9-11 June : Slightly more than 48 hrs in Slovakia .... spent exploring Bratislava and Devin Castle

9 June

We woke up early, finished packing and then went to breakfast.  As we were pottering around in our room, we decided to double check the departure time for our train.  We then proceed to misread the date 9.06 as the time for train departure so we rushed out of our hotel, hoping that we had taken everything with us.  We discovered some days ago that we had left yet another article of clothing in the B&B in Dubrovnik.  Silly us.  Nope.  This time we left our last washing detergent pellet behind.  But we were lucky that we got everything else.  Luckily our hotel was already paid for when we reserved it, except for taxes which was dealt with in cash.  We ran like a mad woman for the train only to find that it did not even have a platform assignment yet.  Platforms are only assigned 20 minutes before departure time as it was coming from somewhere and going to Budapest via Bratislava.  So we camped in front of the platform information display, tired and sick.  We have almost an hour to wait.  Our train was announced only 10 minutes before departure.  In the rush with everyone else and knowing that we would probably have to climb at least a flight of stairs to get to the platform we might have run over a lady in high heels as we dragged our luggage, but we were too sick to do more than apologise.

First Class was very civilised.  There was a server who helped with our bags on to the train.  And later someone placed our bags in the overhead deposit area.  There is free wi-fi and charging points for computers.  We caught up a little with our blog but was too tired to hunt for our chargers buried somewhere in our bag which was now in the overhead rack.  We then try sleeping the last hour and a half.  The server even fetch coffee and food from the dining car if that was our desire.  We ordered a long black and was surprised that it was the same price as in Prague.  Nice service!  Next time, we will always try to travel First Class on trains.  We made a note to get in touch with the agent organising the Trans Mongolian for us to organise that for our Trans Mongolian.

We arrived at Bratislava, sick as a dog.  It was around 3pm.  The journey was slightly more than 4 hrs.  We had gotten increasingly worse during the trip.  In fact, we were sick enough that we had not attempted to even snap a few pictures during the trip despite sitting next to a nice, big and sunny window. 

The train station looked almost dilapidated.  It was easily the most run down station we have encountered thus far on this adventure.  We had not managed to download our map for Bratislava on Map.Me.  The hostel location was almost as close as that in Prague so we had thought it necessary just for getting from the train station to the hostel.  We tried to get directions from a group of police folks who were having coffee.  They did not appear to know the famous hostel was.  The first young man we spoke to after that spoke no English.  Oh dear!  Luckily, the next young lady though was most helpful.  She looked up our hostel on her smart phone and gave us the required direction.  It was very near indeed, just down the street.  We managed to bypass the door of our hostel initially as it was closed for safety and privacy.  One needs to ring the doorbell to be let in.  We found it and got in after a young man in a desert shop a few doors down explained the procedure to us.

At the hostel, the young cheerful and helpful receptionist assigned us a room on the first floor.  We proceeded to drag our bag up the stairs with our last ounces of strength. Thankfully, on hearing us struggle with our bag, she came to help us with it up the stairs.  Nice young lady.  We went downstairs to get the Wi-fi password and bumped into a smiling gentleman whom we did not even acknowledge as we were feeling that sick.  We were not feeling friendly at all.  We did nothing more that day other than attempt to sleep after taking two aspirin which we remembered we have in our medical bag followed by Alka Seltzer.  We were coughing a lot and the cough mixture gave us some relief.  

It was almost 5 hours later, around 8pm, when we decided that we had enough strength and had to go and get some necessities before the shops closed for the day.  We crawled downstairs and got directions to a convenience store which felt like it was located halfway to town along drab streets probably made drabber by the rain that poured that afternoon as we slumbered.  We bought us some groceries, and returned the hostel to do more sleeping. Slovakia uses Euros.  Prices were relatively expensive even though we felt that more small change than notes were used here.  Bratislava is going to be a write off at the rate we are going.  Let’s hope that it is a 24 hr bug. We put ourselves under with another dose of Alka Seltzer.

10 June

Woke up at 7 am feeling a little better.  We did some laundry by hand as we would be in the same place for that night.  Our window opened on to the roof.  Even though there was no balcony, there would be sun and air to dry our laundry.  Brickyard Hostel turned out to be not as noisy as anticipated.  We had booked a private room and it came with ensuite.  It was also in a different block from the dormitories block which may explain the silence.  We were directly above the reception and the kitchen though.

