Bratislava

This morning we checked out of our hotel and were taken by bus to Bratislava.  Set picturesquely at the foot of the Little Carpathian mountains.  Brativlava is dominated by its massive square castle. 

We visited the castle which has amazing views back over the city.  We could go to the inside courtyard of castle but no rooms are open to the public. 

We then went down into the town for a walking tour.  We went into the beautiful St Martin’s cathedral.  We had some free time to wander and see the markets 

After our guided tour and included lunch we returned to the city for some more free time and then we boarded the buses which took us back to our ship located in a town between Bratislava and Budapest. 

When we arrived we had to wait on the buses in the heat for nearly an hour while the ship was loaded with food from vans parked nearby.  We were taken to what looked like a scrapyard with train tracks running through the middle.  Our ship was rafted up to a rusty old barge and we had to walk through that and then onto  another cruise ship before finally arriving on the Viking Aegir. 

We were so thrilled to be back on our ship.  The crew greeted us enthusiastically and we were given our room passes.  We felt like we had come home.