Banska Stiavnica to Bratislava

Day's Summary
"It was raining when we awoke and it looked pretty grim. When we got to the town it was still bad so we did shopping first and then drove to the old town. We then went to the parking above the old town and walked down to the tourist office, had coffee and went to the old castle. After the castle we tried to do the mining tour but there were not enough customers so it didn't happen. There seemed to be no point in more wandering about in the rain so headed to Bratislava where we found a good campsite. The rain was now light and intermittent and we hoped that the tomorrow would be better."

It had started to rain during the night and it was still coming down quite hard when we woke up. It was also very cold, but we were quite high and it could be expected (700m). We got ourselves sorted out and headed back up the hill to town. The rain changed to sleet as we went up, but when we got to the town it was back to ordinary rain. Marianne suggested that we first go to the "new" town up the hill and do some shopping at Tesco's. It was simply too wet and miserable to explore the medieval town. We had to make a U-turn at a service station when we missed the turnoff to Tesco and this gave Marianne the idea to ask about the toll and we discovered that we could buy the so called vignette there. One simply sticks this on the windscreen (just like in Czechia). Luckily the supermarket opened very early. The Tesco was not very exciting, but it is still very interesting to shop at the various supermarket brands. After our "shopping spree" we went back up the hill to the parking area at the castle. If was not for free as indicated on the app. It was in fact very expensive since we were supposed to park in the bus parking. The parking attendant was very friendly and let us park at the back of the car parking area at the car parking rate which was more reasonable.

Then it was a walk down a narrow cobbled lane to the tourist office in the rain. The tourist office recommended a coffee shop next to the office. It was very pleasant sitting there out of the weather. We decided that the lower castle was would be a good place to explore since we would be out of the rain. It was a short walk up some steps and we were joined by a black cat. He followed us to the castle and into the office where we paid and was promptly chased out by the lady. However when we came out he was waiting for us and followed us the whole way, liberally marking his territory. The castle was an excellent museum and the castle was little changed with a covered wooden walkway all the way around the perimeter walls. Numerous stairs connected the level changes. The central keep had its own courtyard. We explored those exhibits which we were permitted to go to, but there were some that could only be visited with a guide. We did get to climb the tower from where there were lovely, but very wet views of the town. It was great fun to have a cat as guide, but we were getting concerned about the cat, which seemed to have attached itself to us. Amazingly, as we got back to the stairs where we had initially encountered the cat, it simply wandered off - its job done!

Back a the tourist office, we enquired about a mining tour. The tour ran mostly underground and this would be ideal with the rain still pouring down. We only had a quick look at the very old tunnels that lead underground adjacent to the tourist office. Then it was a walk back to the camper and we drove to the site of the mining tour. Here a communist style official decided that as there were only 4 (two Dutch girls arrived as well) and the minimum number for a tour was 6. He would not budge and the tour could not happen. The guide was quite happy to do the tour, but rules had to be (communist style)! We gave the Dutch girls a lift down to town and told the tourist office lady what had happened. She was not happy, but couldn’t do anything.

The rain seemed to be getting heavier and we were shivering so the best thing seemed to be to leave. It seemed to make sense to head for a city so we took the road to Bratislava. The road was narrow and twisty through the mountain and it would have been a delightfully scenic road if the sun were to be shining, but we were really having bad luck. Fortunately there was hardly any traffic. Once out of the mountains, we got onto the R75 which led through a vast agricultural area. We stopped at one of the typical roadside service station for some coffee and ate the fresh bread rolls we had bought at Tesco that morning. We approached Bratislava towards evening. We had checked Park4Night which showed there was a campsite on the outskirts of the city and with the help of Google we found the turnoff easily. Then we lost the way and landed up at a dead end at a sport stadium. We were getting worried now. Had the campsite disappeared? We retraced our route back to the turnoff and suddenly the campsite sign was right in front of us. We had simply driven past without seeing it. What a relief! We checked in a a very formal reception office. The campsite is part of a huge sport complex and we were surprised to find a lot of campers there. There is also a lot of accommodation for participants in events. We soon learnt that the World Ice Hockey Championships were taking place in Bratislava and the city was teeming with ice hockey players and their supporters. Hence all the campers. It had been dry for a while, but we had hardly settled down to making supper, when the rain started pelting down again. And we had hoped that we would drive out of the rain!!!

Geschreven door Leartravels