The first day is always the fairly boring travel day. And this trip was no exception. We were lucky enough to have a reasonable flight out of Aberdeen too Madrid through Amsterdam. And of course since the reason for the trip initially was business, I got to fly business class. So to be the nice spouse, we got Frank business class too.
The flights were fine. Between business class food and lounge access, we did nothing but eat from the UK to spain. Attach it to the hotel in madrid, settling in, and then exploring the city for a little while on our first travel day was about all we could manage. We found a tapas place that served nothing but gluten-free food which was lovely and called it an early night.
Day two was the main reason for the trip: a presentation to the governing council of the Bank of Spain to discuss the report that I had helped to create as an expert external reviewer on their data management practices. This meant I had to drag a suit with me on vacation; even though it was linen it was very hot to be wearing in Madrid. The presentation went very well and the whole team celebrated with a lovely lunch that lasted until about 5:00 p.m.
Then it was time to adopt the Spanish tradition of siesta and take a nice nap before venturing back out for tapas and wine with one of the bank staff that I had worked so closely with. We wandered back to the hotel at 1:00 a.m. the work part was done; now it was time for the holiday.
Not much exciting data for the first few days. Temperature ranged from 22 overnight to 37 during the day. Frank clocked the most steps wandering around the city while I was working. More fun stuff to follow when we get to the holiday part.
Here’s a few pics from the interior of the bank. Their art collection is insane and the architecture is stunning.
Okay team – this is a test post to prepare for the upcoming road trip to Northern Spain. Watch this space for more fun and games (and lots of bad Spanish!) 🙂
The end of marking coursework is always a time to celebrate and this year we decided to do it in style. We booked a “cheap” trip to Gdansk on Wizz Air – a budget Hungarian airline – and a hotel in the old town. Why Gdansk? Because we could fly there directly from Aberdeen for next to nothing and it purportedly has one of the best Christmas markets in Europe. Add the 37th anniversary of our first date and it was a done deal.
We arrived early Saturday evening after an uneventful and on-time flight. Like all budget airlines, this was no frills and no space but for a two hour flight, it was fine. It was quite cold with a light snow falling when we landed and after checking into the hotel, we wandered the few blocks to the Długi Targ to find something to eat. The entire vibe was pretty magical: lights everywhere, snowflakes falling, people out and about enjoying themselves. We had a lovely meal – sitting outside for part of it! – and then wandered around near the hotel for a bit. Then off to bed for the weary travelers.
The next day was “walk around outside” day. The weather forecast was for sunshine with increasing wind on Sunday and a pretty miserable and rainy monday. So we laced up our boots and set off to walk around the city. It is a very pretty place, partly by design. Gdansk (or then Danzig) was a critical sight in WWII and was heavily bombed in 1945, destroying around 90% of the old city. Some parts were rebuilt in the prewar style of the 16-17th century. So we wandered around for about 25K steps. Part of that was a visit to the Christmas market. It is huge! Lots of mulled wine (yum!) and food stalls and tchotchkes and crafts and amber. LOTS of amber. There is even a museum for it here. Apparently Gdansk is the centre for Baltic amber.
So we shopped and sipped and ate for most of the day, including a visit to a gluten free bakery. More yum! Eventually it was time for a real meal so we headed out to Goldwasser, a fancy place on the river. We had an amazing dinner, complete with some very good Polish wine (who knew?) and dessert that involved champagne and 23K gold leaf. More wandering to help digest all 3 courses and then off to bed.
Given the weather forecast, we decided that Monday should be museum day. There is a WWII museum in Gdansk that we were really looking forward to visiting. Except that we didn’t realize it is closed on Mondays. So is the Maritime museum that we wanted to visit. (NOTE: this is where my desire to plan things beats Frank’s sponteneity whims. Harumph!) Luckily the Gdansk Museums were not only open on a Monday but are also free! So we visited 5 branches of the city museum and learned about architecture, Polish royalty, the role of trades in early European government, how amber is formed and mined, and the fight for the Gdansk post office that was part of the spark starting WWII. All in all, an excellent learning experience. We managed more gluten free baked goods as well before heading back to the hotel to play in the hot tub and sauna. Ahhhhhhh.
