Hotel Turist Bratislava

... hours. That meant only about two hours to spend in Bratislava before I had to catch a train back. What a great adventure, eight hours of train for two hours of tourism. It didn&#8217;t seem fair, but that was to change, even if I didn&#8217;t want it to.<br><br>I finally arrived in town, and promptly caught a tram into the centre. You could see the difference between the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic instantly. The roads were in disrepair, the trams ...

... the bus from Budapest to Bratislava for only 5&euro;, this is much better than the 16&euro; train ride, and supposable only 30min longer. The guy from the hostel helped me book the ticket online and I was able to pay and print in out downstairs at the travel agency 'student agency'. In the morning I decide to walk around and see the last few parts of the city I missed, I saw the presidential palace and the old synagogue. I take the tram to the bus station for the bus at 10.30am.

... bado. A vista da cidade com seu castelo debruçado na velha ponte da cidade. As melhores cidades são aquelas cujo desconhecido nos encaram. Nos obrigam a fazer uma leitura e uma interpretação inteiramente particular, pr ...

... was a reminder of the warning sign on the base of the welcome sign to the park, which was "Visitors enter the forest a their own risk. We advise you not to leave the marked trails because the forest park contains unexploded munitions from the Second World War". Parking the car today was an adventure. The hostel has "on-street" parking which, in Bratislava means "park the car on the footpath". This was ...

... the old town, onto the motorway before stopping outside a large mall, so as we are South Africans and the pavilion was like a second home we chose to wonder though the mall, before taking the walk back to town. The old town of Bratislava is tiny. Basically there is the castle and a few modest buildings and then nothing. Stretching out ...

... I dozed for maybe an hour... For breakfast they served us a plate of cold cuts and cheese and a container of yogurt (I think I like Austrian food) as well as hot tea. I thought it would never come, but at 4am Atlanta time, I arrived in Vienna. From what I saw on the bus ride the country is gorgeous. I can't wait to spend more time there. Here are some pictures ...

... so we took the liberty of teasing her about it a little bit. On the way back to Vienna, we weren't so lucky though and had to pay the full price. On the way over to Bratislava, the customs officials barely looked at our passports. Libbie was a little nervous since she had Israel stamped all over her passport, and Eastern European countries aren't always the friendliest. But there wasn't a problem there. When we got out of the train, we were greeted by a train station ...

... national TV, and were asked about our view on the castle, wether we thought it needed restoration or not. It was very surreal, but quite funny as the presenter didn't speak nuch english. It would be good if it was on TV - I might be famous in Slovakia! Went home and got chatting to a guy called Remco from Holland. He was nice and we agreed to go out with him later. Met up and went for something to eat ...

... is in the process of joining the EU, but it still uses its own currency, koruny (crowns). The city is a little dirtier, a little rougher around the edges than Vienna. The city center is equally picturesque and historic, but the surrounding areas have more recent development than Vienna - in other words, twentieth century buildings. We arrived at the finish line about 35 minutes into the race, just in time for the first ...

... Building work started on the hill that overlooks the town in the 12 century. It is mostly Romanesque in style with later Gothic and Renaissance additions. Formally the residence of several aristocratic families - but abandoned in favour of a more convenient town address and walking up the sizable hill to get to the entrance, I soon saw why. Unfortunately soon after it was abandoned, a group of soldiers billeted there ...