Last Wednesday was one of the best days of my trip so far. I hanged out with Slovakian traveler Milan, whom I had originally met in Šiauliai, Lithuania. Here are some pictures of our trip around the outskirts of Bratislava.

A view from car window in Bratislava with the side mirror visible.

I just wanted to take a picture from the car, because, well, I’m on a car! And it’s not a bus! This was the first time that I got in a passenger car during my trip, so I wanted to cherish the moment.

A field in the outskirts of Bratislava with car tracks leading to a forest.

The previous day, Milan had sent me a link to his website, where he had posted photographs of interesting places around Bratislava. He then asked me to choose a place I’d want to visit with him.

A small countryside road leading to a forest near Bratislava.

From all the interesting options, I chose an old baroque bridge – or what’s left of it. The ruins of the 17th century bridge were now in the middle of a dense forest.

Urban Exploring in a dense forest.

Finding our destination turned out to be a rather challenging task. Milan had added the GPS coordinates to Google Maps, but finding the exact location and getting there was still quite difficult.

Feet on sandals on lush forest ground.

Poor choice of footwear didn’t help either. Trails were scarce, so avoiding stinging nettles with sandals was not easy. Somehow, I only managed to get stung on my arm.

An almost completely dry part of an old river in a forest.

We found another part of the old river quite early, but the bridge wasn’t there.

A deserted and outgrown old baroque bridge in a forest near Bratislava.

But finally, there it was! The bridge was very hard to spot as it was merging with the environment.

A dense forest with a small trail in the middle.

To demonstrate, here’s the structure from another direction. The trail in the middle goes over the bridge.

A man walking to the horizon on a corn field during sunset.

Once we had found the bridge, getting back to the car was another puzzle. In the end, we just cut through a corn field.

Schoko-Csárd chocolate factory building in Kittsee, Austria.

And we also visited another country! However, our stay in Austria lasted only fifteen minutes, as this chocolate factory store in Kittsee had just closed before our arrival.

Abandoned Rusovce Mansion during sunset with blue sky.

Later, we went to see Rusovce Mansion, an abandoned mansion near Bratislava. The building was surrounded by a high fence, so you couldn’t take a closer look. The mansion is officially under reconstruction, but nothing is really happening.

View from UFO Outlook tower over the bridge to the Old Town and Bratislava castle during sunset.

We also went to the UFO Outlook Tower to see the sunset. Here’s a view to the Old Town and Bratislava Castle.

Mountains and a river on the border of Austria and Slovakia at sunset.

Mountains near the border.

In the end, the fun drifting in the woods didn’t come without consequences. Here’s a picture from the following morning:

Red tick tweezers bought from pharmacy.

The first thing in the morning, I had to go to a pharmacy to get these tick tweezers. I ended up pulling 5 or 6 ticks from my legs. I’m glad I have the vaccinations for their diseases, but I’m still going to monitor the development of the bite wounds for a few weeks.