We spent the night in the northern town of Esztergom, Hungary and had dinner in the vault under the basilica. Fabulous surroundings and good food, following a walk around the town after a huge deluge in the afternoon. Esztergom is on the Danube, in fact on a bend in the Danube and has a bridge over into Slovakia.

Next morning we ordered a taxi and went to the train station in Slovakia – just on the other side of the river. We ran for the train and the conductor held it for us! and we headed straight for the dining car for our breakfast and were soon happily munching and speeding through Slovakia. We stopped in Bratislava and then to our destination of Breclav, Czech Republic where we arrive approx two hours after getting on the train.

The currency thing is more difficult, we have finally got used to the Hungarian Forint, although the exchange rate is a bit tricky and also they call it HUF, but Lucy has us set up on Splitwise, and great travelling app, so you just load anything shared expense that you pay for and it keeps a running total for both – or all if more than two. The digital version of the old kitty system. We traversed Slovakia where they use the Euro and then got to Czech where they had Koruna. Things are mighty cheap here in the Czech Republic. Lucy had a large beer for $1.75, and they also make nice wine and cider. What is not-to -like about the Czech republic?

We got a bus from Breclav where the train stopped to nearby Mikulov, a quaint little town where we have been hanging out for the last three days in a stylish hotel ‘the Piano.’

Yesterday we hired bikes and went cycling to a nearby town on one of the hundreds of cycle trails here, about 15kms away and with a few detours to a lake for swimming and to see a castle and some architectural follies and eat cherries off a tree; and we ended up in my favourite cafe for dinner… it was a good day.

Today I walked with an American woman we met at the cafe last night and Lucy and a swimming/chill out day in town. Approx 17kms of up-hill and down-dale through pretty scenery and eventually to the town of Pavlov where we had a beer/cider and caught the bus home.

So, all is well here, getting out into the countryside and loving it. 27-28 degrees every day but down to 16/17 overnight, so it is pretty pleasant.