Brats r us.

Bratislava.

Or, flips sake, where is that sun?

We were really only going to stay for three days in Vienna unless it was truly fabulous. It is an, not an exciting city, but it will envelope you with the beauty of its architecture. The leading hotels do a luxuriously wonderful range of patisserie inspired teas, but we were not dressed for this bourgoise honour, nor to be honest justify spending maybe £50 on a delicious repast that would last only a couple of hours!

Instead we sat by the Danube while those around us fed the flocks of swans, pigeons and mallard.

We awoke this morning, and just wanted to be somewhere else, so off we went. Calling into Lidl en route to replenish supplies we found our way to Bratislava.

The  sun has indeed appeared, it was 24° when we reached Bratislava.

We had talked to a fellow traveller about this capital of of Slovakia, and he basically trounced the place, so although on our list, I wasn’t mad keen to see it. I have to say the advisor was a Czech, and possibly biased because this is one hell of a city.

Our location for our stay is in a car park by the Danube. A five wood would get a golf ball from where we sit into the old town across the river.

There is a free musical festival going on this weekend, and we are right in the thick of it. Big band music in the afternoon, then home for dinner, then out again to rap and rock, then back home again to remember we’re in our sixties!

As the warm started to set, we were treated to a magical sunset, with sun descending beside the hilltop castle. All in all, one of the most memorable days so far. Yet I’ve forgotten to mention our trip to the UFO deck. This is a very tall structure with 360° views of the city and Austria, and miles in every direction. While up there, we met  a mother and daughter visiting, they were the first English speakers we’ve met on our trip, English as a first language that is, and where were they from? Only Galway! Brought them back for a drink or two and had a great wee chat.

So, our first night in Slovakia? Marvellous!