bratislava!

old town, bratislava, slovakia

my next stop was a day-long layover in vienna, which i used to take a bus to bratislava, slovakia! the bus ride took about an hour. bratislava has a nice, sleepy old town that was very fun to walk around for a day. i climbed a hill to the city’s castle, with views over the danube river and a bridge with a ufo-shaped restaurant on top of it. there were some nice churches as well. i then crossed the danube to peruse bratislava’s largest shopping mall. the economy of slovakia has recently been doing very well, and slovakia has become a manufacturing hotspot in the european customs union. in fact, slovakia currently produces more automobiles per capita than any other country on earth.

shopping mall, bratislava

vienna layover

st. stephen’s cathedral, vienna, austria

on our way to ethiopia ann and i had a day-long layover in vienna! we took different flights, and met up in the vienna airport before taking a train into the city. i had worked a 24 hour shift just before leaving so was a bit tired. we walked around the old city listening to a rick steves audio tour, which was great. the central st. stephen’s cathedral in particular is very impressive.

we then came across a manmade beach club on the banks of the danube, and relaxed there for a bit. great day in vienna!

relaxing by the danube, vienna
beach club on the danube, vienna