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Published: August 24th 2013
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Handsome Ignatius
Ignatius was a Bratislava resident known for strolling the Old Town. Perpetually smiling, he in fact went crazy after his fiancee was killed in a concentration camp during World War II. About an hour's train journey from Vienna we arrive in the capital city of the Slovak Republic. The train station is run down and needs renovation and modernization. We walk to our hotel which is a short walk from the station. The historical old town is about a 15 minute walk and not arduous but dangerous if you don't look down to watch the footpath. The footpaths have been patched and therefore they are not level and the cobblestones in the old town are uneven and some have been removed. I actually twisted by ankle walking into the old town. Fortunately I was ok the next day. The city is small with a population of only about half a million. The city has some interesting buildings, some have been restored, others are waiting! The old town lends itself to a slow exploratory wander. There are many many restaurants, bars and cafes in the small area which constitutes the old town. We found the statues that are scattered around the squares and the streets, quirky and great for photos. There are many groups of tourists being shown around by their guides. Many from Viking Cruises. We had a couple of nice meals
Cumil - the peeper
Čumil, the man sticking his head out of a gutter on the corner of Panská and Rybárska. Čumil is, according to city leaders, "just a normal guy who likes to look up the skirts of young ladies". here and also some interesting beer snacks. The latter included crispy pork skin lard and sheep's cheese stuffed peppers. The signature dish here is called Bryndzove which are small potato dumplings (like gnocchi) with a sheep's cheese sauce and bacon pieces sprinkled over. Also potato pancakes are very typical of Slovak cuisine. My favourite dish here consisted of a caramelised pear with a round of sheep's cheese. I've also had some really good quality white wines here. Bratislava offers good wines and whilst there are quite a few good microbreweries, beer does not dominate like in Czech Republic.
We walked up to the castle on top of a hill. The castle was originally built as a frontier post for the Roman Empire. Since then there have been many versions as a result of the wishes of the ruler, fashions in architecture, and the inevitable fire. The fire occurred in 1811 and it took until 1956-68 when it was built to its present format. I felt the best aspect of the castle was the views from it. It overlooks the Danube and you can see the spire of St. Martins Cathedral which is famous because it was the coronation church
Water diviner
Štefánikova Street to Hungarian kings between 1563-1830. You can also see 4 out of the 5 bridges that cross the Danube. The closest being the "New Bridge" which was built between 1967 and 1972 during the Communist era. It has a round restaurant on top of it which is likened to a UFO. The worst part about this bridge is that the old Jewish quarter had to be demolished to build it. Many items from the synagogue from this area are displayed in the Jewish Community Museum in another synagogue (in Heydukova Street). This latter was built in 1923-1926 and is the only synagogue in Bratislava now. It is only open to the public on Friday afternoons and I went along to have a look. It is a very interesting design and example of interwar architecture. Many cubist aspects. The bimah is in the centre and is made of back metal as are the hanging chandeliers. There is a strong smell of old wood from the pews. Some paintings which were taken from Jewish families during the war are displayed upstairs. Many objects from the old Jewish quarter are displayed behind glass showcases. It was very interesting and did not have the
holocaust experience dominating the exhibition. This I was told was intentional as the Jewish community wished to focus on the positive aspects of their history.
Also from the Castle one can see rows upon rows of block style multi story apartment blocks on the other side of the Danube - this area is called Petržalka and some 150,000 people, one-third of the Bratislava population, live here in crammed conditions. These blocks of flats are known as
"paneláky" (paneláky comes from the word 'panel' and signifies the buildings' construction: large slabs of concrete stacked together in a manner similar to that of a house of dominoes). Formerly a vast green meadow with farms, Petržalka was built up after World War II by the Communist regime which shipped in thousands of villagers from around the country to work in the newly industrialized capital city. Before Communism fell in 1989, Petržalka was surrounded by barbed wire and lookout towers where soldiers with machine-guns prevented locals from escaping to the West; according to the Slovak Justice Ministry, 300 Slovaks were shot dead from 1945 till 1989 trying to escape to Austria. At the time, it also had Slovakia's highest rates of suicide and drug abuse. I gather that is why the "New Bridge" was built because that bridge leads to Petržalka.
There are still some monuments and buildings that look like they were erected in the communist era. This weekend there will be commemorations of the events of August 21-22 1968 when Warsaw Pact troops (lead by the Soviet Union) invaded Czechoslavakia - 72 Czechs and Slovaks were killed (19 of those in Slovakia).
The present Prime Minister of Slovak Republic is Robert Fico - Social Democracy Party (democratic left party). He has been involved in political scandals involving the raising of undeclared election funds. He has had a volatile relationship with the media calling them "idiots, pricks, hyenas" at times. His administration has an uneasy relationship with the very right wing government of Viktor Orban in Hungary. In April 2012 his party was the first party since 1993 (when Slovak Republic was declared) to win an absolute majority of seats.
The Czechs and the Slovaks have a friendly rivalry I believe. They can understand each other, however the Czechs feel they are somewhat superior than the Slovaks and the latter feel the
Czechs are too full of their own importance because of their closer relationship with the West. The Slovaks use a lot of goat's cheese and sheep's cheese in their cuisine and that suits me fine because I miss good fetta and the taste is similar. The Hungarian and Slovak cuisine is so much more interesting than the German, Austrian and Czech cuisine. More vegetables, salads and fruit are seen on the menus - much healthier as well.
We are heading back to Austria tomorrow, specifically to a town on the Danube called Krems.
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