In the early morning between Budapest and Bratislava, we encountered the first and largest of the 11 locks we would have to transit on our way to Vilshofen. Not only is it a two chamber lock, but there is a good sized hydro electric plant right beside it. The Danube has a surprisingly strong current, which is quite evident every time we pass a channel marker, or even just look at the water moving under a bridge or past a mooring platform on the riverside. So it is not surprising that they are making use of it for hydro power generation. The plant produces about 10% of all of Slovakia's power.
The very interesting thing about the lock is the difference between the gates. At the bottom of the 20 metre lift, it is a standard gate, much like the ones in the Panama Canal or even the Trent-Severn Waterway. But the gate at the top is much shorter, as you can see from the photo. The top side of the lock leads into the Gabcikovo Canal that runs for 35 kms and is not that deep, so the gate also doesn't have to be too big. What is different about it is that the gate slides down into the bottom wall to open, rather than opening two big doors.
Bratislava was something of a surprise. We had expected, based on information and reviews we had read earlier, to see some run-down forgotten relic of the communist era when Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia. In fact, we found a beautiful old town with a long history dating back to the 9th Century. Our tour guide for the morning, Juri, didn't need to hold up his lollipop sign – nobody could miss him. He's taller and broader than Larry! But he was also a font of information and humour. Larry says he'd have a great career ahead of him in standup comedy if he wanted to give up guiding tours.
The fountain in the old Main Square is home to the statue of another of our own familiar figures: the Teutonic Knight Roland, the same one who stands in Bremen. We can't recall his significance in Bratislava, or Pressburg as it was known in those times, but it was a surprise to find him here!
 |
| Larry and one of the humorous statues around town - the 'Paparazzi' |
After the morning in Bratislava, we set sail for our longest daytime stretch on the river, the 60 km to Vienna. Along the way we passed the ruins of Devin Castle, a very old fortress of Celtic origin that used to guard the confluence of the Danube and another small river. It once again serves to show just how long the area has been inhabited and how important the river has been throughout the ages.
We weren't speeding along by any stretch, since the ship has to push pretty hard against the current, but we had planned about 7 hours to get there. Unfortunately we couldn't keep up the pace, so the Captain had to pull in to the closest open berth to let the hundred or so of us off to get to the Concert Hall on time, then moved to our assigned spot.
The program for the evening was Strauss, Mozart and Lehar in the Hofburg Palace concert hall. Fortunately our guide warned us on the way that they had redecorated the hall after a fire in 1994 and there was now some modern art on the walls and the ceiling. It was the talk of the groups in the other buses, and we found ourselves explaining it a few times both before and after the concert. Here's a photo of the orchestra and the decorations:
The drive back to the ship was known as the 'Illuminations Tour', but unfortunately it is very hard to get a good photo of anything at night out of the window of a moving bus (or even a stopped bus for that matter!). So there won't be any photos of the Prater Park until tomorrow's posting. Of course, nobody told our guide that the ship wouldn't be in the same place when the bus got back to the riverside, so she had a moment's panic until one of the folks up front told her where the ship would be. It was just a good thing that WE knew!
No comments:
Post a Comment