Bratislava! It's the capital of Slovakia. Which used to be half of Czechoslovakia. The other half being Czechia, which used to be the Czech Republic. Here endeth the lesson.
Bratislava lies on a river which is becoming ever more familiar to me. If I were to put this year's blogs together into a book, it'd have to be called the 'Danubiad'. The journey between Vienna and Bratislava is about as quick and easy as you can get between two capital cities: only an hour or so by bus or train and no need for money changing or border controls. (Slovakia is in both Schengen and the eurozone). The Danube is also an option - you can cross the border by speedboat - but it's a bit more expensive, and I didn't really see the appeal.
Tellingly, when you google Bratislava, one of the suggested questions is: "are 2 days enough for Bratislava?" The answers generally say yes. So that's what people do: they come here for a couple of days, see the castle and the cathedral and maybe a couple of other things, have drinks and meals around the main square, and then leave without ever thinking of returning, having not bothered to learn any of the Slovak language, still less anything about this country or its people or history. I think you can see this reflected in a certain cynicism on the part of the locals, and I think the tourists deserve every eye-roll they get. Did I say 'they'? I of course meant 'we'.
Speaking of rolls, the owners of my latest AirBnB studio apartment earned a bit of a black mark for omitting the most essential of all consumable supplies in the bathroom department. I only discovered this at the last minute, and without going into any detail about the heads of turtles and the touching of cloth, it was a very close call indeed. Fortunately there was a supermarket round the corner where I could stock up.
Would I recommend Bratislava? Only if you're passing, or at least if you're in Vienna and you have a spare day or two. For me Slovakia is just another country ticked off on my slow and steady way to completing Europe. I'm getting cynical in my old age.
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| Looking over the main square from the top of the old town hall. Cathedral at top centre, castle at top right. |
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| Presidential palace |
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| Slavin World War II memorial on a hill overlooking the city. The names of the fallen are recorded in their thousands on these plaques. Similar to the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC. |
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| Spooky statues next to the castle walls |
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| Looking north-west at the city centre from halfway across the bridge. Castle in the distance. Posh Danube cruise boats in the foreground. |
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| Castle again, this time at night |
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| In the museum: I forgot to make a note of who this is. Let's just call him King Mincey the Camp. Ooh, shut that door! |
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| Edd vs Food #119 Bryndzové halušky Slovakia's national dish. Potato dumplings with sheep cheese, bacon and chives. In the English-language menus they refer to the dumplings as 'gnocchi'. At Koliba Kamzik, Zelená 5, Bratislava. |
