A nice leisurely 9am departure this morning and we did a tour around the city of Vienna - a very picturesque place with lots of wide tree lined streets, before we stopped in the centre and did a walking tour with a local guide. It was pretty cold with light rain and as we had done this same tour last time I was very glad when the hour was up and we could find a spot out of the wind to enjoy a hot coffee!
The plan was then to drive 90 kms or so to the city of Bratislava in Slovakia, but being a long weekend the local authorities had decided to do major roadworks on the freeway! So after getting stuck forever in a traffic jam our driver, Sacha, found a very narrow rural road to get us around the works, but we wasted nearly an hour and by the time we had rejoined the freeway and spent 10 minutes at the border into Slovakia getting our toll pass, it was mid afternoon.
Arriving in Bratislava we made our way to a castle on top of hill close to the old city, and after a stop there to gather up another guide we drove down into the Baroque township. The views from the castle across the Danube were great and we could clearly see all the old communist built accommodation towers and some old factories. It was a sign of the more modern era to see half a dozen river cruisers tied up at the wharf - their passengers enjoying tours and spare time in the city.
During the hold ups in the traffic Gaspar had told us about some of the history and current economic situation in Slovakia - the country is now booming after initial problems after joining the EEC. Labour costs are low and many western manufacturers are producing goods here, including VW, Renault and even Kia! Also many more electronics, tech and even aircraft parts are being made.
Our guide led us through the quaint narrow streets of the old city, which thankfully was not crowded, giving us a chance to explore some of the beautiful old buildings and shops! We had an hour after the tour to explore the area and we soon found a little cafe and enjoyed a yummy pizza and a couple of pints of the local beer - excellent!
Back on the coach ( Setra built and Mercedes powered 420hp with an 8 speed automated manual gearbox for those interested ) and via another freeway we drove back to Vienna to the hotel. There was nothing planned for the evening, so we showered and re packed our cases and then had dinner at the hotel. Tomorrow we head off south towards Lake Bled, a quite leisurely day with a 9am departure - so much more relaxed than our last tour!
Gaspar is impressing us greatly with his first class organisation and friendly easygoing manner, and it also appears that we have no dawdlers in our group! Yessssss! No sitting in the coach waiting each morning for latecomers!