Four Days in Bratislava, Slovakia

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We transferred by bus again, this time from Budapest to Bratislava.  It was a quick transfer from the apartment to the bus station via the metro and local bus.  Once again we traveled with FlixBus Lines on a really nice, super clean bus with WiFi.  Traveling for only 2 1/2 hours, we reached Slovakia and its capital city, Bratislava.  At the bus station we quickly summoned a taxi and met our host at our new home.  We have a really lovely two bedroom apartment on the bank of the Danube River with a balcony overlooking the water.  Nicely appointed, this will be our home for the next four days...anther winner from Airbnb for $54 a night.  We visited the local store for a few groceries and settled in for the evening.

Since most of the tourist attractions are closed on Monday, we planned a full day for Sunday and walked into the city square in the early afternoon to join a walking tour of the old town and then the castle.  The walk was along the Danube River for about one mile before turning into the narrow and winding streets of the old city.  We had time for a drink at a local pub before meeting our guide Zojtech for a lively and informative three hour walk through the streets and up to the top of the castle hill.  At the end of the day we stopped at the supermarket for supplies and enjoyed a really nice steak dinner at home.

One of the many humorous sculptures throughout the city...all with an interesting story.

 Main Square

 Relief of Satan on a local fountain.

 Our guide Zojtech on a VERY cold day.  It was 27^ most of the day.

 St. Martin's chruch

 Magnificent bronze in the church.

 Old city wall

 Climb to the castle.

 Castle walls - 1300;s

 House of Parliament.

 Oldest gate and tower in the city dating back to 1280.

 We walked back at dusk and were able to enjoy a great view of the castle all lit up.

 We enjoyed a full vegetative state on Monday.  All fo the museums were closed and both Andi and I were in our jammies all day.  Bobbie went for a long walk and we caught up on a lot of correspondence.  It was also a sad day as we learned that a good friend of ours had passed at the age of 48 and our dear, dear Susann Thompson had suffered several strokes and was on life support.  This is one of those things that we knew would happen while we are on our long journey and we said goodbye to many two and a half years ago knowing we might never see them again.  To date we have lost four great friends.   And life goes on...

Our last day was devoted to exploring the magnificent castle and gardens.

 The treasury room has a nice collection of silver.

 The views from the tower were stunning, even though it was over 300 very steep steps to the top and back down.

 The archeological displays were well done.

 A gold bracelet from the Roman period.

 These were earrings from the Celtic period - 800-400 BC.  Wow.

 There was a grand exhibit of modern artists.

 This screen/panel is done completely in beads.

 One of the two grand staircases.

 At the end of the cay we rode the local tram back to the apartment and settled in the night.

We enjoyed a lazy morning preparing for our short, short transfer to Vienna.

Four Days in Buda & Pest

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Our midday bus trip from Zagreb to Budapest was lovely.  We enjoyed an upscale bus with WiFi and a working toilet.  There was plenty of room as we shared the 50 pax bus with only a dozen folks.  The border crossing was a breeze.  The drive was pleasant over farmland and rolling hills and we arrived at the Budapest Central Bus Station five hours later.  A short taxi ride got us to our apartment building and we were unpacked and at home in our typical few minutes.  We had a quick dinner from our traveling kitchen, opting to go shopping for groceries the next day. W e had a bit of a snafu in our communication with the owner but got through check-in easy enough.Our apartment home for the next four days is a two story apartment in the city center. 

Our first day out was bright and sunny, in the low 50's and the first time since Uzbekistan where we saw a few short sleeves.  We opted for a walking tour of the main sights from the main square of the city where we met our guide.  Aggie was energetic and informative...as have been most of our city walking tour guides...and was eager to please the group.  We started out in the central square next to the big Ferris wheel...called the Budapest Eye...shades of London I suppose.

Neo-classical cathederal...largest in Budapest.

Historical humor and food talk.

Academy of Sciences

Former palace and now Four Seasons Hotel

Chain Bridge and Lions

Crossing the Danube yet again...

Viewing Buda from the bridge

Royal coat of arms at base of walkway to the former royal palace.

Tramway from the mid 1800's

The mythical bird of the nomadic founding tribes...symbol of Budapest.

House of Parliament...looks like a cathederal.

Old City on the bluffs above the river.

St. Stephen's Church and colorful roof.

Fisherman's Bastion...old fish market and now a huge tourist hangout.

The Kiraly Baths - a traditional turkish bath house.
After a five mile walk and a big lunch at a traditional restaurant, we checked into the baths for an hour long soak in several of the multi-temp pools.  It was great.  We almost lost Andi in the splendor and relaxation of the moment...LOL.  Our day ended with a metro ride back to our apartment and a quite evening.

Our second full day included another long walk down a beautiful tree-lined boulevard, a visit to a huge central park, and the National Gallery of Art.  

 Man y embassies and mansions.

 It was a two miles walk to the memorial plaza.

 Museum of Modern Art

 Great mosaic over the entrance.

 Memorial to King Stephan.

The ice rink was huge and busy.

 We walked the grounds of the Baravarian castle.

 Highlights of our visit to the National Gallery of Art.  These were carved from one tree each.

Loved this Monty Python-esk statue from 1200.

 Never say a female "pan" before.

 Several of the 53 numerous heads down by a Hungarian sculture in the 1600's.  Tin and Lead.

 The grand hall of the gallery.

 This one caught my eye.  From 1362.  Look at how small, emaciated, and unclothed the jesus child it.  Weird.

 Dirty old man.

 Famous Adam and Eve by an unknown 1460's painter.  Beautiful.

 On our last day we scheduled a tour of the parliament building.  It is massive, the third largest in the world and our visit was a real treat.

 There are over 200 painted statues, made with poured artifical granite, and then fired three times.  Done in 1890.

 View of the Danuabe and Buda on the other side of the river.

 One more walk along the river.

We settled in a bit early, had a great roast pork dinner with all the traditional side dishes and called it a night.  Our morning bus ride is only two hours to Bratislava, Slovakia...another country to tick off in the morning.