Krony notes, also known as $3.33) Which leads to the people I met. My friend in Amsterdam gave me an ...

... came on, I guess explaining local events and news. It echoed around the valley, each speaker out of sync due to the speed of sound. I was very surreal. One more hill and we arrived at the campsite - not the one we intended because of the delay in the cake shop. Franz and I Cakes galore, high fat and low guilt! Abandoned mining settlments Wild camping in the mountains 12 Aug, Friday Start point: Zvolen End point: Liptovska ...

... to speak no English. His name was Hiro and he'd taken to me like a puppy. Ellen and I had spent the previous night in a stuffy little room of a Pension in the heart of Vienna. A night of tossing and turning, before falling into a deep sleep at around 4:00AM had caused us to almost miss our wake-up call. We arrived at the Danube docks just as the gang-plank was being raised. In no time we were speeding down the river in the slender tube-like, glass enclosed hovercraft ...