Biking the Blue Danube

Day 9 Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum

Monday June 16 2014

I had not realized how extensive the Roman settlements were along the Danube. I had not noticed many Roman ruins on the section from Passau to Vienna, but there were certainly many as we bicycled from Vienna to Budapest.

We arrived in the small resort town of Bad Deutsch-Altenburg after an easy ride on a paved bike path in a National Park on top of a long dyke on the north side of the Danube, across the river from Vienna. The Romans loved their thermal baths and this area had them. In fact, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg is centered on a large thermal water spa. We stopped in park across from a small Archaelogical Museum dedicated to the once great city of Carnuntum, just 4 km away in Petronell-Carnuntum, where our Hotel Marc Aurel was situated. I was the only person who wanted to visit the museum. The others waited for me in an outdoor café enjoying a lemon beer. It didn’t take long to get a good introduction to the ruins that have been uncovered and to decide I wanted to visit the Outdoor Museum where part of the city has been reconstructed.

I joined the others and we pedalled on to our hotel where are bags were waiting for us. I went our immediately to find out more about Carnuntum, starting at a new visitors center just 100M down the road from our hotel. The visitor’s center had a filmed history, projected onto three screens on a wall, depicting the arrival of the Romans in the 1^st C to find Celts, with whom the Romans formed an alliance, Roman troops marching across fields, life in a roman town, and gladiator fights.

At its height the city, of which only 0.5% has been excavated, had a population of 50,000. Recently archaeologists discovered that the town was a training ground for gladiators so much of the current work concentrates on this aspect. The previous weekend a special gladiator festival was held in a field next to the visitor’s Center but we the festival was over.

School groups had been touring the site earlier in the day but I had the Outdoor Museum almost to myself for my visit. There was a large roman mansion, reconstructed to show furniture, decoration and the lifestyle of a wealthy Roman family. Public baths, water system, communal toilet room, kitchens, living and dining areas and bedrooms were displayed. There were also foundations of other smaller houses. Two amphitheatres, situated between Carnuntum and Deutsch-Altenburg, have been excavated. One has bleached erected and features musical performances during the summer. 

When I returned to the hotel I found out that Marg had considered visiting Carnuntum. She went to the visitor’s center to see a display of artifacts found there and to see the ruins of one of the amphitheatres.

As usual, we had dinner in the hotel dining room. We have found the food invariably very good.

Leaving the next morning we discovered a large Stork nest with the mother and three chicks comfortably settled into their home on one of the tall chimneys of the hotel. We all tried to get good photos.

Day 10 Petronell-Carnuntum to Bratislava

Tuesday June 17 2014

Jack and Napoleon chat in Bratislava

There is always at least one interesting, historic town to visit on our route. The route to Bratislava was no exception. Just 13km away from Petronell-Carnuntum sits the medieval town of Hainburg with a few interesting gates in what remains of the ancient walls of the city. We followed the instructions of a local woman to enter by the 13thC Vienna Gate, one of most artistically significant gates in Central Europe. We entered to visit the small historic center with a tall Marian Column and the Haydn fountain next to the Parish Church. We discovered the significance of the Haydn Fountain when we exited Hainburg by the Fisher Gate, which once guarded the entrance to the Danube but is now several streets inland. The Turks stormed the walls of the town in 1683 and killed or captured 8,432 people. Only 100 escaped, including Thomas Haydn, a young Cartwright, who survived to become the grandfather of composer Joseph Haydn.

We continued on to the Slovakian border, completely unguarded,with just abandoned buildings beside the road. It did have a small minimart where we managed to have our morning coffee break before reaching the Novy Most bridge where we would cross the Danube to Bratislava. There we took photos of the huge 9thC Bratislava Castle on a hill overlooking the city before riding over the long, high bridge and found our way to Hotel Apollo through busy streets. A drop or two of rain fell but that was it. It had been a nice, short day, just 31 km in all.

We arrived about 1 PM, too early to check into our room. We waited on a patio in front of the hotel and ate our picnic lunch. By the time we had finished, our rooms were ready. We showered and changed and took taxi to explore the historic center, and use a coupon we had been given for cake and a lemonade drink or coffee in Café Mayer in Hlavné Námestie, one of the main tourist plazas. The Slovakians are no slouches in the dessert category either. Suitably refreshed, we set out to explore. First stop was the 14thC St Michael’s Gate, the only city gate preserved from medieval fortifications. This is the most popular stop for tour groups. Five groups with guides from Viking Cruise ships were thronged in a narrow street leading up to the gate. We waited until they passed to get to the gate. On the ground under the archway of the gate was a large bronze circle with major city names and their distance from that spot inscribed.

Of course there were lots for restaurants and stores in the area. We scouted a good place for dinner and walked around to see a few more churches, some better kept than others. I walked up to get a photo of Grassalkovich Palace, built in 1760 for a Hungarian nobleman who served in the Hungarian government; it is now the residence of the President of Slovakia. The Palace was once a center for Baroque music. Composer Joseph Hayden premiered some of his works there.

I went through an underpass for the Novy Most bridge to get a photo of St Martin’s church. The concrete wall leading to the underpass and the underpass were covered with graffiti, most of which were well done paintings.

Back in Hlavné Námestie plaza I found Jack, waiting patiently for the rest of us to return, seated on a bench with a statue of Napoleon leaning over the bench.

Dinner that evening was in the old town, followed by a special treat at another café for which we had a coupon for hot chocolate. They don’t make hot chocolate like this in Canada. It was just like drinking dark chocolate sauce from a coffee cup. Marg has been looking for a similar café ever since.