we got in bratislava and we were trying to figure out which ticket to buy from the airport till the train station. they have tickets that are valid for 15min, 30min and so on. so if youre in a traffic jam and you have a 15min ticket and an officer appear, basically youre in trouble. but the good thing is they are very cheap..like 0,50euros. we met our hosts dominika and brano at the train station and went to their house. we stayed there for a bit, checking out the map and she showed us nice things we could do. bratislava [View Full Entry]

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All Saints Day in Slovakia, as well as many other Slavic countries, is a highly celebrated holy day. Throughout the entire weekend, Slovak families travel across the country to visit cemeteries where their deceased family members are located. Cemeteries overflow with flowers and thousands and thousands of candles are lit and placed on the graves. Families take time to meet together and take care of their family members' gravesites. Because some families must travel to multiple cemeteries across large areas of Slovakia, this begins taking place on Friday and doesn't end until late Sunday ni [View Full Entry]

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Instead of stopping in Vienna again, we decided to go to Bratislava and see the capital of Slovakia, which is just 60km north of Vienna. Once again, we didn't have much time, but we did take a few pictures and walked around the Old Town. Even though it's quite close to Austria and Hungary, you can see and feel the difference in architecture, culture, food, and people. The Old Town is beautiful, full of old buildings and narrow streets on a hill, on top of which is a big castle overlooking the Danube river. We crossed Danube many times on our [View Full Entry]

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I didn have much to write about yesterday. Spent the day in Vienna, but not really doing anything worth writing about. It was so cold, so grey, so gloomy, so crowded, so everything. Humbug. Today was much better. I had to be at the boat dock on the Danube Canal by 8, so was up early. Luckily it is just a few blocks from my hotel. I have to say that I really did a great job picking the hotels. Can complain at all about any of them, especially the locations. The catamaran to Slovakia took a little over an hour. [View Full Entry]

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So, after just a few weeks I'm heading back to Bratislava. It will probably only be for a few days and because I don't know exactly what to expect, I've decided to travel early so I can be raedy bright and early on Monday morning. Plus, it gives me a chance to get there by a slightly different route and take a quick look at Vienna along the way. I noticed last time that there are three ways to get from Vienna to Bratislava: bus, train or boat. The bus is fast and easy from Vienna airport (but I've done that [View Full Entry]

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For the first 8000 kilometers of our journey we had few choices of routes in that, over most of the Eurasian Steppe there are few roads connecting any two places. We would pick our next destination and ride there on the only route we could find. Sometimes this meant small, remote tracks where we were excited to see another car, horse, anything that could confirm our choice at the last intersection. At other times, however, this reality put us in heavy traffic on the only through road across huge distances. Russia was particularly rough as only one main road plies the [View Full Entry]

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Sunday August 23rd One night in Slovakia after a border incident We have slept well despite our afternoon in the most horrendous place in history. It rained overnight and the air is clear and feels quite cool after days in the 30’s. Our destination today provides us with a stop before we get to Vienna and means we don’t have to travel too far in one day giving time to take in the countryside and sights on the way. The plan is to spend one night in the other half of the old Czechoslovakia which was ‘divorced’ from the Czech Republic [View Full Entry]

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Squeezing my backpack through the aisle. I noticed these Irish girls from the previous night. “Oh no” I thought but it was too late I was spotted and invited to sit down. Luckily the train ride was only from Bratislava to Vienna (a little under an hour). This train ride was just one reason why seeing Europe through drunken eyes is the only way. I arrived in the Slovakian capital after another marathon day trip from Ljubljana. I arrived early evening so the sun was leaning towards dusk. Reception brings out a map and with his pen he points out. “Okay [View Full Entry]

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After finishing my class in Poland, I headed back to Slovakia. Sylvia and her family came to Lublin to pick me up. After one day back in Roznava, Sylvia and I headed to Presov, Slovakia so I could attend a research conference on religious geography in Europe. The conference went well and on the third day, we had a small group tour of some of the most important religious architecture in Northeast Slovakia. This region has a group of small wooden churches that were placed on the UNESCO World Hertiage List last summer while I was here. These churches are unique [View Full Entry]

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Talk to Frank. It's easy! If you take a break from your refreshments in the Old Town of Bratislava, "I won the World Cup" Frank was found aimlessly wandering the streets as part of his pre-match warm up routine. Chelsea were in town to play Slovan in the old European Cup Winners Cup and as accommodation of a 5 star nature was a bit tricky to locate back in 1997, the team were based right in the heart of the Old Town. Alas we were not, having failed to secure a berth in the old communist icon, the Hotel Kiev! We [View Full Entry]

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