We had not been too encouraged by what we saw on the way to the grocery store the night before.  The city thus far have looked as run down as the main train station.  Many retail spaces along that main street were shuttered too.  Lots of graffiti on the walls and several apparently homeless persons wondering around.  Surely, the neighbourhood that we were in was not located in such a desperate neighbourhood.  We did some research to see if we could get on to a free walking tour and how far the city center is from us.

There was a free walking tour at 11am that would meet in front of the US Embassy in the heart of the city.  The city was not far;  a 20 minute walk away.  We took a map from the hostel reception, loaded the city map on to Map.Me, and started the walk to the city along the same road that we took to the grocery store the evening before.  It looked more cheerful that morning.  But the buildings were still all rather drab and not well maintained compared to all the other cities on the adventure thus far; even Sofia and Bucharest. 

Water diviner

Presidential Palace

We passed the statue of the water diviner and the equivalent of the white house on the way into town.   There was an interesting fountain in front of the Presidential Palace but it was not switched on. Though the guards were smartly dressed, the Presidential Palace looked modest.

Michael's Gate

We passed through Michael’s Gate (the entrance to Bratislava's old city).  We found the statue of their favourite poet, Hviezdoslav, in front of the US Embassy which was next to the Czech Embassy.  We had passed it several times before looking for it.  Thought it was 10 minutes to 11, no free tour sign was there.  We asked a group of young gentlemen if they were the tour guides but it turned out that they were collecting for a local charity.  Just that moment we turned around and saw the sign and a small group gathering. The lady with the sign said I had time to get a coffee if  we wanted and directed us to Kafe Haus where best coffee in town could be had.  Wow, they made cappuccino with soy milk for me when I asked for lactose free milk.  Nice!!  And all for 2 Euros.

Back at the large group that has now gathered, a smiley gentleman asked us if we were from his hostel.  He was the same gentleman we had met at reception the evening before when our travelling companion was not feeling well.  So she had to explain how sick she was.  He explained that his brother was feeling the same way.  She shared with him the location of the pharmacy she had used the evening before where his brother could get some medication later if he so desired.   were and he explained that his brother was in the same boat.  So we shared our knowledge of the pharmacy nearby, and what we have been given.  Yes, Zander’s brother sound as bad as us.  His name is Zander and his brother's cough sounded as bad as ours.  

The tour started.  Among the group were two Malaysian ladies in their hijabs.  We would normally take the initiave to have a chat with them but on that day, we were not feeling too friendly as we were still not 100% healthy so we hung with Zander and his brother.  We could not believe that we were the only representatives from Australia here.  Zander who is from Vancouver said that he probably thought that it was due to Bratislava not being a party town.  The big group was big enough that they had to split us into two.

Our guide spoke great English.  She explained that with the number of car manufacturers in Bratislava, it produces more cars than any other industry in the world.  So the car production industry is the top paying industry there. 

Han Christian
Anderson

Monument commemorating
the denationalized
Jewish children

Our first stops was at the statue of Hans Christian Andersen.  Apparently he wrote the Little Match Girl in Bratislava.  From there, we had a look at the UFO Bridge.  The bridge was so named because its watch tower looks like a UFO saucer.  Built in Communist time to connect old city with new community that the Communist was building across the river, it destroyed a substantial part of the old city community, taking out synagogue and other buildings.  In that space now, is a memorial stone of the synagogue and a memorial to all the de-nationalised Jewish children of the Nazi era.

Spire of Coronation
Church with the
famed crown

Across the street from this area stands the Bratislava castle while next to it stands the Coronation Church.  Atop the steeple of the church sits a crown which contains16 kg of pure gold and is rumoured to be the size of a Volkswagen beetle. This was the coronation church for 16 Hungarian kings when Bratislava was once part of Hungarian Empire.  

Famous site of the Velvet Revolution

Our guide explained that although the politicians wanted two countries in the Velvet Divorce in 1993, most people think of themselves as part of the same Czechoslovakia.  Back then, there was enough to eat and live on even if not too well and they were denied some freedom.  Apparently the Velvet Revolution started a day earlier in Bratislava than in Prague.  The famous image associated with that revolution of a plumber in front of a Soviet tank  was actually taken at the Komenseho Building junction here in Bratislava even though it was always labelled as having been taken in Prague.  The news agency was next door to this building where it was taken.  The USSR was trying to prevent the news from release to the world.  But the people of Bratislava sent the Russians sent to stop the news to the wrong place so that the pictures and news could go out.  The photographer also handed out the photos to people with western passports so that the pictures could somehow find its way to the world outside the Iron Curtain.  It was after the death of the photographer when the negatives were found hidden in the photo frames in his home that his identity was finally uncovered.

