After we left Hungary we drove back through Slovakia again, but this time we stopped in the capital city Bratislava, not just in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t stay overnight or anything in Slovakia, but we had a brief guided tour around the fairly small capital, followed by our own free time for lunch. I had lunch at a traditional Slovakian restaurant with 5 Aussies, it was super delicious! So we had a few hours in Slovakia which was kind of cool. We visited a castle, and saw a bridge that has a tower in the middle of it where there is also a restaurant in the tower? I’m not too sure how all of that works, but it was cool anyways. I don’t really have too much more to say about Slovakia since we weren’t there for too long, but Bratislava is a GORGEOUS little city, one that I don’t think the rest of the world really knows about.. but it’s definitely worth a visit! Also Slovakia is another one of those super cheap countries, but you cannot tell just by walking along the streets.
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After stopping in Slovakia we continued driving towards Austria but first we had to pass through a little part of Germany again. By the time we reached Austria at dinner time, we had passed through 4 countries in one day. Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. Not bad, but apparently the most our bus driver had done in one day was 9, that is totally insane! We were staying in a really small village called Piesendorf which was one hour north of the Austrian city Salzburg. The reason we stayed here was to be in the nature, and that we were. Completely surrounded by the alps, I have never been in such awe. It was nice to get away from the cities, and just chill in the nature. In fact as I may have mentioned before, Austria is one of my favourite, if not my absolute favourite place I have ever visited. The next day, (I have completely lost count of dates by now) we went hiking in the alps! There were two groups and you could choose which tour you wanted to do, one down in the valley, or one going way up in the alps. Hesitantly I took the one going up, I was feeling up for the challenge, and I mean when in the Alps right? It’s all about pushing yourself to do things you would never imagine yourself being able to do. The beginning of the tour going up wasn’t bad, in fact some of my friends and I were ahead of the tour guide, but once we got about 2/3’s of the way up, the terrain got insanely steep, and the altitude change nearly killed me. My head has never hurt as bad as it did then, but after a little adjusting I was good to go again. We stopped for lunch on top, and then started to make the way down where we had the option to meet the other group and go visit a gorge or go swimming in a freezing cold lake filled with water from the glaciers. I am not sure which was tougher going up or going down, you wouldn’t expect going down to be tough but when it is so steep you really need to make sure you don’t fall which I definitely did a few times (oops). I was exhausted so I just took it easy laying beside the lake. I got the most horrible sunburn of my life that day (well maybe it was worse in Italy) but when we started hiking in the morning it was only +6 and really cloudy, I guess the weather can change reallllly quickly. In total we hiked for about 7 hours and went 16 kilometres (8 up and 8 down) not too bad if you ask me!
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The next morning we left Austria (I know it sucks how we don’t have much time in any of these places, but it is just so cool to be someplace new every few days!) and drove to Slovenia where we stopped in the Capital city Ljubljana for a short guided tour and lunch like we did in Slovakia. If I remember correctly, I think the guide said that Ljubljana is the smallest capital city in Europe. Kind of cool, but it is very beautiful (I know I say this about every city) but I think Slovenia may have won over Slovakia.. it’s a close call! 😉 We walked around the city and visited some markets and such before deciding to eat lunch at McDonalds.. not the first choice for sure especially when travelling around Europe, but atleast it’s fast, cheap and something nearly everyone can agree on. It was SO hot that day, that my sundae melted in literally 2 minutes. After a few hours in Slovenia, it was back on the bus and Italy bound! Someday I will have to come back here because just a few hours is not enough time, but at least I got to see some super cool things!
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I would gladly return to all of these place if I had the chance, especially Austria! I could live there, literally ski in the winter, and hike in the summer.. that would be the best life ever.. who knows what the future could bring! 🙂 I only have a few countries left to write about so sorry if I am bombarding you with posts but I really just want to finish it up now! My lovely Moa comes home today from vacation, so I think I will be spending most of my time left with my crazy badass sister from another mister! I might try to cram Italy, France, Belgium and The Netherlands into the last Eurotour post, I’ll see how it goes.
xx Jessie
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