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Published: October 21st 2012
By Train to Bratislava
Off we go on another trip, another adventure. We are glad you have decided to join us on a trip away from Prague to Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. As usual we chose travel by train since it is the most comfortable, most enjoyable form of travel for us. We reserved two second class tickets for Saturday morning, October 13th with a return reservation for Monday afternoon. The train pulled out of the Prague station on time. This was not surprising as in all the train travel we have made in the last seven years only one has been late. Though it was a Saturday morning the train had very few empty seats. The train was uncomfortably warm for a short time before the air conditioning got going full speech as the train had been sitting in the morning sun before pulling into the station to pick us up. It was a beautiful sunny day. The air temperature outside was cool, but pleasantly cool.
Over the years we have been impressed with the care that Czech farmers give to their fields. In every season the fields are beautifully cared for. Now, in
mid-October the fields had been prepared for the winter. All, except the sugar beet fields that have not been harvested yet, had been plowed, harrowed and made ready. Some were a beautiful green as the winter wheat was up. Others lay fallow. the changing rural scenes are so lovely and how we wish that Bill's dad, a soil conservation agent from the 1930's until his retirement, could see the amazing way agriculture is practiced in this country which physically so closely resembles the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where he worked. He would be very pleased.
We always find pleasure in seeing the villages, invariably with a church on a high spot. We always feast our eyes on the older buildings and houses. Many are still well maintained and others, sadly, are in need of maintenance. In every village and town where devestation struck long ago there is a "plague memorial". The terrible Black Death plague left a deep and lasting memory. The memorials are not always visible from the train, but we know there are there, somewhere in the village, town, or city.
Arrival in Bratislava We arrived
Water Witching
And indeed he found water. in Bratislava on time, about 1:40 pm . We knew, because we had our Google map in hand, that it was about a mile from the train station to the hotel we had reserved, the Hotel Michalská Brána. As I said earlier it was a beautiful, sunny day and this made the idea of walking to the hotel appealing. We felt we needed the exercise and our carryon suitcases are easy to roll along behind us. After all we had sat for four hours on the train. Also walking gave us a chance to see the city close up in ways that are impossible when riding on a bus or tram. We would never have seen the man water witching if we had been on a bus or tram. Again, with our map in our hands we set off. Following the directions was not difficult and ... yes you can feel surprised ... we did not get lost. We were quite suprised on our way to see the temperature was 23C which is in the low 70'sF. Can you imagine that in mid-October?
The hotel is located in Bratislava's Old Town district. In fact its foundations are part of
the old medieval defensive wall and is only a few steps away from Michael's Gate . Originally there were four gates through the wall into the city. Sadly Michael's Gate is the only one still standing. It was through this gate that we entered Old Town Bratislava. We missed our street as we did not know it was immediately to the right of the gate and is the narrowest street in the town. With the help of a waiter we retraced our steps back up the hill, found the street and the hotel. We walked down the old cobble stone lane and entered a most pleasant small hotel of 12 guest rooms. It has a beautiful outdoor courtyard for summer and fall dining, a small reception area and a very nice dining area where breakfast is served. Our room was perhaps the most cleverly designed hotel room we have ever experienced. Every inch was put to good use and we wish we could copy the exact dimensions of the room for our future retirement living. The storage spaces, the bathroom and the sleeping area were all absolutely perfect. Once we had checked in and stowed our suitcases in our room we headed out to explore the city.
We will add additional entries on our time in Bratislava in the coming days.
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Dianne Bangham
non-member comment
Your hotel room
Please take a picture of you well appointed room. Looking forward to your next installment!