2022 World Tour – Bratislava, Slovakia
Hello from Bratislava, my 32nd stop on the trip and my 61st country.
Below is the standard summary:
– Cool Ranch Doritos: No
– Thai ATM Card Works: Didn’t try
– Thai Debit Card Works: Yes
– Thai Internet Purchase Works: Yes
– USA Credit Card Works: Didn’t try
– Worldwide Telephone/Data/SMS eSIM Works: Yes
– Spanish SIM Card Works: Didn’t try
– Magic Jack Works: Didn’t try
– VPN Works: Didn’t try
– COVID Compliance Chronicles: No Requirements
– Internet Works: Yes
– Drone Flights: Didn’t check
– Cost of Living: $$
– Currency: Euro ⬠1.00 = USD $1.00
– Language Issues: None
Your Short History Lesson:
Humans of some form have been in the area for 270,000 years. Historical records of Celts, Romans and Huns are found, with Slavs arriving in the 5th century. Samo’s Empire, the Principality of Nitra, the Principality of Moravia and Great Moravia all followed and wow, I had never heard of any of these names. In the 10th century the region was pulled into Hungary. The Mongols rolled through in 1241-2 and destroyed everything, followed by a slow recovery for centuries with the help of the King of Hungary. After World War I, Czechoslovakia was formed, then controlled by the Germans during World War II. In 1948 a coup by communists held until an attempted liberalization in 1968 which was crushed by the Warsaw Pact. The Velvet Revolution in 1989 ended Communist rule and Slovakia separated to form an independent country in 1993. It’s a member of the EU, Schengen and NATO. Quoting Wikipedia “Slovakia is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy, ranking very high in the Human Development Index. It also performs favourably in measurements of civil liberties, press freedom, internet freedom, democratic governance, and peacefulness.”
OK, I have to confess that my whole reason to go to Bratislava was the “Eurotrip” movie. I may have mentioned it before, it’s a hilarious teen travel romp and all of the hijinks they get up to along the way. It must be a cult classic because the band was playing the main song “Scotty Doesn’t Know” at one of the bars I went to in Key West on my Tesla trip. I quote from it all the time. Here’s the scene that introduces us to Bratislava. Please go watch it now and come back.
Anyway, I knew to expect far better from modern-day Bratislava, I’m sure they’re getting The Sopranos on TV now. And everything costs way more than a nickel.
I had to check out of my wonderful loft apartment in Budapest hours before the bus, so I did a massage for an hour then took the tram to the bus station. It’s under major renovation, no shops are open and there’s a temporary ticket office way at the far end. It turns out the bus ticket I bought yesterday is actually a train, due to a minor language barrier between me and the ticket lady. I walked to the ticket office to confirm and he said that due to rail construction today it’s a train, then bus, then a train to get to Bratislava. Well, OK, we’ll see how that works out. I’m getting a bad Eurotrip vibe… Hopefully no “Mi scusi!” issues in the tunnels. Go watch the whole movie, trust me.
The first train was modern with two levels and power outlets. I had a block of 4 seats to myself – luxury! We went about half an hour and rolled to a stop. An announcement said to get off so we walked across the tracks to a long line of busses – they’ve got the detour working like clockwork. I got on and stood in the aisle of the packed bus for 20 minutes as we went around the train line construction until we came to another train station. We got off and then piled onto a sad 1970s-era train and continued on. At some point my phone said my mobile provider changed to “O2 SK” and a text message saying “SLOVAKIA Always connect with SIM2Fly”. That’s how you do it, cross borders at 150kph! Total time on the second train was 2.5 hours to arrive in Bratislava.
My hotel is big and good quality with two grumpy guys working check-in. The room is small with a single bed but a good shower, desk and TV. After a rest I walked down to the Old Town. A typical few blocks of wide cobblestone paths with restaurants and shops. There are some cute sculptures scattered around and some Roman ruins have been unearthed. Seems like the local food is meat, meat and more meat. Although some buildings and parks are pleasing to the eye, the overall the impression I get from the city is “grey.” Nothing like dilapidated Soviet architecture.
The next morning I hunted for currency exchange places but there are seemingly very few here. I finally found one in the basement of a shopping center with a decent exchange rate. I bought a 24 hour transport ticket, got on a tram and went towards the old town and searched for sports bars. I found the Dublin Irish Pub, which had some mixed reviews, and had a delicious Kilkenny and a chicken burger during the Formula 1 Hungary Qualifying session. Sadly I was unable to hear the commentary due to the horrible music that they kept turning up and a table of six loud drunk Germans shouting and playing cards. I’ll watch the race on my laptop tomorrow as I now concur with the reviews. In the evening I got on the #42 (!) bus but of course going the wrong way! Got out, back on the other way and then got off at a riverside shopping mall only to find it was closed. I walked around the building to the river, turned right and walked the riverbank back into the old town area, enjoying the illuminated bridges along the way.
The next day I walked uphill to the castle, with a nice view of the river and old town. The hill has been inhabited since the Stone Age, with the first written records from the 8th century. I came back home and the rest of the day was video editing for the drone train flights.
I somehow realized I get free breakfast so I headed down the next morning and found they have a pancake machine and real 100% Canadian maple syrup, yay! Oh I could have had this every morning, boo!
Is it worth a visit? Well, as the capital and largest city of the country it’s a natural stop along the way from somewhere to somewhere else. It has a quaint old town with bars and restaurants and a castle on the hill overlooking the Daube river. I was very happy to see that it’s far, far better than what Eurotrip shows. No soup for you!
Next Stop: Prague, Czech Republic
