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Published: November 16th 2008
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After realising that Bratislava was only an hour from Vienna on the train, it became obvious that being so close to another country without visiting was something that I would seriously regret once this holiday was over. And so it was that we found our time in Vienna to be shortened by a brief trip over the border into Slovakia :o)
We had originally decided that we were going to get the 8:30am train into Bratislava from the Sudbahnhof but on waking up, it was quickly clear that we were in a lazy mood, and so we decided to have an extra hour in bed instead. We were up for breakfast in the hotel at 7:30 (which was the usual continental buffet, but very yummy!) and then we used the free Metro passes provided by the hotel to get to the train station. It was all very simple, until we reached Keplerplatz and I realised we had completely gone past our stop. I still have no idea as to how I managed it lol because I really was paying attention...I dread to think where we would have ended up had I not had that extra hour in bed, haha. So
we got off and turned around to go one stop to Sudtroler Platz, which was supposed to be very near to the station. However, the dreaded Austria map/street sign curse struck again and we got off the metro to realise we had no idea in which direction we should be heading. We followed the directions on the map to the letter but they were just
completely wrong and we had to just resort to wandering the streets until we saw something that looked vaguely train-like. Eventually we stumbled across the station (which looked nothing at all like a station until we got about five feet away, so it's quite lucky that we didn't just walk away assuming it was a factory or something!) and raced to the platform, jumping onto the train at about 9:29am. By far the closest we came to missing a train on the whole trip, but at least there would have been another one along in an hour had we missed it! Just as we were leaving, we realised we were stuck next to the most annoyingly pretentious people in the world-they were American and possibly a student and teacher, and spent the entire journey talking
about absolutely nothing of interest but clearly thinking they were really intelligent. They were the sort of people who looked around to make sure people were listening to their conversation and were suitably impressed at the subjects being discussed *rolls eyes* John and I counteracted it by talking about Nintendo and Harry Potter lol-far more interesting. Apart from that, the journey was rather uninteresting-John was very amused at the really ramshackle Slovakian train stations though, and that seemed to keep him occupied for the hour. Some of them didn't even have platforms and he was convinced that Bratislava was going to be just a bigger version of these (I think his exact words were 'crap' and 'hole').
When we arrived at the Hlavna Stanica in Bratislava an hour later, it was a bit of a culture shock to see that there was no English anywhere to be seen. I had expected it, but it's the first time I've ever been anywhere that didn't accomodate English speakers at all. It took us a little while just to find our way to the exit of the station, and we then had the exciting adventure of trying to find the historical centre
of the city! I had a faded recollection of the map I'd looked at before leaving England (for some reason, it didn't seem like a sensible idea at the time to bring the map with us!) and knew we had to walk in a general southwards direction for about twenty minutes...so that seemed like the best thing to do! Thankfully, about ten minutes in, we found a street map with the information that we needed, and took a photo of it to help us through the rest of the morning. It sent us through a very communist-era district, full of grey concrete and graffiti (not the nicest of areas, although it never felt unsafe). John was feeling very smug at this point, but I was still keeping faith that the trip would prove worthwhile...and soon it was my turn to be smug, when we gained a sight of the castle and following in that general direction, found ourselves at St Michael's Gate. From that point on, the city (which to be fair, had already started becoming a lot more interesting and attractive, even reminding me a little of Newcastle in some streets) just completely changed. The architecture was almost without
exception very old, very pretty and the provider of a lovely setting to walk around. We spent some time walking around and then found ourselves in Hlavni Namesti where we had a seat for a while next to the fountain (we were without not only a map, but any of the local currency, and with the temperature at 32 degrees, walking around without any water wasn't proving to be very comfortable!). We then just wandered the streets for a couple of hours, seeing such beautiful sights as St Martin's Cathedral, Bratislava Castle (although unfortunately we didn't have time to climb up to see it more closely), the National Theatre, P.O.Hviezdoslav statue...and also the ever popular Watcher Statue :o) We also walked down to the Danube to see the Bratislava Bridge, which I have to say I wasn't too keen on...maybe just because it's a bit different and jarring compared to the beauty of the old centre. The centre of the city is actually quite tiny, but I think that only adds to the beauty of the place-it just feels old and quaint, and it really is a fabulous place to spend time walking around. It's also an incredibly friendly place,
with people smiling at us as we walked past, and no harrassment at all from anyone.
All too soon, however, we realised that if we wanted to see more of Vienna before leaving the next day, we'd have to get going. By the time we left, there was a lot more tourists around, who it seemed had arrived on coachtrips, and it did start spoiling things a bit because while, like I said, I love the size of the city, it just isn't big enough to handle craploads of tourists. I get the feeling that in the next decade or so, it's only going to get busier, and if that's the case a lot of expanding will need to be done to fit everyone in! Anyway, the walk back to the station wasn't the nicest because we were dying of thirst in the hot temperatures by that point...but we eventually made it in time for the 1pm train. We were very sad to say goodbye...and will definitely return one day, hopefully soon, so we can see a lot more of what Bratislava has to offer. Oh, and John fully admitted that the trip had been worthwhile after all, and
that I am a genius. He should have known that if you ask me, but better late than never.
One more thing to mention...our little trip to Slovakia actually almost killed us. I was slowly drifting off to sleep on the train back to Vienna, when suddenly the train horn started going really, really loudly and urgently. I woke up in a fright and was lurched forwards as the train screeched to a very fast, clearly emergency stop. Everyone was just looking out of the windows and trying to figure out what had happened, and it was about five minutes or so until we started moving and found out what had happened-a combine harvester was on the side of the track and had clearly been crossing the railway lines minutes earlier apparently without a care for the high speed train powering towards it. Judging by how quickly we passed it on the trackside when the train started moving, we must have literally stopped just a few metres before slamming into it....yeesh.
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