Our train ride there went very smoothly. It only costs about $22 for a round trip ticket, so I thought that was pretty great. We got into Bratislava at 10:00, struggled a bit with the change to the Euro and finding out which bus takes us to the center… but figured it out! We then headed to the Bratislava Castle, with my Frommers as our guide, and joined some Asian tourists with the picture taking. It was a big castle… but very modern as far as castles go. We learned on the free tour we took that it burned down because of an Italian dinner, so it was rebuilt and is now being renovated. That’s kind of the case with a lot of places in Bratislava… they were very unlucky and then had to be rebuilt, but the Slovaks always pick themselves up and move forward.
After walking around the castle and seeing an exhibit of goldsmith work we made our way to the center of the Old Town. It was really cute, with lots of cafes and restaurants, and little shops. We all got kebab (because it is cheap and SO good in Europe) to eat and walked around to find where we would meet for the free tour we had planned to take. The tour was really fantastic! Our guide was a student and she had excellent English. She took us to the main sights of the city and gave us enough history for us to know what Bratislava is all about, but not too much to bore us. Some basic background on Slovakia for those of you who don’t know much… Slovakia became an independent nation only recently in 1994 after being apart of Czechoslovakia. They had been their own nation in the past, but always seemed to be controlled by some outside force – like the Soviet Union or the Austro Hungarian Empire. Their succession from Czechoslovakia was very peaceful because they had always felt they were their own country, and they had always done things very peacefully. Like the Czech Republic, they had a very smooth fall of communism with a peaceful, “velvet” revolution. Basically Slovakia seemed to always get a dose of bad luck, but Slovaks are optimistic and very proud of their country.
We were finished with the tour around 3:00 pm so we decided to find a grocery store, and then a café to sit in for a while. We wanted to go to the grocery store so we could buy some fantastic Slovakian beer a friend of ours gave us… The beer in this region is really fantastic! And, best of all, it is incredibly cheap! In Bratislava the beers we bought, which were each ½ liter, only cost 0.70 Euros! In the Czech Republic, it is about 13 crowns with the deposit included. That makes each beer (bought in a supermarket) less than one US dollar! Oh man, I’m going to miss that… Anyway, we bought our beer and found a nice café to relax in for a while and then found our way back to the main train station.
If you have seen the movie Eurotrip (or watched the link to a clip I posted on Facebook) you will remember the really depressing, dirty, and poor way Bratislava is represented. The old town and much of what we saw today proves that representation wrong, but the main train station is definitely a bit depressing. It is very dark and quite dirty, and all you can see around it are the remnants of their communist past. The train ride from Bratislava to Břeclov was also very interesting… There were so many people that crammed onto the train we had to stand in the walkway for our hour ride. It definitely wasn’t pleasant and made me nervous, but all the people around us didn’t seem bothered by it at all and just settled in. We weren’t sure exactly where we needed to change trains to get back to Olomouc, but luckily a Czech girl spoke English and helped us to get off at the right spot. We arrived in Olomouc just before 9:00 pm, and were back in the dorms about a half hour later.
One day in Bratislava was definitely enough, and it was a really great trip. The weather was cold and windy, but the sunshine definitely made up for it. I’m really glad I was able to go there, and with such an eclectic and fun group. Now I can say I have been to Slovakia, and I have made some really great friends! It was definitely a great weekend. This week is my first full week of school because the three courses I haven’t had yet will finally be starting. I am also going to try out a Czech Culture class tomorrow that is taught by an American man. I’m pretty excited about having my full class load and getting really into my classes… I’m a bit behind as far as European history, so a lot is going over my head right now. I think I will be able to catch up quickly, though. So, here’s to a good week at school!
Sounds to me as if you are learning about European history very quickly... you always have been a sponge for knowledge! Can't wait for the next post!
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