Big-ups to Bratislava
I was due to present a paper at a conference in Vienna. As the conference was right after the Easter break, the flights directly to Vienna were stupidly expensive. Which meant that in order to get there affordably, I had to take a flight a couple of days earlier to Bratislava. The chance to check out Slovakia as well! Bonus!
Got to the airport on Good Friday - it was quite quiet. Things weren't going so well for the staff either. Over the loadspeaker we heard "RyanAir is pleased to announce the boarding of flight ...." blank. Then again. Then again. And again. The guy kept stopping and restarting when about to say the flight name/number. Then about the fifth time, he booms over the airport "RyanAir is pleased to announce the boarding of flight ...... OHHHH SSSHHIIITTTT!!". The whole airport starts laughing.
Despite the airport being empty, the flight is full. I spent the flight talking to an engineer from Slovakia working in the UK. He gave me good tips for the airport, such as making sure to get coins from the airport staff so that you can buy a bus ticket. The flight got in late, so I checked in and walked around town for a short while. The old-town of the city is really nice, pedestrian only, lots of nice buildings - and at night basically just full of tourists. I heard much Spanish in the streets, as well as American accents. I didn't stay out long - instead retreating 'home' to refine my presentation a little, and rest up for a big day.
I basically had an entire Sat - day + night, to check out the city. Bratislava is nice, but kinda small (from a tourist perspective). Lotsa nice buildings and street scenes in the old town, and even some work by Plecnic:)
I saw some random stuff in the morning. One thing was a string of police cars & officers standing around with batons in hand etc (in front of Tesco!). Lots of people screaming and wailing at each other. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be some sort of argument (war?) between two, well-dressed, families. People were screaming in each other's faces, with a big crowd watching to see what happened. The older female figures of each family were causing the problems. So many police for such a little thing! Nothing like a bit of morning entertainment... They were also filming a beer commercial in town, apparently picking people out of the crowd to join in. I worked out that I was too late by about 10 mins :( Which was a shame as they had hundreds of beers ready for consumption. God damn beer is well priced in Slovakia - one beer I like to buy costs 1.50(quid) in the Supermarket here, but around 15p in Slovakian supermarkets. BOOOO.
So around midday I met up with Suzy from Hospitality Club - who basically runs the Slovak hospitality club scene, constantly hosting people, organising meetings, etc, and we walked around the town, and up the hill to Bratislava Castle - which overlooks the city. Hmmm a castle on-top over-looking old-town - sound familiar? Some interesting architecture, like really old buildings with modern architecture like the UFO bridge. Back in town, we found this tower with people on top, and I wanted to go up - but we asked in shops, etc, and nobody knew how. Eventually we found the entrance and went up to get in. Suzy was talking in Slovakian whilst giving students cards, etc. Then the lady blurts out, quite slowly "plleeassee give me coins". She then laughs really hard, and kept repeating it. Then she wrote down the word "ISIC" (thinking that was the word for student card) so she could go home and practice her English. It was so funny cos she kept saying it over and over and over. Whilst cackling like a crazy person.
Hungry, we went to Slovak Pub. Which is probably the BEST touristy pub/restaurant I've ever been to. Each room is decorated differently to represent a different part of Slovakia's history. Was awesome. Good beer too. I asked for something traditional, so Suzy recommended some dumplings in a cream sauce with bacon. It was fine - kinda like pasta; but apparently it's "peasants food" hahah. Interesting, though not sure I'd order it again. Actually I got to try tons of traditional food. We went to one Slovak restaurant which was full, so they recommended another one. This one was really fancy. And funny. Tons of ppl working there, for not that many customers. One waiter commented that I had nice hair (in Slovak.. errrr. no discount either...). Anyway, the place was decorated really nicely/traditionally (I guess). Then these musicians came out, blasting their violins etc behind my head. Only tourists go to this place, so all these old Italians in the restaurant start singing along. Funny stuff. Got to try this soup served in hollowed out bread, and this massive plate of meat and other stuff. God damn I couldn't walk after. Such a random random place to have Slovak music being played right behind our heads. The waitstaff were characters also. Haha many laughs.
Apparently most of the (good) nightlife happens outside of the main city (i.e. away from the tourists), but the buses finish around midnight, with taxis being unbelievably expensive (compared to everything else which is really cheap). All the things going on in old town are for tourists, and because Slovakia is relatively cheap, apparently some tourists have a bad rep (I was told to make sure I say I'm Australian, not living in England) because of going there for stag nights. There are lots of cool bars, restaurants, etc - very cosmo. Not sure if that's the influenced by the tourists or the EU generally.
I had fun in Bratislava, it was nice to visit - but really a day or two (if you go out + need to recover) is more than enough to do the tourist thing. I was lucky to have an awesome guide, but still it is the kinda place you could quickly explore on your own.