I now truly despise weather forecasters because the rain never materialised and we could have made Monday the main walking and market day instead. It was much less crowded and we did end up buying some presents for folks and enjoying more gluhwein before dinner. The restaurant of choice for this eveneing was Chleb i Wino which had the strangest vibe. The decor was pretty over the top (purple neon lights in the ceiling!), dry ice was used to create smoke in wine buckets and appetiser plates, and a bubble gun created amazing looking cocktails. So weird and fun. A little more walking after dinner and it was time to call it an evening. And so ended our second full day in Gdansk.
And today was the sad travel home day. Everything went smoothly – which for Ryanair is no small feat! We are exhasted but fulfilled and now are home with our adorable puppy who had a lovely time with Sally-the-dogsitter. A few parting thoughts:
No more July travel. Climate change has made it impossible for cold weather peeps like us to enjoy going even slightly south. And there are too many people. And everything is underconstruction. We’ve had lots of reasons for choosing this time of year in the past but they are now trumped by heat, horrible humans, and scaffolding.
A fortnight is just a tad too long. We went a bit out of our comfort zone this time. Our usual trip is about 10 days: 3 place, 3 days each. This seems to be enough to be settled but not enough to be bored (travel ADD is real). We tried 4 places with 3 or 4 days each this time and were really ready to go home a day earlier than we did.
We like smaller cities. Vienna and Budapest were lovely and each had it’s charms but they also came with big city problems: homelessness, petty crime, etc. We really loved both Prague and Bratislava which probably have similar issues but we didn’t encounter them.
Slovakians weren’t interested in the Olympics. During our entire time in Bratislava we did not see a single Olympic event broadcast. Not on local TV or in bars or restaurants. Strange.
Vienna trusts people more than Budapest. Both public transport systems are honour based: there are no gates or scanners or turnstiles to access the metro, busses, or trams. But in Vienna we NEVER saw a single ticket inspector. Not one. In Budapest, we were asked for our tickets at least 50% of the time.
There is a lot still to explore. This was a city-based trip and we got a tast for different places and cultures and learned 3 new ways to say thank you! But at some point we’ll need to go outside our comfort zone and visit places that don’t really cater to tourists. Which means they won’t speak English as much. Which means we need to get off our duffs and learn other languages. But not Hungarian. I don’t know how anyone learns Hungarian as a second language. 🙂
Today is our last full day of holiday and TBH, it’s an extra day. We’ve done everything that we really wanted to do and seen pretty much everything that we wanted to see. It feels like it would be a good day to go home but that is actually tomorrow’s plan so we’ll need to think of something.
And the first thing we think of is sleeping late. Well late for us which is actually about 8.30. We made a ginourmous omelette with most of the remaining eggs and Slovak cheese. Then we decided to try visiting a real “local” market, one that doesn’t cater to tourists. A short bus ride took us to Lehel Market which had the same basic setup as the Central Market (food on the ground floor, other stuff upstairs). In this market there were no signs in English, massive stands of paprika, or Hungarian handicrafts. Just fruit, veg, meat, and clothing, shoes, and knock off designer bags. And lots of people doing their weekly shopping. And drinking beer. There was an inordinate number of people at the beer vendors for 10.30 in the morning!
Our “real” Budapest experience complete, we thought we might consider some of the “nice if we have time” options since we obviously had time. So back to the Buda side of the river for a stop at the National Gallery for some culture. You could definitely tell it was a weekend because the crowds were three times thicker around the castle than the last time we were there. AND there was a queue to get into the art museum. Seriously? Okay, fine. We know how to queue. And so we spent the next 90 minutes or so wandering the various galleries and seeing Hungarian depictions of medieval life, expressions of post-modern despair, and a couple of paintings by famous people we had heard of. To show you what art connoisseurs we are, our favorite work was one done entirely in Legos!
We opted for a repeat Spanish lunch – tapas and white sangria this time – before heading to the flat to do the bulk of our packing. We may also have consumed most of a package of chocolate wafers and an entire bottle of fizzy Slovakian rosé. Oops. We caught up on some of the Olympics by prowling around YouTube and I got to watch the women’s 8 rowing final. I can’t even dream of being that good.
