Pearl & Scoots European Adventure: Spring travels to Salzburg, Bratislava & Vienna

A few weeks ago, we travelled by train with friends (Pyatts and Ballards) from Stuttgart to Salzburg, Austria.

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music

Sasha & John Pyatt are wonderful travel companions for many reasons, especially their stellar photography skills and gear.

Pyatts setting up their tripod

Tripod group pic in front of Austrian palace

Scoots posed like strange statue

Salzburger Dom where Mozart was baptised

Mozart chocolate ball and Scoots

The Hohensalzburg Fortress is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

Hohensalzburg Fortress fittingly translates to High Salzburg Fortress as it sits high atop a hill

The next morning, we took a train to Bratislava, Slovakia. Slovakia is not on any "must see" Europe travel list but my maternal grandfather was part Slovak so I have always been intrigued by these roots.

We stayed at the Botel Gracia in the heart of the city near the Old Town on the Danube River.

It was not the most elegant lodging but we enjoyed it for the short 1 night stay.

We had a great view of the UFO Observation Tower from our cabin window.

The UFO structure was declared Slovakia's building of the century and is the world's 7th longest suspension bridge.

Many locals consider the UFO structure a hideous architectural reminder of the oppressive Communist era.

View from the Bratislava Castle - our Botel sits in the Danube River near the bridge

We went on an "Iron City Bike Tour" with authentic Slovakian guides.

Scoots and John hydrating before our bike tour

Mirek and Brano, our local guides, gave us bikes and led us all over the city and along the Danube river.

Pyatts, Shanks, and random pleasant girl from Hamburg

Street art along the bridge

We rode to the Austrian border and Brano told us heartbreaking stories about his childhood during the Communist era (which ended fairly recently in 1989).

Bunker from the 1930s that the Nazis commandeered over during WWII

Brano explained how his grandfather was an educated lawyer and forced, like many intellectuals, to work on the railroad, during the Communist regime.

Abandoned tire factory from the Communist Era

We went to beautiful beaches along the Danube and enjoyed marvelous views of the bridges we crossed.

At this point in the tour, I was ready to start singing Lee Greenwald's "I'm proud to be an American..."

Sad Janka Krala (below) is a structure from the top of an old Gothic cathedral that broke off and was later placed in the center of a large public park.

Sasha & Megano in biker gear

The Slovak Holocaust Memorial is on the site of the former Rybne' Square Synagogue which was demolished in 1967 to build a highway. Brano and Mirek seemed specifically perturbed by this example of socialist demolition.

The Memorial was erected in 1996 to commemorate the memory of 105,000 Holocaust victims from Slovakia.

We stopped for refreshments and the Slovak cafe luckily had a translated menu.

"Gypsy" with chop onion, bacon and french fries

Scott decided to order the pheasant instead of the gypsy.

Pheasant stuffed with plums and cherries and served with delicious tater tot style discs

Halusky (shockingly does not translate to "healthy"), potato noodles (like gnocchi) in a creamy sheep cheese sauce with crispy onions and bacon was my favorite Slovak specialty.

Sasha ordered a coke and was served Kofola, a Slovakian cola drink with a citrus tang.

Kofola is considered Communist Coca-Cola since it was created when the Soviets were determined to keep ALL Western influences out of Communist Europe

St. Elizabeths (Modry Kostolik), also known as Blue Church, was a glorious building with it's unique Art Nouveau style.

A church for smurfs!

Bratislava Castle (Hrad) provided splendid views of city.

Scoots sporting new hemp hat (from the military PX store)

Scoots and Slovakian Goddess

Cahsew at the Jewish Museum

We took a ferry from Bratislava to Vienna along the Danube River.

Bratislava in the background

We enjoyed perfect sunny weather and a light breeze as we rode along the Danube.

Botel Gracia (where we stayed) across the water and Bratislava Castle in far background

The ferry went by ancient ruins of castles and forest hillsides.

Devin castle (above) was once part of the Roman border in the first century A.D. and later became the seat of the Great Moravian Empire and a strategic post during the Turkish Wars

In college, Scott took an entire semester on the topic of Vienna to complete his German minor so we were excited to finally see the city.

Happy 1st impression of Vienna: riverfront bars and paddle boats

It started pouring rain a few minutes after my brilliant idea to rent a small boat so we found a Spanish bar to take cover and watch the storm.

Oh boy, the perfect place to practice mi espanol (notice sign above)

We enjoyed delicious coffee at a few Viennese cafes including famous Cafe Central where Sigmund Freud and Leon Strovsky used to hang out.

Famous Sacher-Torte (decadent chocolate) and other treats

The majestic Vienna Opera House was a beautiful sight even on a dreary day.

Pic courtesy of John Pyatt

Anothony Bourdain inspired us to check out the Vienna Nashmarkt (open air market) with 120 market stalls and restaurants.

This guy is probably named Igor and he seems to have ingested one too many handfuls of Sauerkraut

After hand sampling lots of sauerkraut (barrell aged for 9 months), we purchased a large bag o' kraut.