May 21 & 22, 2013 
 
 
Hailburg to Bratislava 15 km, 967 km
Gracia Botel (boat-motel on the Donau) double €55, triple €65 including breakfast

Sunny and gorgeous clouds


May 21, 2013

Wildflower, Blue Sky and Billowy Cloud Morning

 ..........A nice breakfast was served at El Pirata; good quality ham, cheese and eggs.

 
We were on the road shortly after nine. We started out on main road with traffic and were relieved when the cycle route signs directed us away from the main road and onto small farm roads through the fields of wheat and the tail end of blooming rapeseed season. The wildflowers lined our path in bold colors.

Soon we spotted the Russian style apartment blocks of Bratislava's outskirts. The immense white Bratislava Castle dominates the city from a hilltop. 

 

Slovakia, Rhymes with … Nothing
 
We passed a mothballed customs building and stopped at a sign we assumed was the border crossing into the Slovak Republic established in 1992 (Slovakia). With Slovakia now in the EU, border formalities are no longer in place. We wanted to document us crossing the border in front of a sign marking the spot. The best we could find was "Pozor-Statna Hranica" which google translates to “Beware of the State Border”. Close enough.

We crossed the Donau on the bike/pedestrian ramp of a humongous bridge into the Slovakian Capital, Bratislava, at 11:30. Bold graffiti on walls and pillars greeted us on the other side.

We stopped to admire several statues on the shoreline promenade before checking out several botels (boat hotels) docked on the edge of the Donau. We found the people less than friendly and indifferent at the first two. But the lady at Botel Gracia was lovely. We liked the rooms and price, one of the more economical stays in town. We were able to stow our bikes on balcony on first level.

We ate our lunch on the promenade in front of our boat before heading out to explore the town.


 
Bratislava City Bus Tour
 
We all agreed to hop on the bright red open-topped bus for the “Grand Tour” of the city.

Bratislava has a compact cobble-stoned Old Town with lovely narrow alleys, fabulous architecture. Wonderful statues scattered through town tell stories. The first and only stop on the bus tour was at the castle overlook.

From the Castle, we had an amazing view and could see Austria to our right, Hungary across the Donau, and here we're in Slovakia.

A tour guide from another group invited us to listen to her spiel. She pointed out where the Gypsy and Jewish ghettos used to be. They ripped them out without any regard to Slovakian culture and replaced them with boring buildings. The historical core is quite small. She said the bridges are new also. Under the Soviets, when it was part of Czechoslovakia no one was allowed to cross the river into Austria or Hungary. Back then, the view from here was into open farmland. All the growth and development is recent.
 
A sign board briefly states the Castle history. Written records date a castle on this spot to 907AD. There is a clock tower remaining from the 13^th century Palace incarnation and it was expanded into a grand Baroque residence from 1740-80 but burned in 1811. Most of what we see is newish reconstruction started in 1953. Much work is ongoing today. The views are great from the castle.


 
Dave Needs a Dentist

A few days ago, Dave broke the restoration off his front tooth. (He chipped about of third of his front tooth when he was a kid.) The piece Dr. Reilly in Michigan put 8 years ago looked really good and still fits well. Yolan offered some 'dental glue' from her emergency kit. Junko and Hiro offered something like ‘Super Glue’ from their kit. Dave, a do-it-yourself kinda guy, was NOT interested…..

The Botel receptionist called a few dentists for him but couldn’t get an appointment. And many of the dentists she found on the web did not list phone numbers. So Dave went in search of dentist on foot. He was thrilled to get an appointment for tomorrow morning.

Yolan and I set of on foot through Old Town.
 
And for dinner we went to Infinity Rock where they had great buffet with loads of vegetables to choose from. For some reason getting enough vegetables when you travel can be a challenge.



May 22, 2013
Bratislava, Slovak Republic, Day Two

Clouds and sun 65F
 

Time for Coffee and Planning
 
A nice spread was put out for breakfast in Botel Gracia’s dining room. A fancy coffee machine with five choices had us coming back for more.

