Wien to Bratislava

Today we woke up in Vienna! After a long night of sailing and much noise from the engines for those of us on the haubtdeck morning came a little too quickly. We had a long cycle ahead of us so we had to “rise and shine.” Breakfast at 7 and then get all our gear ready to cycle. Bikes didn’t get off the boat until past 8 am so we could have slept a little longer!! We started our cycle from the boat docked on the outskirts of Vienna (Wien) and our destination today was Bratislava, Slovakia 77 kms away. The ride started out in a more industrial area of Vienna Then wound its way over the Lions Head Bridge onto the Donau Island. In this part of Austria they have separated part of the Danube by an island and the water on the left side is cleaner, unused by sailing and barge boats and is used for recreational water sports and has some man-made beaches. So Donau Insel (island) was where we cycled for quite some time until we were routed through the Donau National Park. Most of the way then was away from the river and on the Euro Velo 6 cycle path. The Euro Velo 6 is part of a series of inter-connected cycle pathways that start at the western coast of France and travel through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania all the way to the Black Sea. On our journey today the path was very well marked and we had no difficulty navigating the route - or at least Ricardo was the master map reader. Louisa was convinced many times we were going in the opposite direction!! The cycle route was not particularly scenic in that we were in the forest mostly or cycling through agricultural fields -- but then we’d remember where we were!! Austria cycling to Slovakia!! We had a couple of stops - first for coffee and then a lunch break at an Inn in Austria. We met a couple from our cycle tour from Berlin. They were always just slightly ahead of us on the pathway but were at the Inn finishing their lunch when we arrived. We decided to order soup. The waitress did not speak English so the German couple suggested that the soup she was offering us - which sounded like a noodle soup - was very good and typically Austrian. We decided to try it. Well, what we got was a bowl of broth with two huge meatballs in it. They then told us the meatballs were made from liver! Surprisingly the broth was very good but we just couldn’t get into the liver meatballs. They weren’t horrid but they did taste like liver (especially after we were told that’s what they were!). Vienna to Bratislava -77 kms - 5 hours! We did ourselves proud as the only two Canadians in the peloton coming in together in the front. We even had those two stops for coffee and lunch. Our cycling compadres consisted of the couple from Berlin (in just ahead of everyone else) and then our group consisting of a man from Germany and 5 cyclists from Denmark. After dinner tonight we went on a night guided tour of Old Town Bratislava. There are some terrific old buildings and lots of history in this city. There are also plenty of reminders of its existence as a communist bloc country. The Petrzalka Housing Estate -- Central Europe’s largest concrete building housing complex stretches on endlessly and dominates one side of the river -- the Russian plague (as Louisa calls it)! But the main square Hlavne Namestie was spectacular--with its old town hall that looks like a church; the building beside it which looks like a town hall that is the church (!). Beautiful baroque and renaissance buildings now housing the Japanese, French and Greek embassies. We also visited Hviezdoslavovo Square which is named after a famous Slovak poet. Unfortunately we will not get to see the city in the light of day as we are sailing on to Vienna tonight.