Then it was time for our swan song. We have spent 14 days on a road trip along the Danube and tonight we would take one of the ubiquitous river cruises to complete the trip and say goodbye to Budapest. I had chosen a 19.30 sailing to try to see a good sunset and avoid the heat. Neither ended up being relevant. The weather was glorious and “cool” – around 25 degrees but people were putting on jackets and jumpers anyway! And while we know that the sun set, the view wasn’t that amazing. Still we had some lousy local wine and popcorn and counted all the women on board for hen parties (there were at least 3 “bride to be” sashes spotted).
At last it was done but we still needed something to eat and pizza sounded like just the ticket. We wandered to a dedicated GF pizza place I had found but there were only open for take out. Boo. There was another one much closer to our flat but it would take forever to get there by public transport (and our 72 hour passes had expired) so we opted for the obvious choice: Hungarian Uber! In 8 minutes flat we were seated at an outdoor table, the last ones to be seated and only allowed to order pizza because it was too close to closing time. I had the most amazing chicken and broccoli pizza with a crust that was to die for. Frank declared his mushroom and prosciutto pizza delicious even by gluten eating standards. A ten minute walk brought us back to our Hungarian home for the last time.
We knew the weather today was not meant to be great. First there were the thunderstorm warnings which morphed into just plain rain. So we decided to stick to the Pest side of the river and see if we could avoid the worst of whatever Mother Nature decided to throw at us. We also needed to start working our way through the food we have left so we really needed to have egg and cheese sandwiches even if it isn’t Monday. Once refreshed and refueled, we made our way out for the day.
First stop involves some history: St Stephen’s Basilica which happens to be right near where we are staying. Unlike the Mattias Church we visited yesterday which was built in the 13th century, this neoclassical behemoth is barely a hundred years old. The church was designed from the start to be a tribute to King St Stephen, the founder of the Hungarian kingdom, and it even has a reliquary with his 1000+ year old hand. (Ugh) Nevertheless, it’s sheer size is impressive so we took our time ambling (another new walking speed we are learning!) about before heading up to see the treasury and the tower. The treasury isn’t much to write about unless you like over-the-top embroidered chasibles and lots of silver stuff. The tower, on the other hand, has incredible views of the entire city, both the Buda and Pest sides. It seems to me that most of the appeal for various attractions on either side of the river is the view of the other side of the river!
It was time to change gears from clerical to commercial so we wandered down one of the main shopping streets to the Central Market. Like Pike’s Place market in Seattle but the fish is replaced with Paprika! A large, two story building that was stuffed to the rafters with stands selling everything… But mostly paprika. Our cooking guide Marti told us that the first floor was all food stuffs and was meant for the locals. The second flour has all the Hungarian tchotchkes for the tourists. We had a wonderful time comparing paprika prices (and scoring some to cook with at home) before heading upstairs to see what touristy things we might absolutely need to take home.
We did find a hand carved, hand painted wooden Santa figure that will add to our growing collection of Santas that we display at Christmas. They were everywhere but we found one that met our (mostly monetary) requirements. And of course the vendors only take cash… So we had to break our ‘no local cash’ rule and take money out of the ATM. Now overly flush with Hungarian florints, we made our purchase and escaped the increasing heat in the market.
But our planned conspicuous consumption was not yet done! We had one more quest to fulfill: record stores! We have already successfully scored some great vinyl in previous stops so we thought we’d see what Budapest might be able to offer. Google indicated 3 well reviewed shops so we wandered about and hit all of them. 🙂 We were quite successful in one, scoring Pretenders, J. Geils, and Billy Joel. We may have now reached maximum vinyl that can safely be transported home so it’s a good thing we are nearly done with our trip!
The promised rain had started to make itself known so it was time to get our purchases back to the flat. One quick stop at the all GF bakery to purchase some filled croissants for lunch (cheese, ham, and sausage) and we had a lovely international indoor picnic as the rain began: Slovak beer for Frank, Czech beer for me, and the Hungarian (GF) interpretation of a French pastry. Aren’t we global?
As we are pretty much churched out, we decided to make good use of our transport passes and see the various monuments dotted around the city. As the rain slowly moved out, the sun started peeking through and the temperatures (and humidity) began to climb. We were hoping that enough of the public transport options would have AC to make this plan work well. First stop, the Millennium Monument in Hero’s Square. We hopped on the M1 underground line to go just a few short stops and were immediately disappointed by the open window in the carriages and distinct lack of cool air. Hopefully, the monument will be worth the extra sweat. Described as iconic for its statures of ancient chieftains and Hungarian leaders, it is also the home of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Unfortunately for us, it just looked like another construction project with scaffolding everywhere. I’m sure it is normally quite moving, but unfortunately not today.
