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Published: July 30th 2012
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We did not get a chance to finish up all we wanted to do yesterday in Vienna so we went out this morning to visit the old town nice and early. We saw the Cathedral, we saw some old buildings and we did some shopping. I was not as impressed with the old town of Vienna as I have been with some previous ones, Sydney felt the same way. Perhaps we have seen so many old towns in the last few weeks that they are all strating to look the same. IN any case Vienna is a cool city to visit and we had a blast yesterday.
Our assessment of Vienna
Kyle 8/10 - Love the people, love the palace, love the zoo, however food and shopping are pricey.
Syd 8/10 - The best part was the world famous zoo and the Schubrun Palace
This is the part of the trip that gets a little bit strange. I planned this trip months ago, including hotels, etc. I am sure you can imagine how much work it takes to book a different hotel everynight in a different city. It is also very difficult to change things once they
are booked because if you stay in a place longer every other place that was booked after will have to be changed as well. This is a problem we faced today, in a small regard, it will be much worse tomorrow. We have a hotel booked and paid for in Bratislava. We need to be in Bratislava or we lose the money for the hotel and will have to pay for another hotel wherever it is we stay. The problem..... we are not allowed to bring our rental car into Slovakia, which I was not aware of before we left. My friends in Austria suggested that this is not the safest country in the world and the rental companies are not interested in taking on the risk of this country. In any case, we cant drive our car to Slovakia. We thus parked our car in a garage in Vienna and took the 1 hour train into Bratislava. This really was not a problem at all. It was a 14 Euro ticket and a very pleasent ride. Tomorrow however will be hell day or we will have to cancel going to one of my most anticipated stops on the trip.
I will let you know how that goes tomorrow.
Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia with about 450,000 people. The city seems much smaller than that because mose people live in high rise apartments, I believe from the cold war era. You can see an area of the city that is nothing but identical 10 story highrise apartments. Ther must be about 30 of them. Today they are all painted different colors but it appears that they were all a cement drab gray when built. This seems to be a legecy of the economical communist system. These buildings must house a lot of people so you essentially get half a million people in a pretty small space. Bratislava is just really starting to become a tourist destination. It is no where near as busy as other European destinations, even compared to reletively quiet Austria. It is so leisurely and quiet here. I do have to say that I really enjoy it very much.
We visited the old town where we say old churches, buildings, and of course a little bit of shopping. Bratislava is also starting to get a name for themselves in the area of massage
therapy. So Sydney and I decided that we would have a bit of a spa afternoon. We went to a place that one of my travel book recommended and it was pretty good. Syd had a 45 minute facial and head treatment, while I enjoyed an hour long body massage. As I sit in the hotel though, I can still smell the massage oil on my skin. It is really not the most pleasent of smells to have on your skin while you are trying to sleep. I essentially smell like butter chicken or samosas or some other Indian food. I have howered 3 times and just cant get the smell off. It was not a terrible smell at the time but now it is getting to me. 😊 Listen to me, "boo hoo, my massage was not good enough" I clearly am getting spoiled in Europe.
One thing about Bratislava is that you are going to find some deals here. A one hour massage and a 45 minute facial treatment I am sure would have cost $150 or more in Canada, here is was only $65. The groceries and liquor are also very cheap here. We
purchased what would have easily been $25 dollars of food for dinner at home and we only paid $8 here. Jars of olives were 69 cents, container of cream cheese 79 cents, it is so cheap. Large cans of beer started at 39 cents and went to about 99 cents. Beers and highballs in the street cafes and bars are about 1 euro and Sydney and I both enjoyed ice cream cones for 60 cents. The economy here is growing at one of the fastest rates in the European Union, which usually means it was not doing well to begin with. I am glad to see that things are starting to look up for this city. It is a beautiful town with quite a bit to do and the people are very friendly.
We finished the day off with a visit to the castle. The castle is not well explained. I am sure that on the tour buses you get a lot of information and such, but we walked there and could not find much about what was going on there. To be honest there really wasnt much going on there. I mean all castles are cool. They had
old fortress walls so that makes it cool already, but as far as castles go, this one is a bit down the list. What you do get from the castle is the best views of the gorgeous city. Castles are usually built on high ground and as such the views were fantastic. That alone was worth the fairly strenuous walk up the hill.
Lunch was super fantastic today. We both ordered traditional Slovak meals. I had cabbage and sausage soup and pyrogies. The did not call them pyrogies here they call them something else, but that is what they were. And I have to say they are the best pyrogies I have ever had, and I have had them all. Super great. Syd had some potato cake wrapped around goat cheese and chicken. it was also pretty good but not as good as mine. Hers came with a traditional chicken soup which was also excellent. The cafe food is a bit cheaper here than in other European cities, but not the bargain that other things are. If you find yourself in Bratislava on a budget, stick to the liquor and grocery stores.
After the castle we came home.
The Canadian government has warnings about being out at night in Bratislava. They recommend travel here, but apparently pickpocketing and mugging are common at night in the tourist areas. This seems strange to me as this really is one of the nicest cities I have been to. However, desperate people do desperate things and we felt it best to follow the warnings. Do not however let it stop you from oming to this great city.
Our assessment of the city
Kyle 8.5/10 "A bit out of the way but well worth a day or two, especially for the inexpensive shopping. Anyone for butter chicken?"
Sydney - She is sleeping so she does not have a response.
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Mellisa Turner
non-member comment
Slovakia is one of the lesser known nations of Europe. It has always remained in the shadow of the more illustrious nations like England, Scotland, Italy, France etc. But like most of the other European nations, Slovakia is also an outstanding nation in every respect. It is also full of great tourist spots and has its own unique culture and rich history.