Bratislava
Bratislava was one of the places we wanted to visit, but it was not an absolute requirement. However it was a convenient hub for our future travels, and since we were stopping by there, naturally we wanted to see the city.
“Thanks” to the post-WWII communist regime Bratislava’s old town is quite small, and can be covered in half a day. As we learned, the soviets were trying to rejuvenate the economy by blowing up old buildings, and putting up the standard ugly 9-floor buildings; they've also built a highway right next to the church where Austro-Hungarian kings had been coronated for hundreds of years. The church is now being repaired due to the vibrations of that road.
We were really lucky to catch a free walking tour with a young Australian guide Timmy! (The exclamation point is a reference to South Park :) Timmy! majored in history back in Australia, has spent every summer in Eastern Europe for the past 10 years, and the last 2 or 3 doing these tours. So he was rather good. He did not just cover the old town; he took us outside as well, and talked a lot about the pre and post-war history. I personally learned a lot about the formation, and break up of Czechoslovakia, and the role of Bratislava in the events.
Some of the history buffs might be interested to know that the famous historic photograph that to this day is considered one of the best photos from the Prague spring (or rather the Soviet invasion that followed) was not taken in Prague, but in Bratislava. Timmy! was telling us that story as we were sitting on this very square.

After the tour we went to one of the man-made beaches that are so popular all around Europe (we saw a couple in Berlin.) They are not so much beaches but large sandboxes with beach accessories – lounge chairs, sun shades etc. But we found it very nice to relax on one of those despite the absence of any swimmable body of water nearby.
The following day we visited the Bratislava castle up on the hill which was recently opened after a big renovation. Apparently it was the first year that it was in decent condition in almost 200 years. So we were quite lucky. The castle did not take too long, so by 4pm we were on the train to Vienna. It was just too close to miss…
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| 2011.09.04 Bratislava |
