Poland and Czechia - Bratislava and Austria.

 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 warm.

Because we can we decided to venture into Austria, just to tick it off the countries visited list, to another lakeside site near Geras, close to the Czechia border. As we like to avoid motorways, the trip provided some surprises. We were expecting some mountains, but apart from the occasional steep hill it was mostly undulating, very agricultural, and mostly deserted. Every town and village was neat and precise, but no shops, nowhere for a coffee, and nobody walking down the streets. Very strange.

Did you know Austria has it's own oilfield? In one area there were lots of the nodding donkey pumps. Apparently it produces up to 10% of Austrian consumption, all neatly done.

So it's Czechia tomorrow.