Bratislava: A nice little Eastern European day trip
Jeff and I went to Bratislava on a whim (sort of), and I’m glad we did. It’s just about an hour train ride from Vienna, and here’s a fun fact: Bratislava, Slovakia, and Vienna, Austria, are the two closest national capitals in the world (source: my husband, probably dictating from a Rick Steves book).
I loved the city. It’s small and walkable, mostly recovered from its communist past, with its wear and tear a bit more evident on a lot of buildings compared to its more “posh” neighbors. But, I like that because it feels a little bit more real to me. The city is not touristy, it is cheap (we paid about 40 Euros per night for our bed and breakfast), it is colorful (both the buildings and the apparent art scene), and the food is really good. Needless to say, I would recommend this as a day trip. I’m sure it’s even more beautiful in the summer with a blue sky, green trees, and an active main square. Plus, it sounds like even during the heavier tourist season, it’s still not a major destination — so it may offer a nice break from all the camera-toting crazies.
As an aside, what is with tourists using iPads as cameras? The pictures are terrible! And PS, you look ridiculous.
Regardless, here’s a really good blog post from our favorite travel writer about the city. Worth a read: Blooming Bratislava.
And here are a few (well, several) pics from our day there.
Jeff and Hans Christian Andersen. I made them hold hands. Big hands, Hans.
Rubberneck. According to Bratislava’s tourist website: “A unique Bratislava curiosity: no other city in the world has a statue emerging from a manhole. After Rubberneck had lost his head twice due to careless drivers city councillors decided to help him by erecting a road sign to warn drivers: another world-first…” (Source: http://visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700014&id=1225&p1=3993).
Jeff and Rubberneck.
According to the city’s tourism site: “This statue commemorates a unique figure in Bratislava’s history. Not a statesmen, a sportsman or soldier: instead, the Schöner Naci, whose real name was Ignác Lamár, is remembered for being one of Bratislava’s social institutions. Born in 1897, he was famous for wandering the streets of the city, elegant in morning suit and top hat. He would frequently doff his hat to the ladies he passed and offer them flowers or a song.” (Source: http://visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/zobraz_dok.asp?id_org=700014&id_ktg=1037&p1=3993).
Napoleon’s Solider statue in the town square.
Here he is again, with more of the square in the background. I’d love to see this place in the summer.
Hey bear, raise the roof.
Random celebrity grills.
A run-down church. I’m pretty sure the doors were locked.
I push for wine.
Basically sums up my feelings about life.
Inspecting the beer for alcohol content.
Yum.
A nice cozy lunch and a break from the cold rain.
Shot of Bratislava Castle from town. It was such a nice, sunny day.
A glimpse of St. Martin’s Cathedral, the largest in Bratislava, known for the coronation of many rulers, including Maria Theresia — the only female ruler of the Habsburg dynasty.
Narrow roads.
Not entirely sure.
A perfectly safe-feeling rundown neighborhood.
Every town has a little ghetto.
LOVE this door. Slightly obsessed with European doorways.
Another random street without a person in sight. Don’t you love these captions? I just hate how the photos look so bare without any words to accompany them.
Closing in on the Cathedral. Unfortunately,the doors were locked when we arrived the first day, so we finally went inside Wednesday morning before we left.
Do you have the key to my angelic, alien TV heart?
Jeff with alien tower in the background.
St. Martin’s.
UFO tower.
After a 45-second elevator ride to the top of the UFO tower, you are offered a nice view from the bathroom.
You are also offered a nice view of the castle and cathedral from the open-air lookout tower. (This shot was taken before I realized I could leave the shutter open on my camera somewhat indefinitely. Oh well, still learning. Plus, Jeff was getting a little tired of me dorking around with the settings. So, we began our journey to the castle.).
Atop the UFO tower.
Heading across the bridge that connects the UFO lookout tower to the old town and essentially divides the city down the middle. It is rumored that this highway will eventually be built as a tunnel underground. If it’s anything like the Big Dig in Boston, it might be a few generations before the project is completed.
Heading to the castle…
Met a nice dog along the way.
Getting closer.
Closer.
There!
We had a wonderful and delicious dinner, but don’t recommend ordering the “headcheese.” Sounded good, as it was dressed with caramelized onions… not so much.
A miniature outdoor “van Gogh” exhibit.
And a monument dedicated to the rack of a female superhero. This one’s for you, Jeff. (Actually, I haven’t a clue what this is. Strange for what appears to be a residential courtyard).
Vienna Day 3: Just the two of us. Gold tableware. And procrastination.
As it turns out, I’m much more interested in blogging than doing my real job, which is about to rear its ugly head and bite me in the ass. Oh well. Here’s what will likely be my final post for the working week. I know all 25 of our readers will be sitting at the edges of their seats.
The Habsburgs (based in Austria and then later Prague) ruled a ton of central/eastern Europe for several hundred years (you can read about them here), and on Monday, Jeff and I toured part of their enormous palace in Vienna, which is now broken up into a number of museums. We opted for the silver/china, Queen SiSi, and Royal Apartments package tour.
I seriously almost never get sick of seeing how the royal once lived. It seems utterly excessive, but I can’t help but wish these palaces would open a camp for adults, where you could dress in old royal garb, sleep in freezing cold canopy beds, and tinkle in a pot for a couple days. Okay, so a lot of it really wasn’t so glamorous, but it would be really cool to be transported back just for a few hours — even as a fly on one of those gilded walls. I would, of course, also be interested in how the other 99.99999999 (“with a bar”) percent lived. I’d probably need to learn how to build a fire, but I could do it.
From the palace, we were finally able to get into the Stephansdom. Only took three tries! Fortunately, it is still a functioning church, unlike some we have toured. It was beautiful, but I had a hard time capturing a decent photo, even with my rad camera. I just was not feeling extremely patient.
We also walked inside the baroque St. Peter’s church. While I’m not a student of architecture, baroque to me has come to mean dripping with opulence, and also excessively … excessive. Certainly not humble, nor does it seem terribly holy to me. Oh, well. What else would tourists do without these grand sites?
More pics from day three below!
Next, we were off to Bratislava, Slovakia.
Outside of Habsburg Palace.
Cold, bored horses.
Palace staircase.
Some insane gold tableware, Habsburg silver collection.
Habsburg gold/silver collection.
Loved this plate. Mädchen mit Hund.
Small church we visited prior to entering the palace.
Inside of small church. Even the seemingly insignificant looking churches from the outside are more impressive than anything we have in the US.
Statue outside of palace.
Inside the baroque-style St. Peter’s Church. Ridiculous.
Had some tiny sandwiches at Trzesniewski.
So good.
And tiny beers. Pinky out!
After the tiny beers, we needed to use the public toilets.
And then we finally made it to Stephansdom, with the “Tupperware-colored” windows, as Rick Steves calls them.
Inside Stephansdom. I was having trouble getting a good shot of this church. From here, we warmed up with some hot chocolate, coffee and cake. And that pretty much concludes Vienna!
A European Adventure 