In the middle of the night I had a dream – I remember that I was climbing a ladder, not sure where or why. I awoke to Kuniko pushing me away – apparently I was trying to climb her like a ladder. I think for both of us it was a hell of a way to wake up!
We arrived at breakfast ready to challenge to sparkling wine, with the option to make it a mimosa if the wine was terrible. But actually it was not bad. The rest of the breakfast was good too – especially those homemade yogurts.
We checked out of the hotel and rolled the suitcase to the nearest Metro station, and it was an easy ride a couple of stations to today’s departure train station: Budapest – Nyugati. The subway system was so efficient that we arrived quite a bit early for our train to Bratislava, and so we sat on a bench and watched them clean and prep the train. Once they began boarding they loaded up someone in a wheelchair using a very manual system of a platform with a wheel to raise it to the level of the train floor. As soon as they were boarded people rushed to get on.
We had a reservation for our seats – it was required when we booked the rail pass for this leg of the journey. The train was pretty crowded, though. Across from us was (maybe) a German couple – two big people who were friendly but quiet. Behind them was a young American couple who boasted to their Korean seat neighbors that they had been traveling for five weeks through Europe. We couldn’t hear any responses from the Korean couple but that didn’t seem to stop the Americans from explaining all the details of their trip. Kind of like what I am doing right now in this journal.
As we traveled along towards Bratislava an older American woman sitting across the aisle from us was taking her first train trip (ever, apparently). She was trying to figure everything out and was verbalizing everything that she was thinking about to whoever happened to be around. She wasn’t sure where she should sit, how the tickets worked, she tried to use American dollars to buy water. This had us and the German couple across from us trying to stifle our giggles as we overheard it.
An unfortunate German lady sitting across from her made the mistake of using English and so she kind of had to adopt the American woman. The poor lady had to answer questions like, “Is this a non-stop train?”, “Is there a restroom nearby?”, “When do we arrive?”, and my favorite: “What state are we in now?”
Luckily she had a reservation for her seat when the train conductor came by, but unfortunately she didn’t print it out – she claimed that this was the first she had heard that it was necessary to print, but every single other passenger had managed it. She had an email, and the conductor insisted that without a print she would have to pay for ticket (again). But at some point the conductor must have decided to cut his losses, and he managed to scan the ticket from her email and move on.
The older lady drifted off to sleep now and then, thereby depriving us of her amusing comments.
Across from us the big German couple set out some beverages that they had brought on board: a Red Bull and a bottle of apple juice. I was surprised when the big guy took the apple juice to drink. I was even more surprised when his wife drank the Red Bull and then settled in with a blanket to go to sleep. Maybe energy drinks work differently in Europe.
We got off in Bratislava while most of the other passengers were continuing on to Prague. Once we got off the train we tried to follow the signs to the exit but surprisingly for an EU country everything was in the local language. We took a few guesses and found the right way but throughout the city we rarely saw English around – I thought that was unusual.
Our hotel was nearby so we walked over but the staff was loudly telling all arriving customers that they wouldn’t open check-in until 3 pm. He was steering people towards either the bar or the luggage storage closet. We chose the closet and decided to go look around while we had the free time.
There were bathrooms down the stairs on the basement level, and so we went down to use them. The decorations were unique, with classic rock playing in the background and a strange sink that sprayed water at your general direction when activated. Kuniko and I were laughing together about getting wet from the sink as we left the toilet and the hotel staff looked at us strangely – rarely are the toilets so amusing.
The first thing we discovered in Bratislava was that it is not easy for pedestrians to get around. Cars and streetcars had priority, and we often had to calculate carefully how to cross streets or get somewhere. Sometimes there were two or three crossing lights for pedestrians, even for just one street. Cars came from both directions and also from turns so you really had to keep your head on a swivel.
This was our first time in the country and the city of Bratislava was much like other European cities. The buildings were old an beautifully decorated with dramatic facades. The scale of the streets and city blocks was bigger than other cities, more like something you’d see in Moscow or Minsk.
As we walked we took pictures and followed our map and eventually found our way to the historic Old Town district. We saw Michael’s Gate, and looked for a cafe to hide from the sun and get some food. We took a side street and found a place called “The Hidden Cafe” – so we sat down and started checking out the menus. One was in Slovakian and one in English, so we could figure out what we wanted easily enough.
The server came up and we did a double take as she was a dead ringer for Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones. Well, almost – she was wearing super tight shorts and a lot of makeup – kind of like a sexy Sansa. So Kuniko pointed at the area of the menu with the glass wine and said she’d like one white wine, but the problem was she had the Slovakian menu and it was the correct location but the opposite side of the paper, so she was pointing at what was in fact onion rings, and asking Sansa for white wine.
