About old Romans and modern Restaurants
This final stage of the Danube Bike Path goes from Petronell to Bratislava. The path takes you along the south bank through Hainburg with its well-preserved castle, past the first spurs of the Carpathians and over the Austrian-Slovak border to the capital city of Slovakia.
Fans of the Middle Ages are enchanted by the chapel of John the Baptist in Petronell, whose romantic rotunda dates back to the Templars. The Roman city of Carnuntum brings the ancient world alive for you. In this internationally unique outdoor museum, a city district has been built with reconstructed versions of the main types of buildings in historical context: a burgher home, a magnificent city villa with furniture, in-floor heating, functioning stove plus public thermal baths. You also find the old Romans in the health resort Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, not only in the Carnuntinum Museum, which is the centerpiece of the Archaeological Park Carnuntum with its Ancient Roman statues, reliefs, mosaics, coins, weapons and trinkets, but also at Therme Carnuntum, a thermal springs resort where rheumatism has been treated since Antiquity.
Old city gates – Wienertor, Ungartor, Fischertor – as well as the large castle ruins lend a medieval charm to the city of Hainburg. Besides castle rock in town (Schlossberg), two hills dominate the landscape: Hunsheimer Berg and Braunsberg. The last one mentioned offers the best view of the Danube, the Thebener Kogel (in Slovakia) with Devin Fortress as well as of the nearby Bratislava, whose suburbs you reach shortly after the national border near Wolfsthal.
The Slovakian capital has plenty of sights in store for you – as a fitting conclusion to your bicycle tour. They include the four-tower castle, the city’s landmark, or the Slovakian National Theatre, the historical center with Hviezdoslavovo Namestie-Boulevard or the new Danube bridge featuring a futuristically designed restaurant (“UFO”) with a panoramic view.
