4/4 Bratislava
We left Prague on the early, yellow Student Agency bus
heading southeast towards Bratislava. As we left, the sun shone bright in the
sky, but as we drove, the clouds settled in again. We drove through more fields
of snow (somewhat dashing the hoped we had that the drive south would bring an
improvement in the weather) and arrived in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia Republic at about noon. There was a bit of sun in the sky, but
the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was still quite cold as we walked from
the bus station down to the old town on Bratislava. As usual, Rick Steves was an excellent tour guide, revealing to us many fun details of the sights in this quaint city. We entered the old town
through Michael’s Gate, the only remaining tower of what used to be the city wall (typical of these
European Medieval cities) and down Michalska Street into the Old Town Main Square. The town is lovely, and we
wandered through the streets, making detours into the narrow, charming alleys
and courtyards, admiring the beautiful buildings. Many of them have cannonballs
imbedded in the façade as a reminder of Napoleon’s two sieges of the city
towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
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| Modern Clock with Bells on the way to Old Town |
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| Where the Old Gate was |
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| St. Michael |
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| Odd statue in the former moat of the city |
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| View of the tower from Michalska Street |
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| Shiri and Rick Steves as tour guides |
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| Fun statue of Napoleonic Officer in Town Square |
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| Cannon ball in building facade |
Bratislava is a combination of old and new, and when the
city was restored after the destruction of WWII, it was done with a sense of
humor. The old Town Hall is an eclectic mix of style, as it began quite small
and, as new parts were added on, they were added in the style of that
particular period, creating a fun and odd mix. We went to the museum in the Primate's Palace with the
only set of preserved English tapestries from the time of Charles I (early 17
th
century) which were incredible! Check out the photo of the close up to see the
intricacy and delicacy of the weaving!
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| Town Square |
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| Old Town Hall |
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| Primate's Palace |
One of the really fun things
are the statues sprinkled all over the city—gargoyles, odd sculpted
heads in the facades of the buildings, parts of store ads and just funky
artwork.
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| The Peeper |
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| Paparazzo |
We continued our walk down to Hviezdoslav Square, home of the Slovak National Theater, through the Promenade with its Hans Christian Andersen statue to the Holocaust Memorial.
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| National Theater |
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| American Embassy |
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| Hans Christian Andersen |
The Holocaust Memorial (seems like every city in Europe has one,
and they’re all unique and equally moving) marks the place of the old
Synagogue. The word "remember" commemorates the 90,000 Slovaks who were
deported to Nazi death camps.
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| "Remember" |
Right next to the memorial was St.Martin’s Cathedral (the close proximity a testimonial to the very positive Jewish/Christian relations), which is a bit falling apart now (and very close to the freeway), but was the location for the crowning of 19 Hungarian kings and queens during the Ottoman times, when Bratislava was the capital of Hungary. From there you can see the crazy
“UFO” Bridge across the Danube, called New Bridge, pride and joy of the Communist regime during their time in Bratislava.
Finally, we hiked up to the castle and admired the view
from there—the castle itself (called the “Upside-Down table" because of its
unique shape) is under renovation, but will be very nice if it’s ever finished!
It was, for a time, a summer residence for Empress Maria Theresa (where DIDN'T she live!?) and was the home of her favorite daughter Maria Christina and her husband Albert.
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| Entry gates |
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| Courtyard |
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| The castle from near the UFO bridge |
We finished with a delicious pizza dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant, and
then had to wait for almost 2 hours in the bus station for the bus to Budapest
because the Left Luggage place closed at 6! (Which was actually OK, because I’m
not sure I could have stood much more walking.) And apparently, it is forbidden to lie down on a bench in the Bratislava bus station--or so I was told by a very disgruntled person. Not too sure he was there in an official capacity, or just a nosy passer-by... But, walk we did, from the bus
station in Budapest to our new “home” where we collapsed into bed after a very,
very long day!