After some consultations we were able to communicate our true order with Sansa and we had a good lunch. All the wines we tried were great in Slovakia, and we also had a plate of different dumplings: sour cabbage dumplings, cheese dumplings (with crispy bacon pieces that were phenomenal) and some pierogies. Also we had an oil-marinated wheel of Camembert. All of this was much cheaper than anything we had had so far on this trip – Slovakia is an affordable destination.
Sitting on the street eating we had lots of people walking by, checking out our food or being amused while I took pictures of our meals. Sansa was always there to refill our wine glasses, and the other staff were really nice as well.
We did a little shopping for a keychain, and then found a supermarket nearby called Billa. It is a chain similar to Spar, but we were surprised how low the prices were. There was even a skinned and shrink-wrapped rabbit for sale for just 6 euros. Wow!
Back at our hotel it was still before 3 pm so a big line formed of people waiting to get their rooms. We went to the bar instead, and had some local beers and sparkling wine, and Kuniko also had a lemonade from a special menu that initially confused the staff as perhaps nobody had ever ordered it before. It turned out to be not that great – oops.
Finally the line started moving through the check-in process and we timed it so that we could get our room. We went up to the third floor and Kuniko had gotten a “premium” room – it was really nice. Lots of red, a free mini-bar, a semi-transparent toilet area, and a giant painting of Marilyn Monroe. Wow!
As soon as we settled into the room outside there was a big boom and we were surprised to see a big thunderstorm come through. The timing couldn’t have been better for us – we were dry and comfortable, so it was a good chance to take a nap and start getting hungry for dinner.
Closer to the dinner hour we went back out, navigating in a different direction to see new stuff and look for the Blue Church, one of our primary sightseeing targets. Kuniko led us via Google Maps (which seemed to be pretty ineffective in this country) through some interesting areas – it seemed safe but slightly depressed. There was a lot of graffiti and some “sex shops” but everyone was friendly and there weren’t too many homeless or people loitering around suspiciously.
It took a while to find but at last we found the Blue Church in a normal sort of neighborhood. The scale of it was a little smaller than we expected, but it was still beautiful and unique – maybe the only time we’ve visited a church that was quite blue.
From there we walked along the Danube river back towards the Old Town. I was really liking the vibe of Bratislava. The pace felt slower than other places we’ve been on this trip, and combined with the cooler temperatures (thanks to the rain) it felt really comfortable.
Out on the river super long river ships were passing. Some seemed like ferries that would go long distance, others for eating/entertaining cruises. We saw the UFO at the top of the major bridge – it was pretty unique but we didn’t really feel the need to go up for the view.
More sightseeing around the Old Town – a large cathedral, and another fortress on the hill overlooking the town. We had seen something similar in Salzburg, and I think Bratislava suffered a little in comparison after visiting Salzburg – I’d recommend seeing them in reverse order if possible.
Old Town was gearing up for dinner and there were a lot of people out. The crowd was different from previous cities – we saw almost no tour groups and most people were relaxing and taking it easy.
We passed many restaurants advertising “Slovak food”, but we had already chosen our dinner place, called “Kaliba Kamzik” because it had a large menu and specialized in local foods. We sat outside the restaurant and the server was very helpful while we chose our food and wine. She had a large bandage on her cheek (what happened?) but she was really kind and did a great job.
For dinner we started with a traditional garlic soup, I had bread dumplings stuffed with smoked meats and Kuniko ordered crispy pierogies. While both of our main dishes were a bit too salty and quite heavy, the garlic soup was amazing. The broth was almost clear, with pieces of smoked cheese floating inside that just melted in your mouth. Also there was some kind of lightly fried strips in the soup – it looked and tasted like Japanese atsuage. I really want to try to make something like this when we get back.
The wine was really good here – and we sipped on that while watching people walk by and listening to the very odd background music (is that anime music?). Next to us a local family was having a big night out.
After dinner we did a little more walking around, taking more pictures as it got darker, and finally made a quick stop at the supermarket on the way home. Our hotel room had a coffee machine and we were hoping to buy a small container of milk. Thanks to Google Translate we didn’t buy “soured milk” and so we gave up on the milk idea and went on back to the room.
Bratislava seems like a good place to relax and take things easy. The low prices are a relief after all the expensive places we’ve been so far. We are leaving tomorrow however, and wrapping up our trip in Vienna before heading home to Japan.