It was time to head to the river for another moving monument: Shoes on the Danube. We hopped on a bus and a tram to get to the riverside monument. These are iron versions of shoes that would have been worn by Jews in 1944 and 1945 as they were lined up on the bank and shot by the fascist Hungarian Red Arrow Party. There are candles and flowers and ribbons that adorn the various footwear and it is sad to be reminded of such a dark period in human history.
To get regrounded, we walked along the river a bit further and admired the famous parliament building. Touring this impressive structure is said to be a highlight of any trip to Budapest but alas it would not be for us. Such things require advance planning and we had done none. Still the building is impressive even from the outside. Another tram took us back to our neighbourhood where we found a lovely wine bar to have a drink and a snack before dinner. We learned about orange wine which is what you get when you leave the white grape skins in contact with the juice – similar to how it works with rosé. And then it was off to the evening meal – a completely GF restaurant recommended by Marti, our Coeliac cooking instructor. I wish I could rave about the food but it was just okay. I love going to places where I can eat anything on the menu without lots of discussion and negotiation. But I also like interesting dishes and these really weren’t those. Another exhausting day in the books, it was time to head back to relax with some Olympic fencing (not our choice) and ice cream.
Data for today:
Steps: 24,601
Public transport experienced: 6 (two busses, 3 trams, 1 metro)
Total vinyl haul so far: 7 discs (one is a double album)
Our first full day in Budapest! We decided to start with the Buda side of the city and explore the royal palace. It was a yogurt and granola breakfast day then we set out into the bright sunshine and heat to explore. A short bus ride across the Danube dropped us at the bottom of the castle hill, at a completely different side of the castle than we saw yesterday. A series of stairs and lifts brought us out in the middle of a building that seemed to be half offices and half museum. Odd but informative.
The display there outlined the 1000+ years of history for the castle from King Steven (now Saint King Steven) through the Mongol raids, the Ottoman occupation, and the incredible destruction in both world wars. It was my kind of museum exhibit: 2-3 sentences of information that was right to the point and supported by a visual aid (map, sketch, photograph, etc.) Best of all was the fact that we had the entire place to ourselves.
With this modicum of knowledge, we started to wander the grounds. The main thing that the palace seems to be known for is the sweeping views from the hill across the Danube. And they are spectacular. It just seems odd that the most famous building in Buda is all about the view of Pest. Out along the castle walls we found the hoards of tourists with their selfie sticks (I didn’t even know they were still a thing!) so it was time for a little more learning.
We bought tickets for St Stephen’s Hall, traditionally one of the most important rooms in the palace and recently refurbished. It was a pretty impressive display of Baroque-inspired idolatry with the saint and his retinue captured in goal leaf. (Aside: there was a holographic rendering of what historians now believe Stephen looked like and it reminded me of Graham Chapman in Monty Python and the Holy Grail!)
More interesting for us was the exhibit on the history of the city which laid out all the major changes that both Buda and Pest (and others) had been through in the last 1000 years. Similar to the castle history outline, this exhibit went through the settlement and migration patterns of the inhabitants of the city at the various eras of history. And there is a lot of information about the destruction of the city that accompanied the regime changes. Frank noted that Budapest seemed to blow up more often than a Spinal Tap drummer (aren’t we just full of pop culture references today!) This exhibit had much more information on the city’s changes post-WWII under the communist regime. It was interesting to compare that to what we learned in Bratislava.
Another interesting display was on the reconstruction plans that the castle is in the midst of. Whilst walking about the grounds, you can’t help but notice that everything is under construction. It is quite annoying to try to get some historical zen on when there are jackhammers going all around you. But we learned there is method in the madness and the work is part of a massive plan to reconstruct the palace and surrounding buildings from the war damage and neglect of the last half century. Pretty ambitious to be fair.
Wandering through all the construction was a bit of a challenge but we managed to get to the other main building of interest: the Matthias Church. Classical gothic architecture outside, amazing almost Moorish decor inside. It reminded me of some of the churches we visited in Spain several years ago. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some influence from the 150 years of Turkish occupation in the decor. So no stained glass here but it definitely wasn’t necessary.
