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Douglas Brown's Travels
Day 10
An 8:20 start this morning with the weather forecast not looking too good.
We wound our way through the city to the outskirts with the sun shining and Saturday morning traffic not too heavy. We had 350km to cover today to our destination of Stary Smikovec, Slovakia.
Before we set off Thomas one of the Americans gave us a puzzle to think about along the way.
" Three travellers call into a hotel for the night. The hotelier says the rooms are 30 dollars a night. So each man pulls out $10 and they pay for a room.
As the three men proceed to their room the hotelier realises he has overcharged the three men and that it should be only $25 a night. He gives the bell boy 5 dollars and asks him to refund it to the three men. The bell boy on his way to the room decides that. It will be impossible to split the $5 three ways so he puts $2 in his pocket and refunds only $1 to each of the men.
So now each man has paid $9 for his room totalling $27 and the bell boy has $2 in his pocket. The question is where did the other $1 go? "
If you can pick the misdirection in this puzzle comment in the comment section of this blog.
We passed through Szentendre and our first stop was at Visegrad and the old castle.
"Visegrad Castle
Visegrád is a small town in Hungary, situated north of Budapest on the right bank of the Danube. King Charles I of Hungary made Visegrád, his hometown, the royal seat of Hungary in 1325. In 1335, Charles hosted at Visegrád a two-month congress with the Bohemian king, John of Luxembourg, and the Polish king, Casimir III. The congress resulted in an alliance between Poland Bohemia and Hungary. In 1991, the leading politicians of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland met here to form a periodical forum between these countries, the Visegrád group, with an intentional allusion to the meeting centuries earlier in 1335. Now the Visegrád Four, or V4 is an alliance of four Central European states – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of furthering their European integration as well as advancing their military, economic and energy cooperation with one another."
When Hungary was invaded by the Mongols the castle which was heavily guarded was taken easily. The Hungarian Knights with their tall horses laughed at the Mongols small horses and small of stature soldiers. They believed that it would be an easy battle to win. The Hungarian nights charged at the Mongol soldiers and just as they reached them the Mongols on their very nimble little horses divided and road around each flank of the Hungarian Knights and before they could do anything the Mongols had slaughtered them from behind. The castle fell to the Mongols.
We spent about an hour walking the castle and climbing to its highest point for a view of the Danube river below and the settlements on the far bank.
On leaving Visegrad we crossed the Danube by ferry, then headed to Balassagyarmat and the Hungary/Slovakia border.
As soon as we crossed the boarder we noticed a severe decline int the quality of the roads. They were very bumpy and contained many pot holes..
We travelled through Podkrivan and Hirinova to reach our lunch stop at Brezno. However about 5km from lunch the heavens opened and the rain came down. Lunch. Was at Resturant "Elf Restauracia" were we sat outside under cover and enjoyed traditional Slovakian fair.
It had become very cold and the rain persisted for the rest of the ride, making it very unpleasant. However the spectacular scenery more than compensated for the conditions. We travveled through several small villages and the larger town of Liptovski Hrador before reachingg ouur destination for the day.
The High Tatras is Slovakia's first National Park and a major tourist centre. Famous for its thermal springs and stunning but rugged beauty.
Ou hotel for the night was the "Grand Hotel" a 4 Star hotel built in 1904 and is a fine example of Art Nouveau styling. Many famous people have stayed there among whom we have Queen Elizabeth the Second, Crown Prince Fredrich August and Fidel Castro.
We took a short stroll to Koliba Vesper, a charming resturant serving local food. Our meal was accompanied by a 4 piece band comprising a basoon player, 2 fiddle players and a cimbal player
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalo m
An 8:20 start this morning with the weather forecast not looking too good.
We wound our way through the city to the outskirts with the sun shining and Saturday morning traffic not too heavy. We had 350km to cover today to our destination of Stary Smikovec, Slovakia.
Before we set off Thomas one of the Americans gave us a puzzle to think about along the way.
" Three travellers call into a hotel for the night. The hotelier says the rooms are 30 dollars a night. So each man pulls out $10 and they pay for a room.
As the three men proceed to their room the hotelier realises he has overcharged the three men and that it should be only $25 a night. He gives the bell boy 5 dollars and asks him to refund it to the three men. The bell boy on his way to the room decides that. It will be impossible to split the $5 three ways so he puts $2 in his pocket and refunds only $1 to each of the men.
So now each man has paid $9 for his room totalling $27 and the bell boy has $2 in his pocket. The question is where did the other $1 go? "
If you can pick the misdirection in this puzzle comment in the comment section of this blog.
We passed through Szentendre and our first stop was at Visegrad and the old castle.
"Visegrad Castle
Visegrád is a small town in Hungary, situated north of Budapest on the right bank of the Danube. King Charles I of Hungary made Visegrád, his hometown, the royal seat of Hungary in 1325. In 1335, Charles hosted at Visegrád a two-month congress with the Bohemian king, John of Luxembourg, and the Polish king, Casimir III. The congress resulted in an alliance between Poland Bohemia and Hungary. In 1991, the leading politicians of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland met here to form a periodical forum between these countries, the Visegrád group, with an intentional allusion to the meeting centuries earlier in 1335. Now the Visegrád Four, or V4 is an alliance of four Central European states – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of furthering their European integration as well as advancing their military, economic and energy cooperation with one another."
When Hungary was invaded by the Mongols the castle which was heavily guarded was taken easily. The Hungarian Knights with their tall horses laughed at the Mongols small horses and small of stature soldiers. They believed that it would be an easy battle to win. The Hungarian nights charged at the Mongol soldiers and just as they reached them the Mongols on their very nimble little horses divided and road around each flank of the Hungarian Knights and before they could do anything the Mongols had slaughtered them from behind. The castle fell to the Mongols.
We spent about an hour walking the castle and climbing to its highest point for a view of the Danube river below and the settlements on the far bank.
On leaving Visegrad we crossed the Danube by ferry, then headed to Balassagyarmat and the Hungary/Slovakia border.
As soon as we crossed the boarder we noticed a severe decline int the quality of the roads. They were very bumpy and contained many pot holes..
We travelled through Podkrivan and Hirinova to reach our lunch stop at Brezno. However about 5km from lunch the heavens opened and the rain came down. Lunch. Was at Resturant "Elf Restauracia" were we sat outside under cover and enjoyed traditional Slovakian fair.
It had become very cold and the rain persisted for the rest of the ride, making it very unpleasant. However the spectacular scenery more than compensated for the conditions. We travveled through several small villages and the larger town of Liptovski Hrador before reachingg ouur destination for the day.
The High Tatras is Slovakia's first National Park and a major tourist centre. Famous for its thermal springs and stunning but rugged beauty.
Ou hotel for the night was the "Grand Hotel" a 4 Star hotel built in 1904 and is a fine example of Art Nouveau styling. Many famous people have stayed there among whom we have Queen Elizabeth the Second, Crown Prince Fredrich August and Fidel Castro.
We took a short stroll to Koliba Vesper, a charming resturant serving local food. Our meal was accompanied by a 4 piece band comprising a basoon player, 2 fiddle players and a cimbal player
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalo m
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