Dave left briefly to his dentist appointment. Went he got to the waiting room, the dentist came out and explained that she could not properly re-bond the piece without x-rays and knowing exactly what it was made from so she could select the correct glue. She recommended a new restoration but that would take time. He would need to make another appointment which could be available in three weeks. She conceded that it seems like a simple task to re-glue the existing pieces but insisted it wasn’t. Dave never set foot in the exam room.

Lingering the rest of the morning in the dining room, we spent several hours going over the cycle routes from here to Budapest. We poured over the text and made decisions about which, if any, of the many alternative routes we'd take. We pretty much reached a consensus.
 
Also some time was spent looking for accommodations in Budapest. All of us sat with our electronic brains (iPad, iPod, Nexus, netbooks and Smart Phones) to see what we can come up with. We planned an extended stay so wanted to be in the right part of the city for site-seeing. The apartment idea came up, and with five of us, it would be ideal. But for now, it was time to do some more sight-seeing. 

 
Coronation Cathedral St. Martin’s

Bratislava became a coronation town and the seat of kings. Between 1536 and 1830, eleven Hungarian kings and queens were crowned at St. Martin's Cathedral. We HAD to visit St Martin's Cathedral. 

We paid a few euros to look at interesting wood carvings, stain glass, antique vestment, and the typical alter bric-a-brac. Yolan had read that the tower has the best view of the city. Unfortunately, they said it was closed for renovation and we couldn’t go up.

The shape of the cathedral symbolizes a crucifix. Where you’d expect to see a cross, a replica of the Hungarian Crown is instead on top of the tower.

The cathedral contains the body of Saint John the Merciful from the 7th Century. We had to go down stairs to the underground crypts. It wasn’t too creepy and there seems to be plenty of room for more down there.

The National Theater, Reduta dates to 1911-20 is an eclectic building for the local philharmonic.

Dave went up to the Castle again and Yolan and I strolled through the lovely old town.



Puck Trivia
 
Ice hockey is popular in Slovakia and 6 million pucks per year are made in Slovakia by the Vegum Rubber Company. Canadian and American Hockey Leagues have used pucks made by Vegum.

While Junko and Hiro went for Thai food, Dave, Yolan and I went we went for another veggie fix at "Infinity Rock Café”. There must have been a different chef because the "roasted veggies" we loved so much the night before were drenched in oil.

Our waiter was a nice fellow who sported a black eye. We couldn't resist and asked him about it. He got it playing ice hockey; a puck flew in his eye. He said it was going to be okay. 

Words from Narui
 
Bratislavaスロヴァキアに入った。一時は共産化したとは言えハプスブルク家の繁栄の名残をそちこちに残している。ドナウ河をも取り込み華やかな観光化された旧市街地。が、旧市街地を一歩でたら、なぜか歴史が示す複雑なつめあとを垣間見る様な感じがした。ボーテルという大型観光船のホテルに泊まってドナウの流れを感じながらの滞在。
 


朝食の時バースデーカードがワイルドフラワーと共にテーブルに置いてあった。旅先での誕生日。友情に心から感謝。夜はシャンペンで乾杯。ありがたい。1000キロ越した。二重の喜び。

 __________________________________
 

Spending Summary for Cycling in Germany and Austria

The two of us together have been spending $130 per day (for 41 days) while cycling in Germany and Austria. Hotels are by far the biggest expense. Most often, hotel prices include a big breakfast buffet. The cost of hotels has jumped to 62%.of our total spend!

And the $900 we spent in Holland for two used bikes and equipment is not in the daily expense calculation

Just for fun, we've compared our expenses with our US/Mexico spend during our Cycling South trip. Total costs here are 2.5 times more than in Mexico/US with hotels being 4 times as expensive. We have to admit, the level of accommodation is superior, especially with regard to cleanliness. But the food is another mater....

Even In the high cost capital of Bratislava, we can tell things are becoming less expensive. Food prices seem to be at least 10% lower here in Slovakia. Going further down the Donau, we hope and expect all our costs to go down. 

 __________________________________

References: 

....1) The Danube Cycle Way; Donaueschingen to Budapest by John Higginson
... 2) Bikeline Maps & Guides; Donau-Radweg 1, (5 books in the series)

Our plan in a nutshell; 2900 total kilometers at 50 km per day - 2 days riding for 1 day off for a total of 58 riding days & 90 total days - April to July, 2013 :)