Travel Musings

 What a lovely city! We stayed for three nights at a site south of Prague, and this riverside site was excellent. Run by a family of four is was everything you could wish for, all at a price that would shame UK site owners. It had it's own restaurant, and the owners were a gold mine of help and information. Transport to Prague was easy, and for Seniors free within the city whether by train, tram, tube or bus. This meant that we only paid for the portion of the fare that was outside the city zone - less than £1 return. If you visit Prague, and you should, you will need at least two full days - one for the old city (which is massive) and one for the Castle perched high on the other side of the river. However, be prepared for a lot of hill climbing to get to it. Everywhere you look in Prague are seriously impressive fronts to the buildings, all in excellent condition, and the city has a very lively buzz. Most restaurant/shops/etc speak enough English to explain menus or give direction...

 Three and a half weeks into the tour, and we finally get into Czechia. It's long willowing countryside, with occasional deep valleys to climb into and out of. The roads are mostly good, with some rough patches in the small villages. The villages here are look more lived in than those in Austria, are have more life. Chechia does not have an abundance of campsites, so unless you travel city to city, you have to go out of your way a bit to find them. They are usually around a lake, and of a decent quality - with some exceptions. First stop was at the city of Brno, but we saw some magnificent buildings on the way. Brno is a small city, but like a lot of the cities in central Europe has impressive building facades, and large central squares in the old town parts. Again, all very tidy and well kept. On the way out of Brno we called into to view some caves. Our stop that night was at Camp Darko, a lakeside that allowed windsurfing and boarding, but needed a bit of tlc. The views were fin...

 Bratislava is a lovely place to visit. It's on the Danube, very close to both Austria and Czechia, and quite classy. The site we chose was just outside Bratislava on a lakeside, and it seems a favourite place for the locals to visit - It would probably be jammed full at the weekend, and with a water temperature of 22C, plenty of swimming going on. There is a chairlift type affair at one end of the lake, but instead of going up it pulls water boarders and skiers around a circuit which included ramps and jumps if wanted. There are boundless grand old buildings in Bratislava's old town area, just a 30 minute tram ride away, and a great vibrancy to it. The crowning glory, however, is the Bratislava Castle or Hrad. It looks stunning and immaculately preserved and kept, with domineering views over the city. They say you can see three countries from there. It was roasting, well above 30C, and locals were saying it was unusually so. It meant the city tour bus we took was....a little w...