MORAVIA

Moravia is the eastern region of the Czech Republic - Bohemia the western. In less than an hour from Bratislava we arrived at Lednice, a little town once graced by the Liechtenstein family who built a chateau here and established Europe's biggest landscaped garden. We wandered around the part of the garden closest to the chateau - we decided this was as much of the 200 sq km we could manage. Being the off-season, there were few other visitors and we had a peaceful stroll around the artificial lake, across small bridged islands and to the minaret withn the chateau grounds. As this may be our last trip to the Czech Republic, we were keen to get rid of all our Czech Crown, so a trip to the supermarket bought some lunch and bits and pieces, packet at a time until we were left with only a few cents remaining.

TATRAS - SLOVAKIA

The High Tatras are part of the Capathian mountains and are the border between Slovakia and Poland. We drove to Poprad to find that the apartment we'd booked online actually was as good as the featured photo. It was close to the train station and the city centre and was big enough that we could have stayed comfortably for months.

From Poprad we took a train up to a small village on the slopes of the Tatras, Stary Smokovec - not much happening at present but as soon as the snow arrives I imagine it will be a busy ski village. We have generally agreed with the Lonely Planet descriptions, but today was not so successful. On advice from the guide book we took a bus to the small town of Zdiar to look at the painted log cabins. We should have known something was up when the woman in the tourist centre said there was no particular bus stop for the centre of town, the bus route stretched 6km with several bus stops in Zdiar. We checked with the very unfriendly bus driver who sold us tickets to Zdiar then drove straight through without stopping for us. There only seemed to be a few painted houses along the 6km  - glad we didn't get off and walk! We got off at the end of the line in a deserted village, snacked on bread rolls which we filled with salami and some very orange lookinng cheese, then caught the return bus back to where we had started.

Our communication problems continued back in Stary Smokovec when we thought we were ordering a goulash-type lunch and ended up with a huge goose drum-stick served on purple cabbage and partially cooked flat bread. Later that evening we discovered that unless you specify otherwise, the standard beer here is 700ml which costs around AU$1.80. It was a day of lovely sights but terrible indigestion.

The next day we drove back to Bratislava via Banska Bystricia which turned out to be one of those great unexpected finds that make your day on the road, and then on to Banska Stiavnica, a pretty town in a valley which has been mined for gold and silver for over 200 years. The whole town is Unesco-listed.

Banska Stiavnica



Banska Bystrica



INNSBRUCK

With Mum and Dad looking after Ruby in Bratislava, Oscr and I headed to Innsbruck, Austria for 2 nights. The flight took less than an hour and was beautiful coming in over the Alps. Given that we had had chosen Innsbruck as it was on the list of 29 euro flights and somewhere neither of us had been, we weren't sure what to expect. The city was stunning; the view from our hotel window was like a post-card, and the sunny weather made it all the more enjoyable.


The view from our hotel room.


On our second day we took a funicular train then a cable car up Hafelekar peak, the conditions were perfect; nice soft snow and gorgeous sunshine in which to enjoy it all. The views were fantastic so we sat up on the peak in the sunshine having a beer and meal for an hour or so. Just when we thought it was already perfect, two musicians arrived with their Alpine horns and set up on the snow to play.

We had some delicious meals in the Old Town, schnitzels, sauerkraut, venison and strudel. Ruby had enjoyed her time with Mamma and Dadda of course - not sure what she'll do when they return to Australia. 

BOVEC - SLOVENIA

It's already too late in the year to go across the Vrsic pass which made me quite ill last time so I was pleased when the apartment owner confirmed that a road did go through from Bohinj to Bovec without back-tracking. What neither the owner nor the GPS indicated was the kind of road it was. We left Bohinj elated with the beautiful views but were soon faced with 127km of hair-pin turns, blind corners and sheer drops only feet from the road edge. The scenery may have been beautiful if I hadn't been terrified. By the time we got  to Bovec we had shaken nerves and I had a sore foot from where I had applied the imaginary brake on the passenger side.


Of course Bovec  - Oscar's parents home town - proved worth the trip there. We stayed at Stare Kovac again with owners Veno and Nada who were so friendly that each time we saw them we had to stop for a shot of Borovnice (strong blueberry spirit). Mum and Dad pleased to see Veno's car - a Navara just like the beast. Not much was happening in Bovec of course, Mum and Dad set out to walk to the end of  town one day and returned quite soon after they left - they didn't really need to take the day pack! We caught up with Max's cousin Palmira and her husband Franz who Ruby really took to - she couldn't understand him so must have thought he was babbling, she returned the babble and the two of them giggled away together until they were nearly crying. The next day Ruby spotted Palmira up in the choir loft at church and blew her kisses.

Oscar saw his cousin Jani a few times including when Jani found us having dinner at a restaurant on the outskirts of town to return Ruby's hat- they really don't need mobiles in Bovec, everyone knows anyone can be found at any time. The rain started before we left - that and the blocked toilet signalled time to move on. We stopped in Graz, Austria on the way home and had just a touch of snow along the way.

BLED & BONHINJ - SLOVENIA

Not far out of Ljubljana we caught sight of the mountains and headed towards Lake Bled. It was just as beautiful as I remembered, our apartment is up on a hill with a balcony overlooking the lake. We made the compulsory stop for a krem schnit - doesn't sound pleasant I know, but actually like a vanilla slice with more cream.

At the church beside the lake the organist was rehearsing so we stopped and listened for a while; we were in no rush to be anywhere as is the norm here. The 11thC castle here is high above the lake and we almost considered not bothering as we feel a little 'castled-out' but were glad we did. The views over the lake were superb, if a little scary for those who don't like heights, and the information about the castle and surrounding area tastefully displayed. Oscar knew there had been a Kenda who was a land owner in Bled in the past but at the castle we discovered he had actually owned the castle at some point in the 19thC. I wonder if we can claim some kind of inheritance here??

Bled castle

Lake Bled from the castle courtyard

From Bled we drove to Lake Bonhinj, a larger lake with less development along its shores. The autumn leaves set a beautiful backdrop to the water here, my photos don't really show how lovely the colours were.



 


 



Ruby and friends.



LJUBLJANA - SLOVENIA

We set off to 'old country', Slovenia - Oscar very excited. The drive was 450km on freeway all the way, with only one stop at a roadhouse which we left quickly when a tour group descended on the place as if they hadn't eaten for days and as if this was the only place you could buy souvenirs.  By the time we made it into the centre of Ljubljana we were so hungry we had a  late lunch at 4.30pm at a Mexican restaurant - we would have eaten more local cuisine but could find only Mexican or McDonalds serving meals at this time. The next day we walked around the castle perched just above the old town. More interesting was the market oustide the castle selling local produce (and bureks which seem very popular here).

AQUA PARK

Swimming and thermal bathing is big here - we found a great aqua park 25km out of Bratislava. It would be fantastic in Summer - lots of outdoor pools and slides. Indoors were a couple of pools including a hot one with seating around the edge equipped with jets. You could swim from an indoor pool to an outside one where the water temperature was still warm enough to send steam from the surface. There was one water slide which ended inside. I was surprised when Ruby agreed to go down it with Oscar and even more surprised when she wanted to do it by herself. Sorry the photos aren't clear - the camera lense steamed up.