Me with Cumil

Scheon Naci, the greeter

We passed a statue of a Man at Work crawling out of a man hole.  It was just an oddity in Bratislava so my travelling companion took a picture of me with this statue.  We learnt then that there are several such statues serving no other purpose than entertainment of visitors. That was another one of a real life cheerful greeter who was so appreciated that upon his death, a statue was erected where he normally stood. 

Flood marker

We were told of the Flood of 1850 when ice from the mountains came down the Danube and flooded the old town.  There is a marker in the city center showing the highest point the Danube reached.  It is an interesting way to mark the level as it preserved a square of the old wall when a new facade was slapped on; easily missed unless one knew what to look for.  Incidentally, the Danube looked rather full that day.  We passed again through Michael’s gate and our guide pointed out the crown coins on the floor which marked the Coronation Way when this city was used for crowning kings.  She also told us that iIf one were to hold one breadth when passing through Michael’s Gate and made, one’s wishes would come true.  We wished again for World Peace as we did that evening at Charles Bridge.

Memorial

Our next destination was this square where there is a monument to the end of Fascism.  We were told that this is where inhabitants of Bratislava go to mourn and to celebrate events of national significance.  

Next attraction on the tour is the Blue Church which is located opposite the huge block of unused and abandoned which was the Soviet Hospital.  Built in Gaudi style together with the school next to it, these are only two in Bratislava that are of this architecture.   There was talk in recent times about someone making use of the hideous building opposite it though there was no exact timeline.

Me at the Blue Church

We were then shown where the best gelato in town can be had – at Koun.  There was always a long line outside Koun.  The walking tour ended there.  

Zander and his brother and us decided to go exploring together as we all had the same items on our list - lunch, gelato at Koun and the Bratislava Castle.  It was his brother that invited us to come along for lunch.  Along the way, we saw a pharmacy so we all went in to fulfill our pharmaceutical needs.  We decided to Verve, which was recommended by our guide, for lunch.  Service was slow but the food was good and the helpings were huge.  Zander’s bro had lentil soup which was way larger than we anticipated.  He had ordered baked potatoes before his food arrived, so he was swimming in food.  Zander and my travelling companion both had sheep cheese gnocci with bacon.  It looked fatty but it tasted really good.  

The conversation at lunch was about traveling.  Zander’s brother had spent some time in Sydney and had visited Brisbane before.  He liked Australia.  Zander was thinking about medical school in UQ or Sydney.  They were both nice young gentlemen with lots of potential.  After lunch, we all went to get gelato for our desert.  

It was when Zander emerging from the washroom at Koun that we realised that he was really tall as his head almost hit the door frame.  6 ft 5 in he said.  We laughed.  Earlier, he had been trying to get some cream to heal a scar that was developing on his forehead in the pharmacy.  He told us that had recently lost his dog in an accident related to water.  She had gotten stuck and when he was attempting to free her, he almost got killed himself.  That was how the scar came to be.  That was just seven days ago and after that incident, he needed some head space time so he took off and came to join his brother.  He said others would have thought that the scar originated from a fight.  We said we judge no one and my travelling companion showed him her chin scar from a car accident she sustained from due to work fatigue.

My travelling companion decided to buy everyone gelato.  Part of her pay it forward practice. She was passing on a practice she learnt from the first boss she worked with.  Licking our nice cold gelatos, we headed for the Bratislava Castle.  It was a long climb.  Our guide had advised us that the entrance fees was not worth paying as the inside of the castle was not unique in any way.  May be it was due to the fact that the previous several castles that we had visited were really unique and impressive, Bratislava Castle lacked that lustre.  Its elevation though offered an advantage for viewing the UFO Bridge, the Coronation Church and the Danube.

Me at Bratislava Castle overlooking UFO Bridge

Bratislava Castle

We were trying to take it easy that day as we were still mending from our cold.  The two gentlemen were tired from their evening before.  We all boarded the next buss that would take us back to the Brickyard.  Back at the hostel by 4pm, Zander made the comment that we should get some rest as he had noted that our nose running badly.  And that was what we did next.

