Although technically a city, indeed a capital city, Brastislava (particularly the Old Town) feels very town like. There isn't a huge amount to do, except sit in the sunshine in one of the many cafes which line the streets. Nevertheless, we had a wander to the main square, with a little minature Easter market and around all the ajoining squares, past all the embassies and the opera house before having a genuine (i.e melted chocolate) hot chocolate in a cafe. The result was six people all on a slight sugar high...
We headed back to the flat so that people could get settled in and tried the Tokaji wine Lucy and I had lugged from Hungary. To say it was the SPAR shop own brand, it wasn't half bad, although incredibly sweet. Afterwards, we headed out to a locals restaurant. It turned out to be an ideal place to try new things; Nikita tried snails and vension and I tried smoked trout. We also tried a Slovakian wine (apparently the best) which was, as Rob put it 'hideous' (althoughit tasted better if you added water as Lucy and I did - heathens). After lots more chatting we headed in for the night.
Poor Becky who is an early riser, was up and ready to go at a reasonable time. The same cannot be said for the rest of us. After a very delayed breakfast, we headed out to visit some of the museums of the old town. The main site of Bratislava is its castle, which of course being this trip was 'under renovation'. Instead, we went to a quirky art museum, with a mirrored bookcase walk way and lots of very cool modern art as well as lots of older paintings by Slovak painters. It was really interesting to see how European art movements; impressionism and cubism especially, had affected these artists whose work is not really displayed outside Slovakia.
We then wandered to St Martin's Cathedral , a beautiful if dark building which backs on to the motorway, so its quietness surprises you. It is where several of the Austro-Hungarian monarchs were crowned (including Marie Theresa) due to the Turkish invasion. Afterwards there was a photo opportunity where Rob taught Keira how to use his very high tech camera. Photos continued while we sat in the square and drank beer. Discovering that you had to have a big meal rather than a snack to eat there, we headed to a bagel bar for a yummy smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.
The group then split, some on the look out for ice cream; a mammoth task as I understand it as Slovakians seem to think it is bad for you. Rob and I wandered to the UFO bridge for a look at the Danube, stopping on the way there at a wine shop to see if we could get some better Slovakian wine to have with dinner. We came back to discover that the makings of a fantastic curry had already begun. A very civilised evening of listening to music and chatting, bar Keira and my mad rush to Tesco for yoghurt to cool the curry down a bit. The curry was fantastic, the wine better than the night before!
Friday was another beautiful day of sunshine. Making a slightly earlier start, we headed out to the UFO bridge, the main bridge which crosses the Danube in Bratislava. It is known as the UFO bridge due to the structure at the top which houses a viewing platform at a restaurant. You get incredible views at the top; it gives you a visual history of the city - a beautiful Old Town with a castle, combined with the huge Soviet tower blocks of the communist regime. Far in the distance you can see Austria, which brings home the extent to which Brastilava really was at the very edge of the communist block.
After a lovely coffee looking out over the view, we wandered through the park, back to the Old Town and had paninis by the (under renovation) fountain. We then headed to the Archbishop's Palace, a candy pink building with wonderfully preserved festures and a huge number of mirrors and British tapestries. While there we met a hilarious guy on the information desk who struck up quite a rapport with Keira. He advocated Christian Socialism as an economic system and complained about the damage western capitalism had done...the evils of the British Empire etc.
We then went on a hunt for ice cream. The guy serving was a bit of a show of; pretending to drop them or throw them at you - very entertaing to watch. Absolutely delicious! Then it was time to put the gladrags on; Rob and I headed out for a quick bite to eat. While we were having a lovely dinner, the others were having a slightly stressful time as they had realised that the ballet was at the new theatre, a drive away. Cue the arrival of more conmen taxi drivers, but we all arrived with five minutes to spare. Sleeping Beauty was lovely, and we had really good seats which was wonderful, although the acting is absolutely terrible! After leaving the ballet, a search for food was required for the others as Tesco which is allegedly 24 hrs isn't. Nikita and Becky gave up, poor Lucy and Keira were stuck with the delights of a fish burger in MacDonalds. However the E number overdose did prove hilarious for the rest of us. A lovely evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment