Bratislava, Slovakia, Part 1 of 2 June 23, 2008 Posted October 27, 2012 © 2008-2012, Herbert E. Lindberg Links to   Part 1,  Part 2 It is now time to describe the full scope of the westbound Tauck Danube River tour, as largely shown in the Tauck map below. It was most convenient to organize my photos by date, and I'll organize these web pages the same way. Heading west along the Danube, Danube-Main-Rhine Canal, and Rhine rivers, the dates and cities visited are: June 19, 20 -- Budapest on our own June 21, 22 -- Budapest on Tauck Tour June 23 -- Bratislava, Slovakia June 24 -- Vienna, Austria June 25 -- Durnstein and Melk, Austria June 26 -- Passau, Germany June 27 -- Regensburg, Germany June 28 -- Nurnberg, Germany June 29 -- Bamburg and Hassfurt, Germany June 30 -- Rothenburg and Wurzberg, Germany July 1    -- Lohr, Wertheim andWallstadt, Germany July 2    -- Frankfurt and Rudesheim, Germany July 3    -- Koblenz, Konigswinter and Koln (Cologne), Germany July 4    -- Nijmegen and Amsterdam, The Netherlands Click on the thumbnail below to view the entire trip in a four-video playlist of the cruise east-to-west from Budapest to Amsterdam through central Europe on the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers, plus the Danube-to-Main Canal. Altogether it's a 50-minute adventure slide, zoom and pan movie covering the wide variety of things seen and learned on the trip. Brief captions were chosen over narration to maintain the purity of the accompanying music. Video Playlist

Tauck River Tour Map

Connecting all these rivers into a continuous transportation route was a huge and politically challenging undertaking.  The tortuous history spanned from 1921 when it was first proposed until September 25, 1992 when it was finally completed.  In fact, thoughts about integrating the rivers for transportation date back to 793 in the middle ages, and plans for further work are under discussion still today. A report on a similar cruise states that the ship passed through 64 locks, 14 on the Danube River, 16 on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, and 34 on the Main River. This graph shows the elevations on the section from Passau to Würzburg going through 53 stepwise locks. The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal goes from Kelheim to Bamberg.

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Our boat is being lifted in a lock on our way to Bratislava.

Here we are almost at the level of the next section of the Danube.

A few more feet and we can exit the lock.  Going in and out of locksand under low bridges was a recurring part of the cruise.

Throughout the cruise, just before stopping in a city the cruise director had us assemble in the bar/lounge for a briefing.

Here, we're getting the scoop on Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We visited its beautiful and interesting Old Town.

We familiarized ourselves with the ship while approaching Bratislava. This is the lobby, and I'm standing on a balcony near our room.

Another angle.  The stairs go down to the luxurious dining room. he far end of the lobby leads to the lounge and bar.

A modern suspension bridge at Old Town Bratislava.  The cable tower at left sports an observation deck.

The observation deck, taken after disembarking in Bratislava.

Baroque building just after disembarking in Old Town Bratislava.

Public transportation among classic buildings.

Slovak Philharmonic Auditorium (Slovenska Filharmonia)

Two short videos to show the auditorium interior, its magnificent pipe organ, and the orchestra quality.
Select 720p and click out to full screen (both controls appear at the bottom of the screen).

End view of same building.

Slovak National Opera/Theater (Slovenske Narodne Divadlo)

Face-on view avoids streetcar wires.

Statue -- Two uses for a backhoe.

Couldn't leave without a statue of some hero.

Street scene -- I loved these everywhere we went.

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