After a full morning wandering, the sun was taking its toll so it was time to say goodbye to Buda and return to Pest. We carried our Spanish memories to lunch where we found a lovely cafe with paella, sangria, and misting fans! Then more wandering around this side of the city before we needed a respite from the heat and headed back to the flat to hydrate and soak up some AC.
The real attraction of the day was yet to come: a Hungarian cooking class! We would be learning how to make cold sour cherry soup, chicken paprikash and Grundel pancakes. Marti – our instructor – was amazing, and coincidentally also Coeliac so GF was not a problem. We were joined by a young couple from Perth, Australia who had other food issues so we definitely covered a great deal of the allergy spectrum!
But the experience was amazing and the food spectacular! As we chopped onions and peppers, we learned about Hungarian cooking traditions, the different types of paprika, and other interesting culinary tidbits. We flipped pancakes and melted chocolate. And made homemade spaetzle! The sour cherry soup was delicious and the chicken paprikash simply amazing. The Grundel pancakes were like crepes filled with a walnut and raisin cream then fried before being smothered in dark chocolate sauce. We got to taste palinka (sour cherry brandy) and both red and white Hungarian wines. We had fantastic conversations with our new cooking friends. By the end of the evening we practically needed to roll down the street to get home.
Today is our last transition day: Slovakia to Hungary. It would be a pretty short drive – around 2 hours – so we were in no real hurry. Breakfast, shower, pack, leave around 10.00. (We’re getting pretty good at this!) In fact, we remembered to purchase our Hungarian road tax as we crossed the border. Yay internet!
We decided to make a quick stop along the way so we could see something of Hungary besides Budapest. About halfway there is the regional capital of Györ which seemed to fit the bill. We found a parking spot right along the water of a branch of the Danube (“bastard branch” according to a translation of the Hungarian Wikipedia page!) and headed for the tallest building in town: the Basilica. Not much stained glass here but a beautiful Baroque interior. Then it was a chance to wander around the old town. We love the rabbit warrens of old cities – mostly pedestrian walkways with shops and cafes and other interesting things.
It was already hot with clear blue skies and a brutal sun. No clouds for respite today. But the intrepid travelers mosied on (we found a new walking speed on this trip!) and found a completely gluten free bakery! So I got to start my Hungarian adventure with a local treat: Lángos. Fried bread covered with sour cream and cheese. So yummy! A little more wandering to burn off some of the carbs and then it was time to hit the big city: Budapest!
More Googling reminded us that the city is actually two parts: Buda and Pest. Together they are the 9th largest city in the EU and second largest on the Danube; Vienna is the largest. We’re staying on the Pest side in what turns out to be a very Jewish neighborhood – a giant synagogue is down the street and many orthodox outfits to be seen on the street. But that isn’t the fun part: Frank got to navigate yet another old city with narrow streets and angry drivers. Our AirBnb has garage space but apparently it isn’t in the same location as the flat. So we met our host at the garage and took the CAR ELEVATOR up one floor to our parking spot. (So many new things!) The flat is right around the corner in a very old building but the apartment itself has been completely redone with new furniture, appliances, and AC. (Yay!)
After getting the groceries put away and settling in, it was time to see the city. We purchased 3 day transport passes – no way we’re taking the car out while we are here! And headed out to see some sights. At 31C, it was pretty hot with all the concrete and marble around us so we took frequent stops – like our brief sojourn at the Beer Brothers brewpub where I had a yummy GF IPA named Gummy Octopus and Frank had an IPA called Liquid Cocaine (!). Then to the bus stop that would take us over the river to Castle Hill. We would be visiting things properly tomorrow so this was really just a reconnaissance visit. We did some more strolling then decided to grab a different bus back to Pest and find some dinner.
A local restaurant across the street from the flat had been recommended by our host so we decided to try that. I had latkes (yup, Jewish neighborhood) and Frank had goose. Goose! There were several goose dishes on the menu, something we don’t generally see in the UK. A bottle of Hungarian rosé and dinner was complete. Thus refreshed, we explored our neighborhood and discovered entire alleyways of bars and restaurants at our doorstep. We also found great street art in the surrounding area so we declared the transition day to be a success.
Data for today:
Steps: 14,989
Countries license plates: 14 (added TR but didn’t see LT, GB, or F)
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!)
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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