We rolled across the Austrian border into Slovakia after dark on Wednesday evening. The Austrian highways that we experienced were in excellent condition and the fact that they only used the left two lanes to pass (including the large trucks!) greatly facilitated the flow. Now that sure would make the trips to and from the Colorado mountains more pleasurable.
It is only a mile from the Austria/Slovakia border until you hit Bratislava, a city of about a half million residents that straddles the Danube. As you know, this part of the world has a complicated history with Slovakia only being an independent state since 1993. Bratislava, formerly known as Pressburg, has been everything from the capital of Hungary to being part of Czechoslovakia beginning with its creation after World War I. Now with Slovakia an independent state, Bratislava is its capital.
Bratislava’s Old Town is pedestrian friendly and full of shops, restaurants and some fun street art. Our hotel, Marrol’s Boutique Hotel, sits on the edge of Old Town so our access to historical sites has been very convenient. Fortunately, English is not uncommon here among the younger crowd. So the rule seems to be that we are fine in the shops and restaurants where young people work and unable to communicate with the older ladies manning the castle and museums.
In fact, the young man working the Suveniry shop at the castle asked us where we were from. Konnie says the United States. He asks what state. She says Colorado. He says, “so you are blue.” Our lingo permeates the world.
We spent Thursday (our second day with sun out of 13 days) visiting St. Martin’s Cathedral, the site of the coronation of eleven Hungarian kings and eight queens dating to 1563 followed by Bratislava Castle, which sits on a large hill overlooking the Danube. In addition we visited the Jesuit Church, built in 1636 for the Protestants, and the City Museum that is located in the Old Town Hall that was created beginning in the 15th century. And we spent some time enjoying cappuccinos in a lovely chocolate shop (Cokoladovna Bon Bon) in Old Town. Small coffee shops here are much more common here than they were in Vienna or Salzburg where we saw none.
We finished the day with dinner at Ristorante Kogo that is on the same garden and fountain plaza (Hviezdoslavovo Plaza) as our first night dining experience at the Slovakian restaurant Zylinder.
