Discovering Slovakia with Viking River Cruises

Our Viking River Cruise along the Danube was coming to the last two days and my friend Tracy and I were having a great time discovering a part of Europe neither one of us has previously been.

It was time for Slovakia and we were bundled up and ready to see its capital.

The ship docked right in the city of Bratislava so we could walk around ourselves, but we chose to first take the bus tour to Bratislava Castle and then on a downtown walking tour of the city.

The Bratislava Castle was quite impressive and also had a great view of the city. Unfortunately, it was a cold and cloudy day so we didn’t get to fully appreciate it.

In fact, I liked everything about Slovakia and the people we met were all very friendly.
It represented a European city in perfection, with its architecture, cobblestone streets, and craft filled markets.

Every building from the Opera House to the Court House looked like it was filled with history for me to spend a day exploring.

We spent a bit of time at the market near the church before heading back to the ship. 

The Glühwein came in quite a selection, made with different wines and a variety of fruits. I really liked the Pinot Blanc.  We also found lots of cheeses at this market, but it was something I knew I couldn’t store to take home with me.

I loved watching the children ice skating on the rink in front of the Christmas Market when the finished with school, or examining the candy in the market. I really wished we had more time here and vowed to come back some day.

I couldn’t wait to tell my friend Bibi at home how much I liked her country.

We had lunch as soon as we got back on the ship. I enjoyed a Riesling Soup, a flat bread with grapes and cheese, and couldn’t resist finishing with a hot fudge sundae.

In the afternoon, we relaxed before Slovakian Tea Time, the Captain’s Cocktail Hour, and our final Daily Briefing about our next port before the Captain’s Farewell Dinner.

When we sat down, there were spoonfuls of Camembert cheese wrapped in prosciutto for tasty bites. We then had a scrumptious salad, made with caramel, apricots, blue cheese and cornbread.

The next course was a flavorful Roasted Mushroom Soup. The entrée was a pan-fried red mullet. For the main course, we had a grilled filet, topped with foie gras.

The White Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding with ice cream was an incredible finish to the meal.

I don’t know if it was because we had only had a half day of touring or because we knew our trip was coming to an end, but this night Tracy and I stayed in the lounge a bit longer with some of our newly made friends.

We sailed away in the evening on our way to our very last stop on the Viking Embla... Budapest, Hungary. 

*Christmas in August? Yes! I was running a bit behind and I decided to just save my Viking River Christmas Market Cruise report until July. After all it’s a perfect time to start thinking about booking one of your own while the prices are low!