The Danube

Thursday, June 12, 2014
Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
Could have had another sleep in, but we were both awake by 6 o'clock. The beds were comfortable, but there was a lot of traffic noise as we had the windows open. Doesn't seem as hot today. Breakfast at Prague was similar to the others - but fruit salad rather than fruit; and there was a 'desert' like semolina, and hot corn & meats; no muesli today.

We walked to the station the slightly longer way, as it was smoother than those cobblestones plus it went round the hill . Arrived at the station at 10 to 9 and our train wasn't even on the board. It was so hot inside, we went outside and sat on a bench under a tree for 20 minutes. The train was due to leave at 9.39 and the platform didn't go up on the board until almost 9.35 - there was a stampede then! The Eurail timetable said to reserve seats on this train; but the guy at the booking desk here in Prague, said there was no need to. This was the fullest First Class carriage we've been in - we were lucky not to get turfed out of the seats we chose. Had some good company on this trip - a group of 7 Aussies who'd just finished a tour from Moscow and were now moving on to do another one starting in Budapest.

There was some pretty scenery once again - lots of big trees and green fields and valleys. I spotted a deer farm. The fields of crops are getting bigger. There are poppies everywhere, in all countries, and I thought I'd seen a crop of white flowers that looked like poppies - someone suggested they were just wild flowers, maybe white poppies . But check out my photo - that looks like a crop! Does cotton have a flower? We saw some cotton later.

We arrived at Bratislava, and one of the guys from the same carriage came up to us and asked us where we were staying; then said he'd show us the way. We found out that he's from Perth and has been working in Bratislava for 14 years. The station wasn't very impressive, and the pavements very cracked - but there were some nice new buildings too. It was about a 25 minute walk to The Film Hotel - decorated with lots and lots of movie stars' photos. We were in the Richard Gere room.  

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 420,000, the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia, occupying both banks of the Danube River and the left bank of the Morava River. Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia.

After a quick perusal of emails and Facebook, we went for a walk to the Old Town via Obchodna Street. It was quite clean and with lots of shops. We entered the Old Town through Michael's Gate - the only one left of four gates that were part of the city fortifications . Next to the gate, on the right if heading down hill, is the narrowest house in Slovakia - only 130 cms wide. The shop that's in there now though, is using some of the space from the old wall.

It only took about 20 minutes to walk this far, so plenty of time for wandering around. The Old Town streets are cobbled but not with such small cobbles as Prague; and they are wider. In and out and roundabout we went. I loved Cumil, the statue peeking out from the sewer. Then I went searching for the others. Schone Naci, who's civil name was Ignac Lamar and he was born in 1897; he was a poor loner who walked the streets in stylish tailcoat & top hat. Then there is Napolean's soldier leaning on the bench in front of the French Embassy in the Main Square. Great atmosphere around here.

On the Hviezdoslav square there is a statue of famous fairy tale author. About Bratislava he said: If you want a fairy tale, your city is a fairy tale itself. After his visit he produced some of his masterpieces such as The Little Match Girl .

Bratislava Castle is on top of a rocky hill 85 metres above the Danube - we didn't go up there. Strolled along the Danube and then went to look at a place we thought the man at the hotel had marked. This took us to another part of the city - so much graffiti, heaps and heaps of it. We must have had a 'pre-used' map, as there was nothing of interest there and we headed back to the Verne Cafe, which had been recommended by our hotel, in the Old Town. Didn't visit any of the brew shops. It was very busy, so just had a beer and then headed back to "1.Slovac Pub" near our hotel for dinner. We shared a cesnacka for starters - garlic soup in a cob loaf (same principal as that dip we make at home). Then Bryan had chicken in a creamy local sauce and I had bryndzove halusky so slaninou (little dumplings about the size of a pea made from potato dough mixed with a kind of sheep's cheese). Bryan had a couple of local beers and I had a couple of borovickas (local spirit distilled from juniper berry). It was nice - but it was hard to get service, then hard to get and pay the bill. It came to less than 22 Euro, just over $A30, so only tipped $2.


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Comments

Greg Hills
2014-06-15

Sounds like a wonderful part of Europe. You make me want to pack my bags and buy a Eurail ticket and do tithe same ,

Rae
2014-06-16

Loving these blogs Anne.

2025-02-16

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