30 | July | 2024 | The Cannon Family's travel blog

One of the entertaining parts of this type of travel is adjusting to different environments on a regular basis. Our flat in Bratislava is lovely: large, airy (and air-conditioned!) with a full kitchen and a king size bed. And the bed is different. I can’t quite put my finger on it but something is odd. Not the squishy foam pillows – those I know are odd. But it apparently will take a day or so to adjust so we can’t say we are as well rested as we would like.

Nevertheless, we have places to go today! Another step away from traveler and towards tourist: we have signed up for a tour of the city focusing on the recent history of the city. The schtick for this tour is the vehicles involved: communist era Ladas and Škodas. Very fun! A simple yoghurt and fruit breakfast and we were off to learn stuff.

This kind of tour works for me: the tour guide and us. That’s it. No umbrellas or headsets. We met Maroš and his 1991 Škoda Favorit by SNP square – a space commemorating the Slovak resistance movement during WWII. We got a great overview of the city’s history and the multiple regime and border changes that have occurred over the last 100 years or so. We heard family stories and tales of national pride. All very interesting. But then it was time to move.

Frank was tickled by the car – a type he used to work on back in the day – and I was reminded of my youth with the old car smell, window cranks and lack of power anything. We made various stops around the city and saw how Bratislava is a mix of various architectures from different time periods. Late Baroque buildings stand next to brutalist communist blocks. We saw remnants of life under fascism and monuments to the Soviet triumph over that regime. We learned about Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, and all the combinations of countries that the city had been part of and the various names it had.

We stopped for Slovak snacks – including a GF wafer bar – and local beverages. Frank had Kofola, the best selling “cola” in the area and one created during the communist era to be a replacement for Coke. Can’t have those Western soft drinks corrupting good communist minds now can we? 🙂 I had the other national soft drink: Vinea which is made with either red or white grapes. Kinda like a non-alcoholic wine. How appropriate!

We even made a stop at the upscale grocery store – think Slovak Whole Foods or Waitrose – for cake and coffee. (Yes, this would be another day with cake for lunch!) Luckily, Maroš’s sister is a regional manager so we had coupons for freebies. They had the most amazing selection of fresh GF sourdough so purchases were made!

I have to say that most amazing part of the tour was the trip to the “iron curtain”. We drove along a road that is the border with Austria and saw where the barbed wire fences and border posts were placed to keep people from escaping the communist country. There’s a small section of fence displayed as a makeshift memorial but some of the pictures from that era are haunting. There’s also a bunker built in the WWII era that Hitler visited. Hard to think we stood on the same place as the madman.

Recent history overview completed, we found ourselves in a part of town that had street art!!!! So a small detour to check out a few murals before we headed back to the main square of the old town to plan the rest of the afternoon. This required refreshment so I finally caved and had the European holiday required drink: an Aperol spritz. I don’t mind them but I’m not as big a fan as sooooo many other folks are. We have regularly seen trays of glasses cleared from cafe tables in mid-afternoon. Nice but not my favorite. Frank declared his local unfiltered lager to have been just the ticket. Our plan was hatched: quick stop at the flat to trop off some purchases and then on to the main Bratislava attactration – the Castle!

While at the flat, we devoured the sourdough rolls with local cheese (scrumptious!) and then made the 5 minute walk to the castle gates. I confess we were a bit jaded going in because we had learned from Maros that the castle had been a burned-out shell for about 150 years after a fire in 1811 and it was rebuilt during the communist era. Hence his reference to it as a “fake castle” but we wanted to judge for ourselves. The castle grounds are free but the building houses the Slovak national museum so we paid our entrance fee and went to see what else we could learn.

It turned out to be a great complement to the morning activities as many of the exhibits were ancient history. And I mean ancient: bronze and iron age on up to the Austro-Hungarian rule. (That bad-ass empress Maria Theresa appears again.) There was an exhibit on the origins of the Slovak double cross as well as an art exhibit of a Serbian artist and a special exhibit about heroes of the resistance. I have to say one of the interesting things was seeing how the communist restoration decided to depict the Baroque style. Nothing like what the actual Baroque details and guilding we have seen looked like but not a bad guess I suppose. All in all, a good Slovak history day.

We wandered through the gardens back to the old town where we found a lovely place on a side street where we could enjoy dinner and watch the world go by. Frank had what is considered by many to be the Slovak national dish: Bryndzové halušky is potato spaetzle or gnocchi topped with sheep’s milk cheese (which is what we had on our rolls) and bacon which went well with his local dunkel. I had chicken smothered in butter and paprika with roast potatoes accompanied by a local rose. An excellent end to an excellent day.

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