Just a short ride from Vienna is the City of Bratislava. The City has its old charming section, very familiar to the other surrounding cities, but it also has it Soviet era buildings. Miles and miles of Soviet apartment blocks. Boring, very large, multi multi family, concrete block, apartment blocks. The locals have tried to dress them up a bit with contrasting paint colors and textures and some relief added to the exterior walls, but it still just looks like an over abundance of Communist construction. Slovakia, although being allowed into the Euro (monetary unit) Club, seems to be lagging behind the other EU Euro using countries. Everything here seems to be a step behind, especially considering the other half of its former namesake, the Czech Republic, is doing so well.
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| Danube River, UFO Bridge, and in the background, miles upon miles of Soviet apartment blocks |
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| Bratislava Castle |
Since Budapest is just a two hour ride from Bratislava, I headed down for a day and a night. Very cool city, great architecture, wonderful energy. Although the architecture is timeless, the culture seems to fading as it now seems to be heavily influenced by both the East and West, to the point where the City appears to loosing its own identity. Thai massage parlors, cheesy themed bars, and restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe and foreign cuisines are becoming the norm. Apparently, if one wants to have authentic Hungarian style food in Hungary, well, one might go hungry.
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| Buda Castle |
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| Chain Bridge Connecting Buda to Pest |
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| The Danube with Buda and Pest on either side. |
Stage Distance: 299mi (481km)
Total Distance Traveled: 18,234mi (29,410km)
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino. Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary
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