27 Sep 2021, Monday
27 Sep 2021, Monday
Prioritized Daily Tasks
Tony Traveller's 51st Birthday
In Austra, we are required to wear masks in all public buildings and transportation. We have to wear masks on the boat except in our rooms our room and in the restaurant except when eating. We are tested each day for Covid. Clay Murdock, a member of our group from Idaho Falls tested positive for Covid yesterday. Today he and his wife, Lori, were sent home today. They will be quarantined a few days first.
Bratislava, Slovakia - Day 9, In the morning we had a presentation by Michael Grnja, our Viking Program director, Behind The Iron Curtain. It was his and his family's story. He was born and lived in Hungry as did his parents and grandparents.
Walking tour 2 PM - 5 PM
6 PM - tour the Wheelhouse of the Viking by the captain and our program director
7 PM - dinner
Colum Bubonic Plague monument (The date of January 30, 1714 entered the history as the day of last plague-related death in Bratislava’s Old town)
St Martin's Cathedral, no cross on top the spiral but a gold crown on a gold pillar
Streets of Bratislava, Slovakia
Me in and outside the Wheelhouse
Debbie wrote: Dear Family,
On the ninth day and final day on the river cruise (the lock between Bratislava is broken and no ships can go past) we enjoyed Bratislava, Slovakia.
The area that comprises Slovakia was inhabited as early as 270,000 BC. By 500 BC Celts had settled here, followed by the Romans around 2 AD. But today's Slovaks are mainly descended from Slavic peoples who settled in the Danube River basin in the 6th and 7th centuries. Around 830 Ad they united forform Greater Moravia, but the kingdom was short lived, conquered by the Hungarian Magyars in the 10th century. In the 16th century, Slovakia became a part of the Hapsburg Empire. The nation underwent Enlightenment reforms instituted by Maria Theresea and her son, Joseph II. These formed the basis of a tax and transportation system, military and schools, and serfdom (to work the land for a landowner) was abolished. In 1919 the state of Czechoslovakia was formed, but short lived. In the 1930's the state became an occupied client state of Nazi Germany. After WWII, it was decided at the Yalta Conference that Czechoslovakia would fall within the sphere of Soviet influence. A pro-Soviet, communist government arose until 1989, when the fall of Communism came during the Velvet Revolution. In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully in what became known as the Velvet Divorce. Thus Slovakia became an independent nation. One of the newest countries in Europe.
Bratislava is the only national capital that borders two other countries, Austria and Hungary. The Little Carpathians (crescent shaped mountain range) rise steeply in the north and the enormous Hrad, or castle perches 300 feet above the Danube, lending the city a picturesque setting.
Bratislava Castle is a blazing white square cornered by four red-roofed towers. It dates tothe middle ages but was rebuilt and burned several times in its 1000+year history. It was reduced by just its shell during the Napoleonic war. It layed in ruins after 1811 until serious renovations began in the 1960s.
Below the castle, the Old Town boasts elegant mansions, art nouveau houses and gracious pedestrian zones. Eleven Hungarian kings and eight queens were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral.
We leave the Viking ship tomorrow morning and board a bus for Budapest
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