Bratislava #4: Museum of Jewish Culture and Sweet Treats

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My final day in Bratislava. First things first, I had to eat up all my food that I had left in the hostel kitchen. I ate far too much bread and hummus, but that’s never a bad thing in my opinion. I had a enough plan for how I wanted to spend my last day in Bratislava, so I made my way to the former Jewish district to visit the Museum of Jewish Culture. The museum cost 7 euros to enter and if you wanted to take pictures, you had to pay extra so I didn't bother. After buying my ticket at the office I made my way across the small courtyard to the museum's entrance and up to the first floor, where the exhibitions began. The first floor of the museum was really interesting as there were lots of different artefacts on display. There were also lots of detailed explanations so that you could find out more about Jewish culture and traditions. It was great to see the things donated by people, knowing that people used them in their day to day life makes it more interesting. I really enjoyed learning more about Jewish culture and I also liked the artwork on the walls that depicted the Jewish District in better times. The second floor was a more sober experience. It displayed the eviction of the Jews from Bratislava and the rest of Slovakia to the concentration and death camps of the Nazi regime. It was really harrowing to see the names of the rabbis from throughout Slovakia, who had perished. There was more beautiful artwork on this floor, too. Also, the museum was really quite, I had passed some people leaving as I entered and I had the museum all to myself.

I was really thirsty after coming out of the museum, so I headed off to find a drink. I ended up in Starbucks, not very original, but I wanted a nice cold drink, so got a mango frappe there. I think I must have been the only person drinking an iced drink in there on a cold winter's day but it was good and I got to make use of the free wifi for a bit, too. Afterwards, I went for a walk, I'd been thinking about going across the bridge to the observation deck on the UFO Tower, but the bridge looked like it was shut off for pedestrians. I should have used the free wifi in Starbucks to google it, c'est la vie. I ended up going for a walk along the river instead. I enjoyed my walk although it wasn't the longest. It would be nice to re-do it in the summer. The winter seemed to attract some rather sketchy looking people the river's path. I passed more statues and pretty buildings. I really liked the statue of Socha Ľudovíta Štúra, not that I knew what it was at the time. However, a google search afterwards informed me that he was the leader of the 19th century Slovak national revival and the author of the Slovak language standard.



I was starting to feel peckish, so decided to try one of the many cafes for coffee and cake. I went to one that was on the main square, Hlavné námestie, which was called Schokocafe Maximilan. The place was dead when I went in. There were a few cakes on display at the counter, so I ordered a slice of the chocolate and cherry one as it looked particularly good. I was then told to take a seat and the waitress brought me a coffee menu. I was going to have just a normal coffee, but the alcoholic ones caught my eye, so I opted for one with some kind of cream liqueur. The cake was really delicious and while I enjoyed the coffee, I prefer just a regular black coffee as it is hotter, the liqueur cools it down too much for my liking. The style of the cafe was really old school and I felt like it had been there for years, so I was shocked to see on the menu that it had only been there since the 1980s or 1990s. My table near the window gave me great views of the square and I did some people watching while eating. Since the sky had cleared up a bit, I decided to head up to the castle and watch the sunset. The walk up the hill would do me some good. The sunset, while not amazing, was still very pretty. Parts of the sky turned a lovely shade of pink. I also liked the view down over the river and to the UFO Bridge.

It was dinner time, I wasn’t too hungry after my cake, but knowing that I had a late flight and that there would be limited options at the airport at Bratislava and also the one in Edinburgh, I knew I had to have something decent. I probably should have had a traditional Slovakian dish for my final meal in the country, but I still really wanted to try the Mexican place and since it was pretty close, I headed there. It was pretty quiet when I got there, only one other group in there. The menu had loads of delicious sounding things on it, but since I wasn’t too hungry I opted for a Chorizo Burrito. I hadn’t had a burrito in what felt like forever and this one certainly hit the spot. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards, it was time to waddle back to my hostel, where I had a coffee to pass the time before heading to the airport.

I headed to the bus stop that was only a few minutes walk away. I bought the 90 cent ticket from the machine, as that's what the receptionist at the hostel had told me to get. I think I should have bought a higher priced one though as I was going through several zones. The system seems a little complex if you're not used to it. I just sat there praying that no ticket inspectors would do a surprise inspection. The bus journey took about 20-25 minutes. Bratislava airport is pretty tiny, without many seats in the departure area. My time in Central and Eastern Europe was up. I had thoroughly enjoyed my trip. I loved how quiet pretty much everywhere was, the lack of tourist hordes made for a relaxing trip.

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Photos

Cherry and Chocolate Cake
Schokocafe Maximilian