An evening in Bratislava
Since planning the road trip through Europe in late November (seems like just the other day, time is going so fast), I had thought visiting Bratislava would be a nice excursion from Budapest.
The original idea was for me to see Vienna first, but complications with missed trains in the morning meant I switched the agenda round and went to Slovakia. I had wanted to take the 9.20 service into Austria, but after waking up late I arrived at the station to discover the next didn't leave until 13.10. So I decided to catch the midday train to Bratislava instead - I would still see both places and the order didn't really matter.
I arrived about 4pm after typical delays and unfortunately this meant limited time to see the sights and look around in daylight. Bratislava's old town is very similar to those of Tallinn and Vilnius - narrow, winding streets and charming architecture. Unsurprisingly, I also thought the Slovak capital wasn't that different to Prague in terms of design and general atmosphere. The Czech Republic and Slovakia used to be the same country, under the name Czechoslovakia, and the languages are also nearly the same.
Walking to the Danube riverside, I was hit by a great contrast to the old town. Discovering Bratislava's "UFO" bridge, so named because of the flying-saucer-like structure raised on a tower at one end, was like suddenly going into a timewarp from medieval ages and arriving in the future. It was a stunning structure and I'd have loved to see the views of the city from the rotating restaurant at its summit.
However, I did have what were probably equally spectacular views from the ramparts of Bratislava Castle, situated at the top of a hill. Although the weather was cold and much snow remained from previous days' downfall, the skies were clear. Hardly anyone was there at the top, apart from a few solitary dog-walkers, so I really enjoyed the peacefulness and tranquility. All the sounds of the city were faint and far away. It reminded me of Prague again and the time I spent at the top of the hill where the city's bizarre giant metronome was located.
As I explored the area outside the castle walls, treading carefully on steps to avoid slippery snow slush, I discovered lots of residential buildings at one end. Although it's a shame landscape around the castle has to be modernised in this way, I'd love to live somewhere with a view of turrets and fortifications from the rear windows.
One thing I got quite surprised by back in the city centre was the Tesco supermarket, which appeared to be one of the liveliest areas. I didn't realise this British firm had reached as far as Slovakia - apparently there are several more throughout Bratislava, even larger than this one - but I guess it's not that unexpected in the world of globalised business we live in today. It was very busy inside and I needed to search around for ages to find the food section and buy some chocolate.
Hungarians are a substantial minority in Slovakia. The friend I stayed with for one night is part of that group and it strikes me as a similar situation to that of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. The main difference is that in Finland this tiny six percent minority has an unusually disproportionate share of rights to their numbers, with everything official being written in both languages. In Slovakia the Hungarian-speaking people do not receive such luxury, but this doesn't create any particularly bad problems.
I think I managed to see quite a lot in this limited time, but if I ever have the opportunity to return I definitely will. Things would probably be even nicer in the daylight and with less cold, wintry weather. On the other hand, there could be more tourists at these times - it was really nice to be surrounded by only local people.
Tomorrow I'll move on to Vienna, somewhere I've read a lot about with a very rich historical past. Again, I'll have to make the most of having only a day there, but it's at least a start and nice to see yet another European capital.
The original idea was for me to see Vienna first, but complications with missed trains in the morning meant I switched the agenda round and went to Slovakia. I had wanted to take the 9.20 service into Austria, but after waking up late I arrived at the station to discover the next didn't leave until 13.10. So I decided to catch the midday train to Bratislava instead - I would still see both places and the order didn't really matter.
I arrived about 4pm after typical delays and unfortunately this meant limited time to see the sights and look around in daylight. Bratislava's old town is very similar to those of Tallinn and Vilnius - narrow, winding streets and charming architecture. Unsurprisingly, I also thought the Slovak capital wasn't that different to Prague in terms of design and general atmosphere. The Czech Republic and Slovakia used to be the same country, under the name Czechoslovakia, and the languages are also nearly the same.
Walking to the Danube riverside, I was hit by a great contrast to the old town. Discovering Bratislava's "UFO" bridge, so named because of the flying-saucer-like structure raised on a tower at one end, was like suddenly going into a timewarp from medieval ages and arriving in the future. It was a stunning structure and I'd have loved to see the views of the city from the rotating restaurant at its summit.
However, I did have what were probably equally spectacular views from the ramparts of Bratislava Castle, situated at the top of a hill. Although the weather was cold and much snow remained from previous days' downfall, the skies were clear. Hardly anyone was there at the top, apart from a few solitary dog-walkers, so I really enjoyed the peacefulness and tranquility. All the sounds of the city were faint and far away. It reminded me of Prague again and the time I spent at the top of the hill where the city's bizarre giant metronome was located.
As I explored the area outside the castle walls, treading carefully on steps to avoid slippery snow slush, I discovered lots of residential buildings at one end. Although it's a shame landscape around the castle has to be modernised in this way, I'd love to live somewhere with a view of turrets and fortifications from the rear windows.
One thing I got quite surprised by back in the city centre was the Tesco supermarket, which appeared to be one of the liveliest areas. I didn't realise this British firm had reached as far as Slovakia - apparently there are several more throughout Bratislava, even larger than this one - but I guess it's not that unexpected in the world of globalised business we live in today. It was very busy inside and I needed to search around for ages to find the food section and buy some chocolate.
Hungarians are a substantial minority in Slovakia. The friend I stayed with for one night is part of that group and it strikes me as a similar situation to that of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. The main difference is that in Finland this tiny six percent minority has an unusually disproportionate share of rights to their numbers, with everything official being written in both languages. In Slovakia the Hungarian-speaking people do not receive such luxury, but this doesn't create any particularly bad problems.
I think I managed to see quite a lot in this limited time, but if I ever have the opportunity to return I definitely will. Things would probably be even nicer in the daylight and with less cold, wintry weather. On the other hand, there could be more tourists at these times - it was really nice to be surrounded by only local people.
Tomorrow I'll move on to Vienna, somewhere I've read a lot about with a very rich historical past. Again, I'll have to make the most of having only a day there, but it's at least a start and nice to see yet another European capital.
posted by Frederick at 01:00
3 Comments:
Hey, thanks for the compliments, actually I only just made this blog after transferring from another - so still uploading pics into my older entries from before I learnt to use HTML.
hi man, i'm from slovakia and i study in bratislava. i'm glad that you have enjoyed being in bratislava... you have said that hungarian in slovakia don't have the same rihts as the ohter minorities. i don't think so, just let me show you my point of view- there is an hungarian party in slovak parliament, there are several hungarian elementary schools, high- schools and even an hungarian university in slovakia, lots of hungarian people who live in slovakia don't speak slovak very well and they have no or very few problems with communication..hungarian people have nothing to complain in slovakia
take care
Hi, thanks for reading!
I didn't mean to say the Hungarians in Slovakia don't have the same rights as other minorities. I was just comparing their situation to the Swedish-speakers in Finland, who have an unusual level of rights - everything official (like street signs), is written in their language as well as Finnish, although it's only six percent! Sorry if I wasn't clear in the writing, I'll make some changes so it's better explained.
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