Second last day of the cruise and again it promises to be a beautiful day.
Slovakia is the other half of the former Czechoslovakia and Bratislava is the Capital City. It is located 6kms from Austria and 11klms from Hungry. Slovakia was little more than a battlefield for the ambitions of Hungary, Austria and the Turkish Empire for many centuries, and as its largest city it was frequently at the interface of conflicting interests. A phase of posperity as the capital of Hungary is reflected in the lovely Baroque and Rococo houses in the Old City. In 1918 Slovakia became part of Czechoslovakia with Prague as the Capital. The communist rule post WWII was not kind to the area and like most communist countries it was left to slowly crumble. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1993 Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Czech Republic had all the industry and it has taken some time for Slovakia to find its feet. It now has 5 major car manufacturers here and is starting to tap into the tourism market.
Today we started with a bus tour around the city and followed this with a long walk thru the Old City. Bit over churches now so can't rave about Cathedral of St Martin. Its a bit of a hodge podge of eras, starting out as the coronation church of the kings of Hungary and has bits added in all sorts of styles.
Unfortunately under communism a lot of monuments etc were destroyed as they considered putting a bridge in or widening a street more imporant than preserving the old city. The former Jewish Quarter was a casualty of this time with nothing left now.
Today is the last day of high school and the local tradition is for the children to walk thru the streets making as much noise as possible and you donate money to them to shut them up. The money is used to get very drunk tonight. Glad that hasn't caught on is Aust.
After a quick lunch stop we boarded the bus to Schlosshof Palace which is located back in Austria. Fortunately the border crossing is no longer a problem, all fences etc having been pulled down and you only know you have crossed when you spot the signs at the old guard post.'
Schlosshof Palace is one of the greatest castles of Austria. It is a fully functioning and largely self-sustainable Baroque castle of monumental proportions.
I was quite blown away by this place. I was not looking forward to it as we have become quite 'Palaced Out'. But this place was incredible, it was smaller than previous palaces but has been partially restored to its original condition. The fabrics on the walls and furniture have been manufactured to exactly match the originals and the rooms are set up as they were whcn used as a Palace. The art work, mainly portraits of the Royal family really added to the tour - it was nice to put faces to the names and the rooms they occupied. There were a lot of interesting bits and pieces like the height of the bed - apparently it was an honour to have an audience with the Queen if she was still in her bed so the bed was built very high as everyone had to be below her. It was even a bigger honour to be granted an audience with her if she was using the chamberpot (yuk) but Marie Christine didn't like this and had an extra little room built next to her bedchamber for her chamberpot. It is considered to be the first seperate toilet in existence in a palace. The ladies of the time used a chamberpot in the shape of a gravy boat which could be placed under the dress so they didn't even have to leave the room. Never using my gravy boat again!.
Stepping outside the Palace and I was blown away by the grounds. This Palace was and still is a working farm so besides the manicured garden beds and trees and lawn areas there is the stable block full of horses, goats, chickens, donkeys etc. The walled kitchen garden was an absolute delight and I could have sat in there all day. The herb garden was magnificent and you wouldn't think that herbs and veges could look so good! The orangery was magnificent and the range of plants was incredible. We eventually tired and sat under a lovely arbor of trees with a fountain in the middle and soaked up the beautiful gardens before having to return to the ship.
Altogther a lovely day
Slovakia is the other half of the former Czechoslovakia and Bratislava is the Capital City. It is located 6kms from Austria and 11klms from Hungry. Slovakia was little more than a battlefield for the ambitions of Hungary, Austria and the Turkish Empire for many centuries, and as its largest city it was frequently at the interface of conflicting interests. A phase of posperity as the capital of Hungary is reflected in the lovely Baroque and Rococo houses in the Old City. In 1918 Slovakia became part of Czechoslovakia with Prague as the Capital. The communist rule post WWII was not kind to the area and like most communist countries it was left to slowly crumble. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1993 Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Czech Republic had all the industry and it has taken some time for Slovakia to find its feet. It now has 5 major car manufacturers here and is starting to tap into the tourism market.
Today we started with a bus tour around the city and followed this with a long walk thru the Old City. Bit over churches now so can't rave about Cathedral of St Martin. Its a bit of a hodge podge of eras, starting out as the coronation church of the kings of Hungary and has bits added in all sorts of styles.
Unfortunately under communism a lot of monuments etc were destroyed as they considered putting a bridge in or widening a street more imporant than preserving the old city. The former Jewish Quarter was a casualty of this time with nothing left now.
Today is the last day of high school and the local tradition is for the children to walk thru the streets making as much noise as possible and you donate money to them to shut them up. The money is used to get very drunk tonight. Glad that hasn't caught on is Aust.
After a quick lunch stop we boarded the bus to Schlosshof Palace which is located back in Austria. Fortunately the border crossing is no longer a problem, all fences etc having been pulled down and you only know you have crossed when you spot the signs at the old guard post.'
Schlosshof Palace is one of the greatest castles of Austria. It is a fully functioning and largely self-sustainable Baroque castle of monumental proportions.
I was quite blown away by this place. I was not looking forward to it as we have become quite 'Palaced Out'. But this place was incredible, it was smaller than previous palaces but has been partially restored to its original condition. The fabrics on the walls and furniture have been manufactured to exactly match the originals and the rooms are set up as they were whcn used as a Palace. The art work, mainly portraits of the Royal family really added to the tour - it was nice to put faces to the names and the rooms they occupied. There were a lot of interesting bits and pieces like the height of the bed - apparently it was an honour to have an audience with the Queen if she was still in her bed so the bed was built very high as everyone had to be below her. It was even a bigger honour to be granted an audience with her if she was using the chamberpot (yuk) but Marie Christine didn't like this and had an extra little room built next to her bedchamber for her chamberpot. It is considered to be the first seperate toilet in existence in a palace. The ladies of the time used a chamberpot in the shape of a gravy boat which could be placed under the dress so they didn't even have to leave the room. Never using my gravy boat again!.
Stepping outside the Palace and I was blown away by the grounds. This Palace was and still is a working farm so besides the manicured garden beds and trees and lawn areas there is the stable block full of horses, goats, chickens, donkeys etc. The walled kitchen garden was an absolute delight and I could have sat in there all day. The herb garden was magnificent and you wouldn't think that herbs and veges could look so good! The orangery was magnificent and the range of plants was incredible. We eventually tired and sat under a lovely arbor of trees with a fountain in the middle and soaked up the beautiful gardens before having to return to the ship.
Altogther a lovely day
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