Bratislava
Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is just over the border from Vienna in Austria. It takes only an hour on the frequent and inexpensive train service (there is a cheap, same-day return if you ask at the ticket office). If you are in Vienna for a few days and fancy a change of scenery, the trip is just about worth it, but don’t expect too much.
It isn’t a very big city, but it is home to a number of breweries, including Budweiser, and hence now suffers from being a Ryan destination for lager louts on a weekend’s boozing and stag nighting, and loutesses on hen weekends. This can’t give the Brits much of a reputation around town. There is however quite a quaint and historic city centre. On a sunny day, there are street cafes among the old buildings and plenty of activity. Near the main square, which is surprisingly small for the main square of a capital city, you come across a number of odd statues – one of a paparazzo of 100 years ago peering around a corner with a long lens, another of a worker emerging from a manhole and a third of a chap doffing his hat in a friendly greeting – the latter apparently based on a real character from the late 1800s.
The city grew around the Danube and on one of the bridges over the river there is a tower accessed by a lift from which there are good views of the city and surrounding countryside. The tower has an interesting men’s room with not only unusual urinals but also a message for the customers.
I went to Bratislava on a Saturday, which proved to be a good choice – it was wedding day and all local couples who wanted atmospheric photos of their happy occasion were heading for the grounds of the castle. The place was coming down with couples in wedding kit and trendy photographers all trying to get that different angle that would portray the bride at her best. For one couple there appeared initially to be a problem – no photographer, so the groom was quickly on his mobile. Minutes later, a slightly overweight photographer came puffing through the grounds and all was well.
When all’s said and done, you can do Bratislava in a couple of hours, so after lunch in a street cafe I headed back to Vienna where I found it was ‘hug me’ day in the city centre. This happy demo left everybody smiling including a jolly horse-drawn carriage driver.
[Click on a photo to enlarge it then use the arrows to navigate through the photos; click on any photo enlargement to return here]
