Back to the River Cruise - Bratislava, Slovakia

When I look back at my trip to Bratislava, I am still amazed that I knew so little about this lovely, historic city, and indeed about Slovakia. This was a tour organised by our river ship.  

The long drive there from Vienna was not only really interesting, but also a source of many tales from our very articulate and knowledgeable young guide - some that were really thought-provoking and one that was very funny.  

The journey was interesting partly because it showed me another side of Austria. Located along that highway, well away from the city, was some of the Austrian major manufacturing industry, including a huge petrochemical plant, all looking very well controlled and clean - no rundown equipment or rubbish lying around as far as I could tell. As well, there was Vienna’s airport and especially as we came closer to the Austrian-Slovakian border, on both sides of the highway there were large tracts of land under cultivation with wind turbines towering over them. Our guide told us there were about 2000 (!!) wind turbines on the Austrian side of the border, but there are none inside Slovakia. Instead they rely on nuclear power. However, the two countries work cooperatively in terms of their energy supply. On very windy days Slovakia purchases some of the excess electrical energy from Austria and reduces the output of its nuclear power plants. On still days Austria purchases electrical energy from Slovakia to make up the shortfall.

The other reason that it was interesting is that we learned about the history of Slovakia - including  its separation from Czechoslovakia and from the Soviet Union - and some of its social problems and policies. Our guide said no-one under 21 in Slovakia is allowed to drink, while young people in Austria can drink at the age of 16. The punishment for serving alcohol to anyone under 21 is severe - they lose their business. Overall, the biggest problems are vandalism and pickpockets - which I have heard just about everywhere I have been. We are always warned to watch our bags and to put nothing in our pockets, even when we enter churches. 

It was clear that the Slovakians despised their Soviet ‘masters’, as was demonstrated by the following very droll tale told by our guide. The people had very little access to any luxuries, and that included toilet paper. They used old newspaper instead. Finally they were able to obtain 2-ply toilet paper, which to them was a complete luxury. However, some people were saying “Do we really need this double layer?” “Oh yes” was the reply of one wit. “One copy for you, one for the government!” Needless to say, the joke spread like wildfire amongst the people.

That reminds me. Anyone ’picking’ the pocket at the back of my no doubt tempting Aboriginal-made backpack will get a wee surprise. All that is in there is some toilet paper rolled up in plastic bag, something we have been advised to carry around with us in case the local loos don't supply any. I would love to see their faces and hear their expletives when they unroll their ‘loot’. (Sorry folks - I love playing with words . . .) 

However, I digress. 

Unfortunately it was raining most of the time we were wandering around the historic old town of Bratislava, which made photography rather difficult for a start, but that did not dampen our growing interest in and admiration of the lovely buildings we saw. They have such fine attractive features, the complete opposite to the ‘boxes’ made today. It was clear that music plays a very strong part in the Slovakian culture and psyche. Apparently its university has a very fine music school. And interestingly, when I was in Vienna I saw some buskers from this city who had gone on to study operatic singing in Vienna. They had very fine voices.

When we were there there was an open market running in the centre of the old city as well, which seemed to be mainly run by Hungarians. The foods on offer included pig roasted on a spit. But guess where we had to meet at the end of our free hour?  . . . . . . outside McDonalds. What can I say?  . . . . 

On another note, this is my 8th attempt to get this one post to you. The WiFi service out here on the ocean has fluctuated considerably, with the result that the photos would start to upload then the process would freeze. I have spent hours trying to upload them on many different occasions, and as a result am as far behind again. And in a couple of days time I am on another river cruise. I hope this will not confuse you. I will do my utmost to finalise talking about my first river cruise before talking about the next one.

 

Like other cities, there is the modern town and the 'old town'. This was our first glimpse of the 'old town'.

This was apparently the oldest building left standing.

I thought this was a very attractive building, typical of the design of many buildings in the old town.

If you look closely, you can see an old cannon ball embedded in this building. It apparently was fired there during the Napoleonic wars and kept out of interest.

In case you missed seeing the cannon ball. Clearly it has been restored along with the building.

I think this was part of the town hall complex.

Another view in the same space, looking back.

There were some quirky sculptures around the old town. Apparently each had its own story.

A performance centre for the Arts.

A steam fountain in front of the performance centre. I had never seen a fountain like that before. Lots of people enjoyed walking through it.

A close-up of some of the sculptures in the beautiful facade of the performance centre.

The weather cleared after we departed from the old town. (Murphy's Law!) This is some of the country on the Austrian side of the border, with some of the wind turbines, taken from our coach.