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Published: August 5th 2009
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DAY112
Today we are traveling by train to Bratislava, Slovakia. The ride was about 3 hours. Not a long ride and we arrive by midday. In the train station we talk with the information women but not any real help with accommodations and then there are some young women at a hostel information booth and we talk with them about the several hostel here in town. The one that we preferred did not have a twin share, so we hop the tram and travel into the old town to the information office there. Here we are lucky because the gentleman is very helpful and we soon find a place that has what we need. Mainly Wi-Fi and a room here in the Old Part of Town. It comes at a hefty price of 90e for the night. It's a clean place with a pretty good location but by no means a 3 star hotel. The staff is friendly and that is a plus.
We get settled in the room and go exploring, Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia. The Danube River runs through the middle of the city and the Small Carpathian Hills surround it.
The
main attraction is the castle that sits on top of the hill, however it is under total renovations. It has been inhabited as far back as the Celtic and Great Moravian times (7th c). It has gone through large reconstruction in the Gothic and Renaissance period and also during the reign of Marie Theresa and currently once again undergoing major changes. It currently houses the Slovak National Museum.
St. Martin's Cathedral is a 15th c Gothic Church in which 11 Hungarian kings were crowned between 1563-1830. There is a replica of a crown that weighs 300kg. On top of the 85 m tower.
St. Nickolas - a small very quaint Greek Orthodox Church was discovered as we walked down the hill from the castle. It is nestled in the midst of other buildings and difficult to see the door because of the amount of dense overgrowth of bushes and vines. There were 2 young men in the church cleaning the candle wax from the various candle trays. The church appeared to be very old and in poor repair inside and out. This is a church not found in any of the tour information pamphlets.
City Curiosities are
found throughout the city our favorite is the Rubberneck - it is a statue sticking out of a manhole. He has lost his head twice because of careless drivers but has been replace each time.
Schone Naci - is fashioned after a real man who was considered an eccentric dandy who always dressed in a top hat and tails who lived in the beginning of the 20th c. He would be seen strolling the streets giving flowers to passing ladies and sometimes singing a pre-war musical hit.
Taunter - is a statue of a man peeking around the corner with a camera. It is said to be making fun of a nearby landowner who would spy on people through a small oriel window.
As we walk the streets we do a little needed shopping for essentials. To our delight we run into the Slovak Pub that Angie has said she wanted to eat dinner at. We weren't even looking for it, but she had read that they had traditional Slovak foods. The place appeared to be rather small but it was divided into 11 rooms with each dedicated to a certain period in Slovakian history. Neither
of us was very hungry but decided to eat now before going back to the hotel and it was already past 6:00.
Angie ordered stuffed chicken schnitzel that was absolutely delicious. It was a flattened chicken breast stuffed with ham, cheese, sweet red peppers and corn, served with shredded green and purple cabbage.
Fran ordered bacon and dumplings. Which were very small pieces of noddles in a cream sauce with bits of bacon garnish.
On the way back to the hotel, Angie bought one tiny scoop(the size was not by choice only by design) of green apple ice cream. Yummy!
Back in the room we shower and settle in to do some research for the next day and to blog. We don't go to sleep until after 1:30am. And the alarm is set for 7:00AM.
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