Later we would find Zander in the reception lounge when we went to try to book our cruise to Devin Castle for the next day.  We stopped to have a chat and exchanged details with him.  We discovered that he is actually a celebrity although he never mentioned it once the entire time we were hanging out.  Smooth move, young man!  And a very commendable one.  All we have to say is this young man will go far in life based solely on his personality and his method of interaction with the world.  He was travelling incognito, sharing a dorm room with his brother and others – he had earlier told us the hostel allowed them to change beds the night before as theirs had been soaked from the rain due to their forgetting to close their windows before they had left to go to Devin Castle the day before.  Humble chap.  Nice duo. 

11 June

We had decided that this day, we will go and explore the famous Devlin Castle.  We would also like to see if by chance we see some new species of birds when we were sailing down the Danube.  Devlin castle can be reached over land as well as via a boat.  Most visitors would chose one method of transport to get there and another to come back.  We chose to do the entire loop by boat.  The entire tour by boat would take only half a day.  We checked out of the hostel and kept our luggage in their store area which was highly monitored by the receptionist.  Nothing to worry anyway as we had packed all our important stuff in our camera backpack which we will take with us.  That was how we had packed right from the beginning of this adventure.

The receptionist at the hostel had advised us to take Bus X13 and then walk a short distance to get to the passenger terminal on the Danube.  Before that we went to the café that Zander had told us about to attempt to pick up a soy cappuccino.  Not only was that available but they appear to serve a wide range of breakfast and other options as well.  We planned to come back later before we leave the city that evening.  

The bus terminal is adjacent to the rail station.  We could not find the queue for X13 so we looked for another bus that would go the same direction.  The bus tickets were priced according to zones.  City was 2 zone at 0.7 Euros.  As we were about to board Bus 93, the helpful bus driver pointed us to the X13 stand even though he spoke no English.  There were more than a row of stands at that bus stop.  That was not obvious to us earlier.

We went over to the X13 bus stop just as one pulled in.  We rode to the end station, enjoying the view of where we had been the day before from the bus.  It was not a long walk to the passenger terminal although it took a few attempt to determine which building it was for someone going there for the first time and do not read Slovak.

We had not been able to book our tickets online the evening before.  We were told then that the 10am cruise was full.  Disappointed, we asked that there was not even space for one. To our surprise, the receptionist said there was a spot for one.  We paid 10 Euros for a round trip and she direction us to Platform 1 which she said was 5 minutes walk down the waterfront.  

We headed out looking for Platform 1 which was according to the map the furthest pier. May be she was wrong in her directions.  As we walked, we noted that there were also many restaurants and other floaters tied up to the waterfront ïn layers" – hotels, bars, cruising boats, etc …. they were some really large one that could easily obscure what we were looking for … a LOD boat by the name of Martin ….. we walked and we walked and we walked all the way all the way till we past Bratislava castle but we had not found our boat or a Pier indicator.  By then we had begun to panic.  We turned around and asked a gentleman in jacket as to where Pier 1 could be.  He did not appear to be able to read the boat ticket nor spoke English.   But he indicated that it was back where the boats were.  So much for help. So we started back, walking as fast as we could.  Finally we spotted the “tiny” boat not far from where the ticket office was.  It was a ferry and tied furthest from the pier.   5 min was supposed to be 5 min and not 15 or something else.  We discovered we were not the only one lost, but we were last on board. There were a few hurrying on in front of us as we crossed several boats on our way to get to it.

The boat pulled out from the pier.   It was full of children who were out on a school outing of some kind which explained why this voyage was so full.  A group of young boy recognised us as they had been trying to get our attention with their antics when we first started to walk along the waterfront after leaving the passenger terminal.  We probably were distracted by them earlier which may explain how we managed to miss our boat.   We befriended a couple with two cute young kids whom we helped to take a family portrait. 

Observation tower of
UFO Bridge

 

The poor swan

We stood all the way to Devin Castle, keeping an eye out for wildlife.  We passed under the UFO Bridge giving us a chance to examine the observation tower.  It reminded us of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek.  We spotted a swan. Later when we looked at our photos again, we would discover that the poor thing which was sitting on a nest had a plastic ring around its neck.  It probably picked that up from floating garbage.  The floating plastic materials that so many tossed overboard is affecting wildlife in adverse ways.  The ring looked rather small compared to the size of its neck. :-(

An interesting boat

We saw some ducks and cormorants as well as some interesting passing boats.  Along the Danube are weekend huts that appeared to be used for fishing by its owners judging from the recreational fishing nets hanging in their front yards.  The Danube is very fast flowing here as observed from the speed of the water around and pushing at the navigational buoys in the river.  

