4hartsindubai (in arabic قلوب فى دبى): Trip to Slovakia, Hungary and Austria

Larry's friend, Zuzanna, invited us to her wedding in Slovakia. Luck was in our favor because the kids would be off for Eid Ul-Fitr (the celebration after Ramadan). We decided to see a few more places since we could!

Day One
We used our airline miles to get tickets and flew into Vienna. After we picked up our rental car we drove to Bratislava - the capital city of Slovakia. We were all struck by the windmills in the farm fields that we saw during the drive. They are massive and beautiful. It's a wonder that they aren't utilized all over the world. Driving over the border was a bit curious as well. We are used to driving between the US and Canada or Mexico and the UAE and Oman where there are border guards, passport stamping and car searches. We knew that we had to purchase a sticker for the toll roads, but we also thought we would have go through some type of border crossing. Anyhow, after asking at 2 small stands near the border with non-English speaking shop keepers we finally figured out that within the EU you can just drive right over the border. We felt silly that we didn't know this ahead.

Once we crossed the border Bratislava was not far away. Our hotel ended up being on a pedestrian street which was great while staying there, but tricky to get to. Always an adventure!

The hotel was a small place with only 8 apartments, but it was clean and such a great location. We spent our first night checking out the shops and sites on our street. We found a great little pizza place nearby. We relaxed with a few beers and pizza. It was wonderful!

Day Two
The next day we took in the sites. We went to the historical old town, visited Michael's Gate, St. Martin's Cathedral, Bratislava castle, the Blue Church and much more. Everything was so close that we could walk.

We really enjoyed Bratislava. The pace was slower, the sites were great, our hotel was lovely and the the beer was very good and cheap! Beer was only about a dollar for 50ml.

After lunch we drove to Devin castle, which is a beautiful old castle/ruins. We decided to take a long way to Topocianky so that we could see more of the country side. It was a nice drive.