This is now becoming harder and harder but as we checked into our little cabin in Bratislava's ‘Botel (get it?) Marina’ we knew that we’d found it. Half Indian restaurant and half ‘botel’ we were moored off shore (OK fixed to the bank) on the Danube just under the ubiquitous Starý Hrad which of course translates to ‘Old Castle.’ A walk around the very small city revealed a very nice place indeed. Cheap, few tourists, pedestrianized centre and just the right amount of nice buildings, statues etc. We considered lunch within the ‘UFO’ restaurant high above one of the cities bridges but the best part of €100 for a table with a view seemed a little excessive for something that we’ve both done before. With both of us a little tired nothing more was needed than a walk about to explore the pretty Slovakian capital.
A measure of how tired I was though proved itself as during the night what sounded like an explosion followed by some quite severe boat rocking made me think that the boat may sink. Waking naturally several hours later meant that no such disaster had occurred and instead a bigger faster boat must have passed by during the night causing our smaller boat’s fixings to feel the force caused by the waves. Mirka said it happened twice apparently! Anyhow, after two nights onboard HMS Ruby (Murray) off we headed along to a UNESCO protected Banská Štiavnica in the low Tatras. Isolated up in the hills this very small town really is quiet, with little going on at all. I’m not quite sure why this place has a UNESCO status other than that it was an old German mining town (somehow) and after the gold and silver ran out all that remains are the old castle, new castle and some sort of tower that made a noise to wake up the miners.
More worryingly though is the temperature, as on the way into Banská Štiavnica it was really cold but the following morning as we headed for the High Tatras it was about as cold as I’ve ever ridden which includes Alaska. Soul’s temperature gauge read as low as -4° C for much of the way but with the windchill it must have been into double figures. This was not helped by the first 30km or so which was mostly in the shade from the tree lined road. This made for a nervy ride hoping not to encounter any black ice but thankfully as we went from low to high the extra degrees that the sunlight gave helped. So too did my choice of hotel for the night as we stayed in the very plush Grand Hotel in Starý Smokovec. With my home forming both the most western and northern part of the trip and Patras in Greece the most southern this point marks our most eastern latitude and although a little zig zaggy our so far faultless Moto Guzzi has now turned the corner and is heading for home. And so by way of a treat this place is to make up for the thankfully not so many places that we’ve stayed that have been a little disappointing.
Starý Smokovec must be a hikers dream as the views are stunning and the place is just lovely. I don’t have any of those stupid walking poles though and so dressing gowns under arms we headed for the hotel’s Spa instead. It was just what we needed although the €4 swimming shorts that I’d bought the day before weren’t as due to the sauna, steam room etc being not in England it was err...‘tackle out.’
I’ll leave out the small cock jokes for now but surprisingly the most enjoyable thing about all of this was the ice cold pool straight from the hot rooms. Nice in a laugh or cry way but one thing that it constantly made me think of was of how the victims of Titanic must have felt. Horrific.
No comments:
Post a Comment