Devin Castle

The pretty eagle

Devin Castle stands at the confluence of the Danube and the slower flowing Monrovia.  The waters of the later appeared dark as it merged into the Danube.  There is a wetland at that junction.  Now we wished that we had more flexibility on the return leg so that we can have more time to do bird watching although that could be dangerous as we may end up missing our train that evening.  The castle was interesting and had an interesting history.  There was also a resident eagle which kept circling the top of a tower at the castle when we were there.

Devlin Castle also stands at the border of Slovakia and Austria.  It was the front with the West when the Iron Curtain existed.  Devin Castle had a history that dated back to the 8th Century.  Although attacked by the Ottoman Empire, it was never taken.  In the 15th-16th Century, it was pawned by its owners who could pay the pledge to redeem it.  100 years later, the family of the final owner paid the pledge.  It was destroyed during the Napoleonic wars.  Today, it appears on the currency of both the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Each member country of the Euros have distinctive national marks on the Euros, though they can be used and bear the same value in all countries).  There is a museum in the castle.  

Most photographed site of Devin Castle

There was a market for local crafts and delicacies at the bottom of the castle as well as some restaurants and bars.  In the castle, there were medieval activities to try - archery, ancient war tools, etc.  
  

Me overlooking the maiden tower
of Devin castle overlooking the
confluence of Monrovia and Danube

We checked out all the vantage point in the hot weather, then went down to try a Kufola, the local version of Coke.  It was less fizzy and the taste was more subtle.  The service was really slow and ate into the time we had for the wetland.  We got back to the boat just in time.  The children who came over on the boat must be leaving by a different way as they were not on board.  We found a seat next to a young couple from Vienna.  They were on a weekend to Bratislava, her birthday present from him.   Bratislava is easily and inexpensively reached from Vienna by speedy ferries.  As such, it is a popular and inexpensive holiday spot for Austrians.

After disembarkation, we walked back into old town, hoping to get a glimpse inside the Coronation Church.  There was a wedding service there, so we had to wait.  Entry for visitors was only partial and restricted to the back of the church so we did not stop for long. Photography was also prohibited.  The grounds outside were prettier with scattered statues in picturesque nooks. We walked through the market where we had met for the walking tour the previous day.  This day, there were more stalls serving local delicacies which looked delicious.  We wished we were hungry enough to try some.

Presidential Gardens

We got another coffee and explored a few narrow lanes we had passed over the previous day before deciding to check out the Presidential Gardens – the one behind the Palace of the President.  The fountains at the Presidential Palace were performing for the public.  It was open to public but there were few people there.  That was different from the experience we had to date. The gardens were nice but bare by comparison to the gardens we have visited to date.   After a while, we walked on and found the Parliament and its gardens.  There were few people there too even though it was the weekend.

Parliament

Parliament Gardens

Ranno Ptaca

Finally we arrived at Ranno Ptaca, the nice cafe where we had bought out soy cappuccino that morning.  That was the place we decided to have dinner washed down with a soda water and a ginger tea.  They served breakfast all day.  We had burritos with avocado, salsa and feta cheese (sub for cream which they were happy to make).  Soft music played in the background.  There was a power point and wi-fi.  They were not too busy so they were happy to let us stay till closing time at 8pm. 

 

The fish tank at the hostel

We went back to the hostel, where the nice receptionist let us camp there for the rest of the evening till it was time for us to get on our train at 11.30pm.   We worked on this blog while we watched a staff member catch all the new born fishes in the aquarium there so that they were not eaten by other fishes.  The aquarium has an interesting way to feed fishes that we had not seen before - the fish food is attached to a spot the side of the tank.  That also enable one to see almost all the fishes in the tank at one spot during feeding.  Nice idea.  
Behind us, a German spoke egoistically to his listener about his Thai trips.  Hostels are interesting places.

Slovakia is the first country on our adventure that came out of the Iron Curtain which has adopted the Euro.  It is also the one that appeared to have made the least progress economically.  We wondered if there is a connection there or was it just a coincidence.