Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Everywhere in the world you seem to get the same soft drinks. But during the Cold war the situation was kind of different: in the communist and socialist world the cola from the United States wasn’t allowed. That’s why in different countries alternatives have spread. Most of them are nowadays unknown, but not Kofola.
It looks like a flying saucer exploring Bratislava: the UFO (unidentified flying object). In fact it is part of the main bridge (Most SNP, bridge of the Slovakian national uprising) crossing river Danube close to the castle of Bratislava.
Continue reading “The UFO”
Slavín is a cemetery and memorial to the soldiers of the Red Army which freed the city in 1945. It is high upon a mountain close to the main railway station and can be seen from nearly everywhere in the town. Walking up there on hot summer days gives you the feeling of having smashed Nazi Germany on your own.
Continue reading “The Red Flag”
The Danubiana is a museum of Modern Art located at a river bank of the Danube in the south of Bratislava, at a quarter called Čunovo. In my opinion it is one of the best modern art museums, one that didn’t disappoint me (and I’m often arguing about the works exhibited in those museums).
Continue reading “Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum”
Close to Bratislava you can find a mountain range called the little Carpathians (Malé Karpaty) – a mountanous area filled with woods and grapevines. If you are comeing from Devín castle you can go northbound to Pernek and cross the Carpathians on a curvaceous road to Pezinok.
Continue reading “Malé Karpaty”
The castle of Devín (Theben) is some kind of national sanctuary to the Slovaks. It was the centre of power of the Great Moravian Empire, the first independent Slavian state. Today you can visit the remains of an old castle with a good touristic infrastructure.
Continue reading “Devínsky hrad”
A green Danube river, beautiful forests and swamps full of domestic animals – nothing at the point where river Morava flows into the Dunaj close to Devín could make you think about borders, escape and death.
Continue reading “The Iron Curtain”
You can reach the main sights in Bratislava on foot, you can go to the Danubia Meulensteen Art Museum by boat and to the castle of Devín by bus. But if you want to see the Červený Kameň castle, explore the little Carpathian mountains or simply don’t have enough time to wait for ships and busses, it is time for car rental.
Continue reading “Renting a car in Bratislava”
If you’re not going by plane to Bratislava or Vienna airport, the ride to Bratislava is pretty long. I went on a 7,5 hour train passage from Göttingen via Würzburg, Regensburg and Passau in Germany; Linz and St. Pölten to Vienna in Austria. In Vienna main station I had to switch to a regional train going to Bratislava.
While for most travel destinations you get good books in German or English from companies like Baedeker, Marco Polo or lonely planet, the variety goes down when looking at eastern Europe. One might even say that there is no choice.