Today we headed off to a different country.

Slovakia.

And the capital Bratislava.

The bus picked us up 9ish and we headed south east for just over an hour.

Our tour guide ‘Big George’, himself from Bratislava, had lots to tell us.

For instance, there are 1000 wind power plants between Vienna and Bratislava. So Big George said.

The turbines are much smaller than the ones MoD builds and they were everywhere. Same deal with the land owners here as Aus, they are well compensated. Big George wasn’t such a big fan of wind energy, citing a number of reasons the people who didn’t have them on their property did not like them. We asked MoD to fact check and he said it was nothing he probably hasn’t heard before.

Me? I think they are lovely and calming and make me happy that we can generate power that isn’t dirty.

Crops here are predominantly wheat, soy and canola. Stock isn’t really a thing because they take up far too much space.

According to Big George. Who also said cows kill far more people in Austria than sharks do in Aus and we never hear about it because Austrian cows have really good PR people. He could be right.

Farmers are mainly organic and trying to limit chemicals. They don’t grow the same crop in the same field for more than two years and every 5-10 years they let the field grow out. Basically let nature do its thing replenishing nitrogen in the soil.

There were a lot of solar panels on the houses in the village. Big George told us solar is financially supported by the Government. Pity NZ wouldn’t do more of that.

The houses continued the different coloured themes we had seen throughout our travels. Predominantly yellow based greens, yellows and varying shades of beige. This photo is actually taken in Bratislava but gives you an idea of the colours.

We passed through the border, which is policed by Austria, so it wasn’t a big deal this way. On the way back we had to get our passports out. The Austrian guards boarded the bus, glanced down the aisle without really looking, and got out again.

But there we were, in Bratislava.

The only capital city in the world located on three different countries, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.

And yet no Aldi in Slovakia 😳

There are nine National Parks which include about 1000 brown bears and my personal favourite. Red Squirrels.

In last five years real estate has doubled making it virtually impossible for young people to purchase homes. They live with their parents as long as they can.

As you enter the city you can see that many of the buildings are quite modern and interesting shapes.

Our first stop? A toilet break at a very modern shopping mall.

Shopping malls are open 24/7. At two square metres per person, it’s the highest amount of retail space per capita in the world. Apparently. Toilets are free of charge.

I was fascinated by these statues.

Second stop was the Bratislava Castle dating back to the 13th century.

From the castle, on a good day, you can see three countries at once.

The picture looking out over the water with that space ship like thing on the bridge is actually a restaurant, built in 1972.

After our visit to the Castle we headed into the older part of the town for a guided tour with Big George. Once again there was a lot to take in……..

This renaissance house was being renovated when they found this mural under the paintwork.

This Pink building is the Arch Bishop’s Summer Palace. The black hat you can see at the top of the building identifies that a Priest lives there, with the 30 tassels indicating it’s a Cardinal.

Once again I took a few photos, of what I was interested in. Like the statues.

Before lunch we took a look at the Blue Church which is pretty cool. We could definitely appreciate it as a worthy tourist attraction and photo opportunity.

Before heading back to Vienna we had lunch at a little seemingly Italian restaurant. There was pizza to be eaten. It’s speciality however was Hungarian Goulash.

And of course time for an ice cream. They do like their ice creams in this part of the world.

Once back at the ship it was time to frock up for the Captains Farewell Reception. I didn’t bring a frock.

They always have this two nights before the cruise finishes. We got to meet and thank all the amazing people who have been looking after us for the last 14 days. And they really have. Their care and attention has been truly mind boggling. The team couldn’t do enough for us. The Captain told us we had travelled 1811km together and gone through 68 locks. What a journey! ⭐️

Champagne all around.

Another four course meal but of course no night can ever be complete without dancing. Which we did.

Starting to get tired.

Happy and grateful tired.

Gute Nacht 😴