Category Archives: Slovakia

Today would be our last full day in Slovakia so we decided that we would embrace the intrepid traveler moniker and venture out into the countryside.  Full disclosure: we were in search of wine.  🙂

Another warm and sunny day dawned and we thought we would put our stupidly expensive rental car to use and head out to the Small Carpathian mountain region where our internet research said that there were lots of wineries.  As we have visited wineries in many states in the US and countries all over the world, this seemed like an obvious way to learn more about the country.  After our typical Monday breakfast of fried egg and cheese sandwiches (yes, I know we are a day off!), we started our trek with a stop at the Yeme grocery store that we learned about yesterday.  More delicious gluten free bread and other picnic supplies meant we were ready for one of our favourite activities:  winery picnic.

So we started out of the city towards the town of Modra on route 502 which one website we saw referred to as the Slovak wine road.  It highly recommended hiring a car to make the drive as the landscape was spectacular.  Well I don’t know what the author’s experience was but for us, there was nothing spectacular at all about the drive.  The “picturesque villages” we passed through looked like commuter towns for Bratislava.  Grocery stores, car dealerships, bus stops.  Typical town stuff but honestly nothing special.  Same with the landscape.  It reminded me of driving in Southern California: hills with patches of green but mostly brown and dry looking.

But the scenery was secondary to our quest.  We could see vineyards on the surrounding hills but there didn’t seem to be any buildings there or roads to get to them.  Yet all around us there were signs that seemed to indicate that a winery was close by.  Flummoxed, we continued our drive waiting to find something that looked like a winery.  And at last we found one!  A big building with wine barrels outside and lots of flags advertising the winery. Now we were in the game.

Except we weren’t.  We stopped into the shop to see about doing a tasting and were confronted with a small, older woman who apparently spoke no English at all.  Any translation I could do into Slovak would be unsuccessful due to my inability to pronounce things correctly.  And she just stared at us as if we were aliens.  I surmised that international wine tourism had not yet arrived in Slovakia.  We made our retreat and then spent a few minutes searching to see where we might find another winery.  According to Google maps, they were everywhere around us.  A bit more driving led us to realise that they were actually in houses or other small buildings in neighbourhoods.  A valuable lesson learned.  We assumed that anywhere that made wine would cater to people who wanted to experience the wine and not just buy a bottle.  That model has not yet made it to this region.  So we decided to cut our losses and head back to the city for an urban picnic instead.

Along the way we made a short detour to Devin Castle – another supposedly “not to be missed” sight here.  It is a ruin at the top of a hill and costs €8 to visit.  We decided to pass:  we have lots of castle ruins in Scotland, many very close to our house.  We didn’t need to schlep up a hill in the heat to see a Slovak ruin. Instead we sat on our balcony enjoying an excellent bottle of €4 Slovak wine with a baguette slathered in local sheep cheese.  Throw in some tomatoes for colour and it was a lovely lunch. 

Then it was time to finish touring the old town and see some more churches. First, a few shops for necessities and a new shirt for Frank.  A visit to St. Martin’s cathedral was high on the list and was a lovely stop.  This was the first Catholic church where they imposed a dress code – no bare shoulders.  We saw one of the church staff providing drapes for several tourists that didn’t quite believe that the rules applied to them.  Then to the big draw for the day:  the Blue Church.

We had already toured one of the two blue Catholic churches when visiting Dürstein so we needed to complete the set and visit this one as well.  Google insisted it was open from 17.30-18.30 so we waited with about a dozen other travelers to see the inside.  The clock struck the half hour…. And nothing happened. The front doors were open but with metal gates across the entry saying: the church is closed. Grrrr. Stupid Google.

Another plan gone astray (gang aft agley), we opted for an excellent dinner at a place that had many GF options for me.  Tonight there would be no chicken. I finally had SCHNITZEL!  Weiner schnitzel to be precise.  I don’t think I’ve had any since before I was diagnosed.  It was delicious – and HUGE.  Complemented with Slovak potato salad (lots of onions) and an excellent local wine – probably from a winery we drove by. A final stroll along the river past all the river cruise ships and it was time to call it a day.

Data for today:

• Steps: 17,417
• Time in the car looking for wine: 2 hours
• Bottles of wine purchased: 2 (in the grocery store!)
• River cruise ships docked: 6

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.

Data for today: 

• Steps: 18,892
• Soviet-related spots viewed: 4
• Languages overhead from fellow travellers: 6ish
• Languages we could identify: 4