Graz in Austria (top photo) was our stop travelling from Ljubljana to Bratislava. Like most Austrian towns it is very picturesque, surrounded by mountains and very green. It also has a bizzare stained glass window in its main cathedral depicting the scourging of Christ with Hitler and Mussolini looking on - what was the artist thinking!!!
Bratislava (pop 450,000) is the largest and capital city of The Slovak Republic (Slovakia) and eager to westernise and embrace tourism. It is a city of contrasts. On one side of the Danube is a very classical European old town (1291 Fransiscan Church, 1421 Town Hall) and on the other rows and rows of huge concrete apartments (a legacy of the communist years). Communism ended in 1989 and Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993, both joining the EC in 2004. Bratislava is also very cheap - a three course dinner with drinks is only $15AUD per person. Beer is still 75 cents per half litre. We gobbled down traditional dishes such as bean and cabbage soup, potato pancakes tuffed with pork and gallons of beer. Exactly 39km out of Bratislava on our way to Krakow in Poland our Citroen C3 (lovingly named C3-PO) clocked up 10,000km - what a milestone!!!
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