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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We found another part of the old river quite early, but the bridge wasn’t there.
But finally, there it was! The bridge was very hard to spot as it was merging with the environment.
To demonstrate, here’s the structure from another direction. The trail in the middle goes over the bridge.
Once we had found the bridge, getting back to the car was another puzzle. In the end, we just cut through a corn field.
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.
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.
We also went to the UFO Outlook Tower to see the sunset. Here’s a view to the Old Town and Bratislava Castle.
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:
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.
