Czech Republic 🇨🇿 to Austria 🇦🇹

We left at a respectable time after making our way via the subway (for $1.30) to the Prague Bus Station.

We have decided that travelling by bus is our preferred mode of travel. It is so reliable and cheap over here, and quicker when you factor in the amount of time spent getting to and from airports and the waiting time with all the lining up for security checking etc.

Mind you, there was security at our bus station, and that has been common.

Our packed, double-decker bus was travelling from Prague to Zagreb (Croatia) via Vienna, and was to take us about 5 and a half hours and cost us €15 ($22.50), but due to stacks of road works and traffic jams (on the Czech side only mind you), it actually took just over 6 hours.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’d advised the Australian Government of our travel plans.

Well, that paid off when I received this timely email just after we boarded the bus.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria has introduced this law effective during our stay.

Interestingly, the President of Austria ( the second “Green Party” President in the world – remember Latvia was the other one) opposed this bill.

Don’t tell Pauline.

Austria is about 20% larger than Tasmania, but has a population of almost 9 million. Twenty percent of the people live in Vienna. That makes it our biggest city so far.

We passed through a lot of countryside on our trip – a pleasant change from the cityscapes we’ve been viewing.

They had an interesting way or storing, or perhaps it was just drying, the hay.

Just near the border crossing we started to notice billboards advertising all hour gambling casinos and nightclubs. Loads of them. And in the last kilometre before we crossed into Austria there were several HUGE casinos and fun parks as well as fashion outlets. It really was only a small village and dozens of casinos and night clubs.

I later read that this village is the location of the biggest casino in the Czech Republic and that the nightclubs are actually places for prostitution. Checkout the link if you want to read more. It is very interesting.

Almost immediately we were in Austria you could tell the difference. No piles of hay dumped in paddocks. Everything was orderly and neat. Even the rows of freshly harvested pumpkins. The red arrow is pointing to a person walking nearby.