Pictures here
Got to the airport on Good Friday - it was quite quiet. Things weren't going so well for the staff either. Over the loadspeaker we heard "RyanAir is pleased to announce the boarding of flight ...." blank. Then again. Then again. And again. The guy kept stopping and restarting when about to say the flight name/number. Then about the fifth time, he booms over the airport "RyanAir is pleased to announce the boarding of flight ...... OHHHH SSSHHIIITTTT!!". The whole airport starts laughing.
Despite the airport being empty, the flight is full. I spent the flight talking to an engineer from Slovakia working in the UK. He gave me good tips for the airport, such as making sure to get coins from the airport staff so that you can buy a bus ticket. The flight got in late, so I checked in and walked around town for a short while. The old-town of the city is really nice, pedestrian only, lots of nice buildings - and at night basically just full of tourists. I heard much Spanish in the streets, as well as American accents. I didn't stay out long - instead retreating 'home' to refine my presentation a little, and rest up for a big day.
I basically had an entire Sat - day + night, to check out the city. Bratislava is nice, but kinda small (from a tourist perspective). Lotsa nice buildings and street scenes in the old town, and even some work by Plecnic:)
 Crowd Control |  I deserved to be in this ad |
I saw some random stuff in the morning. One thing was a string of police cars & officers standing around with batons in hand etc (in front of Tesco!). Lots of people screaming and wailing at each other. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be some sort of argument (war?) between two, well-dressed, families. People were screaming in each other's faces, with a big crowd watching to see what happened. The older female figures of each family were causing the problems. So many police for such a little thing! Nothing like a bit of morning entertainment... They were also filming a beer commercial in town, apparently picking people out of the crowd to join in. I worked out that I was too late by about 10 mins :( Which was a shame as they had hundreds of beers ready for consumption. God damn beer is well priced in Slovakia - one beer I like to buy costs 1.50(quid) in the Supermarket here, but around 15p in Slovakian supermarkets. BOOOO.
So around midday I met up with Suzy from Hospitality Club - who basically runs the Slovak hospitality club scene, constantly hosting people, organising meetings, etc, and we walked around the town, and up the hill to Bratislava Castle - which overlooks the city. Hmmm a castle on-top over-looking old-town - sound familiar? Some interesting architecture, like really old buildings with modern architecture like the UFO bridge. Back in town, we found this tower with people on top, and I wanted to go up - but we asked in shops, etc, and nobody knew how. Eventually we found the entrance and went up to get in. Suzy was talking in Slovakian whilst giving students cards, etc. Then the lady blurts out, quite slowly "plleeassee give me coins". She then laughs really hard, and kept repeating it. Then she wrote down the word "ISIC" (thinking that was the word for student card) so she could go home and practice her English. It was so funny cos she kept saying it over and over and over. Whilst cackling like a crazy person.
-774244.JPG) Castle |  UFO Bridge |
Hungry, we went to Slovak Pub. Which is probably the BEST touristy pub/restaurant I've ever been to. Each room is decorated differently to represent a different part of Slovakia's history. Was awesome. Good beer too. I asked for something traditional, so Suzy recommended some dumplings in a cream sauce with bacon. It was fine - kinda like pasta; but apparently it's "peasants food" hahah. Interesting, though not sure I'd order it again. Actually I got to try tons of traditional food. We went to one Slovak restaurant which was full, so they recommended another one. This one was really fancy. And funny. Tons of ppl working there, for not that many customers. One waiter commented that I had nice hair (in Slovak.. errrr. no discount either...). Anyway, the place was decorated really nicely/traditionally (I guess). Then these musicians came out, blasting their violins etc behind my head. Only tourists go to this place, so all these old Italians in the restaurant start singing along. Funny stuff. Got to try this soup served in hollowed out bread, and this massive plate of meat and other stuff. God damn I couldn't walk after. Such a random random place to have Slovak music being played right behind our heads. The waitstaff were characters also. Haha many laughs.
 Suzy checkin out Slovak Pub |  Enjoying my peasants food |
Apparently most of the (good) nightlife happens outside of the main city (i.e. away from the tourists), but the buses finish around midnight, with taxis being unbelievably expensive (compared to everything else which is really cheap). All the things going on in old town are for tourists, and because Slovakia is relatively cheap, apparently some tourists have a bad rep (I was told to make sure I say I'm Australian, not living in England) because of going there for stag nights. There are lots of cool bars, restaurants, etc - very cosmo. Not sure if that's the influenced by the tourists or the EU generally.
I had fun in Bratislava, it was nice to visit - but really a day or two (if you go out + need to recover) is more than enough to do the tourist thing. I was lucky to have an awesome guide, but still it is the kinda place you could quickly explore on your own.
Pictures here
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home