BRATISLAVA

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BRATISLAVA 30.09.08

OK now it comes out that Bratislava is the city with the highest rate of kiwis outside New Zealand! Or maybe is all made for me so I will get used to it. The guy with the messy bed ended up being from NZ and in the room there are other two girls, also kiwis. Now we're wandering around the city and the only two people around that are english-speaking, guess what? Are kiwis! So kiwis rule. Forget about all that stories saying that Italians are everywhere. We lost it.
Apart from that Bratislava looks like a pretty anonymous city, if it wasn't for the old town, Stare Mesto, which is truly lovely. South of the Danube river you could hardly believe what you see. It a crowd of concrete blocks and chimney towers, and standing up from all this, there's only the infamous UFO Tower. To make things look worst there's, unfortunately, because it's actually a happy event, the coming of the Euro at the beginning of next year. So half town, including the Castle that is currently under renovation, is wrapped in gigantic images of the new coin. But don't get me wrong, Bratislava is absolutely worth visiting. Even if without any outstanding feature, the old town is absolutely beautiful and a pleasure to walk around or sitting outside one of the many cafes. The Cstle and its gardens are also worth seeing, maybe better when the restoration is finished. And in fact we're sitting here reading and writing under a tree in this almost empty garden.
It's getting cold and cloudy.
The kiwi guy from the hostel suggested we paid a visit to Devin Castle, 20 minutes by bus from town. So that's where we spent most of the time today. Very easy to get there and is actually really worth visiting. It's what Napoleon's Army left of a fortified settlement almost 7000 years old. The location is stunning, where the rivers Danube and Moldava meet, the castle was built on top of the high rocks. Before entering the actual site we had a walk around, along the river and the few houses around the castle. The loveliest old lady I've ever seen in my life, waved at us and sent us a kiss from behind a gate.
Now in the evening we're back at the hostel after shopping at Tesco! Last night Michael introduced me to the world of backgammon so I guess tonight we'll give it another go, and following we have the last episode of the 5th series of The Sopranos we just can't wait to watch! Tomorrow early morning we're off to Poland, so we look at a pretty chilled out night.

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Photos

Bratislava
green facade

Bratislava
Old Town building

Bratislava
Danube River

Vi
What a girl!

Bratislava
behind Michael's Gate

Bratislava
Old Town main square

Bratislava
Boat on Danube River

Comments

[Bruno]

Good
Happy to read you guys. Keep posting.