We headed early to the train station for our trip to Vienna and then on to Bratislava where we had a rare day to ourselves. By chance we ran into Dan at the station and so were able to wish him a happy 60th in person. They were headed to Vienna to hook up with Natalie & Duncan, but on a different train.
We arrived in Bratislava to much nicer weather, but to discover that our Austrian SIM card doesn’t work here for data, but we can at least phone. So we managed to contact our airBnB host and arranged to meet him at the apartment following a taxi ride from the train station. We had expected about 10 Euro for the trip, but it was 20 which seems a lot for what could have been a 25 minute walk – so no tip this time.
Our James Bond 007 apt was in a great location and very ‘IKEA’lly perfect with several James Bond accessories (nothing as exciting as a dart gun pen, but several pieces of art). Everything was brand new and the apt seems designed straight out of the catalogue. And I can’t help mentioning … the flat iron was the best I’ve ever used – a Remington – may need to try to find one back home!
We walked up to the Bratislavský Hrad (castle) which offered marvelous views of the city. It is the site of significant buildings dating back to about 700 AD, Celtic/Roman times, and has had very many changes over the centuries. The first actual hrad was probably built in the late 1200’s.
We paid to enter the castle but there were only limited exhibits open and many rooms had not been staged. The best was that of the Slovak painter Martin Benka who died in 1971 at the age of 80. His early painting style was reminiscent of the Group of 7, but then his work evolved and you could clearly see the Russian influence during / post WWII. We had hoped for the furniture exhibit, but alas it was not open.
Next off to St. Nicholas church which was associated with the hrad. It was shockingly small and very run down with a group of youth hanging out in the yard smoking and drinking. Much more impressive was the nearby St. Martin Cathedral.
Once back at our apt with wifi we connected with Derek & Marketa to plan our meeting the next day and then we 2 headed for a pub dinner at Mestianski Pivovar. Michael had his beloved pig knuckle, I had Moravian Sparrow (pork pieces with creamed spinach – actually very good) both with potato dumplings. We shared a starter of grilled local cheese and had 2 beers each – turns out eating out here is not the absolute bargain we had hope for, but still not outrageous.
