Bratislava
Sep 7th, 2008 | 06:23 AM
#2
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,833
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We also had a plan to visit Bratislava from Vienna since the hydrofoil ride is so convenient for 26 euro. Unfortunately people we know and our hotel concierge were so unenthusiastic about Bratislava that we decided not to go. The typical comment was it's a nice small town but there's not much there. It used to be worth it when it was really cheap but no longer. You're better off spending the fare on going to Krems, Bad Durnstein & Melk by train.
Sep 7th, 2008 | 07:09 AM
#3
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 4,433
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Here is an excerpt from a longer report that I posted on a different forum a couple of years ago:
Back to the hotel to plan for the next couple of days. I asked at reception if they had information on the boat service for Bratislava. The desk clerk told me that it left from Schwedenplatz, but he did not have a timetable. He went online, and reported that there was no service in November. This did not accord with what I had found before leaving home, but he was adamant. This cast a doubt over our (particularly my) ambition. Resigned, we took a nightcap, perused some brochures perfunctorily, and retired for the night.
Saturday morning was cold and windy, with sleety showers. The weather forecast, however, predicted improvement during the day. Hoping that my research skills were better than those of the hotel clerk, we headed for Schwedenplatz to see about the boat service and, yes, I was right. It was due to go in about two hours, so we booked our return tickets (€52 each) and thought about killing some time. We spent most of it ensconced in a very cosy bar taking hot drinks. It was not exactly adventurous tourism, but it suited us very well on a cold wet morning.
Sailing time approached. Because it is an international trip, we had to show passports before boarding. The twin-hull boat is fitted out rather like a wide-bodied airliner, and we bagged window seats. We cast off, and made way along the Danube Canal to join the river. Very soon we were moving at 60kph, but so smoothly and quietly that one had to look at how fast the banks went by to get any sense of speed. The bad weather continued, so visibility was limited. We could see the banks, and not much beyond them. For quite a distance from Vienna we saw cabins by the water's edge, some raised on stilts, many with jetties, and every one with a square net on a hoist which I supposed was for fishing, but I did not get a clear idea of how the fishing was conducted. Do city-dwellers spend the weekend in a cabin, dipping and lifting nets, catching very little, and feeling at one with the primitive? Some, however, clearly could not do without all modern comforts, for a number of cabins had satellite dishes. We saw nothing spectacular until we had crossed the Slovakian border, where we could just discern through the thickening snow Devin castle perched on its rocky hill.
A few minutes later we were tying up at Bratislava. We disembarked, to be met by touts offering tours. Not really our scene, I thought, let's go find the old town and work things out for ourselves. We got a map from the boat office, and stood in the snow trying to figure where we were and where everything else was. As we shivered, the tourist train with enclosed carriages looked suddenly inviting, and we parted with €5 each and sat in. Off we rattled and in minutes we were in the old town. The guide provided a very full commentary, barely pausing for breath -- entirely in German, a language neither of us speaks, but in which we can discern a small amount. We got the numbers, but by the time we had decoded them we had lost all possibility of figuring out what it was 89% of, or what happened in 1803, but we did figure that Maria Teresa was an important figure in the history of Slovakia. The snow persisted, and the windows misted up, so now our inability to make much of the commentary was matched by an inability to see much of the city. We went up to the castle, by which time such daylight as we had was starting to fade. Herself wiped the window, peered into what was by now a greyout, and advised me that the poor visibility might be useful to an acrophobe like me, as we were atop a steep hill. The little train stopped for a 15-minute break. I suppose that in normal circumstances it would have been to give people an opportunity to enjoy what I am sure are great views, but the guide told us where to find the souvenir shop and the toilets. We resumed our trip, and found our German comprehension was improving, as we now know where there is a university hostel. A few minutes later we were deposited in the old town.
By now it was well into the afternoon, and we had not had lunch. The weather was such that we did not want to wander around checking out restaurants, so we headed towards the first one we saw, hoping it would do. It was in the same building as the casino, an imposing edifice known as the Redoute which looked very upmarket -- but the prices on the menu posted outside seemed modest enough. We entered and found a large dining room, somewhat old-fashioned but in a nice way -- good-sized tables that were well-dressed, and not crowded together to accommodate as many diners as possible. The only people there were two men relaxing at the bar, one wearing a waiter's uniform and the other wearing kitchen attire. I got the impression that they might be on their time off between lunch and dinner service, but when I asked the waiter if we could eat, he said yes. We ordered starters and main courses. Herself had venison and I had veal, and the food was interesting, well-presented, and generously garnished. Our side orders
of vegetables were not really needed. Motivated more by curiosity than by hunger, I ordered the cheese platter: it was enough to feed two hungry people rather than one whose appetite had already been sated. Tea and coffee to finish. All that, including four glasses of
reasonable quality house wine and one post-prandium, came to €32.
We did not have much time left, and we had seen very little of Bratislava. When we emerged, the snow had stopped; it was now raining. Protected by hood and umbrella, we splodged forth into the rain and darkness. We looked at the National Theatre and then walked the length of Hviezdoslavovo Square (it's not really a square, more a very elongated rectangle) and got to see the outside of the cathedral, which was closed. We peered at the impressive new bridge over the Danube (named, with great originality, novy most, meaning new bridge, while the only other bridge now has the name stary most which means old bridge). Then we doubled back through some pedestrianised streets that were very much depedestrianised by the weather and tried to form an impression of what the city would be like in better conditions (fairly nice, but somehow lacking the gravitas one usually associates with a capital city). Then it was time for our boat. We boarded, blasted upriver at 60 kph in the darkness without hitting anything, and were back in Vienna in good time for bed.
We really enjoyed our outing, and we hope some day to see Bratislava.
Back to the hotel to plan for the next couple of days. I asked at reception if they had information on the boat service for Bratislava. The desk clerk told me that it left from Schwedenplatz, but he did not have a timetable. He went online, and reported that there was no service in November. This did not accord with what I had found before leaving home, but he was adamant. This cast a doubt over our (particularly my) ambition. Resigned, we took a nightcap, perused some brochures perfunctorily, and retired for the night.
Saturday morning was cold and windy, with sleety showers. The weather forecast, however, predicted improvement during the day. Hoping that my research skills were better than those of the hotel clerk, we headed for Schwedenplatz to see about the boat service and, yes, I was right. It was due to go in about two hours, so we booked our return tickets (€52 each) and thought about killing some time. We spent most of it ensconced in a very cosy bar taking hot drinks. It was not exactly adventurous tourism, but it suited us very well on a cold wet morning.
Sailing time approached. Because it is an international trip, we had to show passports before boarding. The twin-hull boat is fitted out rather like a wide-bodied airliner, and we bagged window seats. We cast off, and made way along the Danube Canal to join the river. Very soon we were moving at 60kph, but so smoothly and quietly that one had to look at how fast the banks went by to get any sense of speed. The bad weather continued, so visibility was limited. We could see the banks, and not much beyond them. For quite a distance from Vienna we saw cabins by the water's edge, some raised on stilts, many with jetties, and every one with a square net on a hoist which I supposed was for fishing, but I did not get a clear idea of how the fishing was conducted. Do city-dwellers spend the weekend in a cabin, dipping and lifting nets, catching very little, and feeling at one with the primitive? Some, however, clearly could not do without all modern comforts, for a number of cabins had satellite dishes. We saw nothing spectacular until we had crossed the Slovakian border, where we could just discern through the thickening snow Devin castle perched on its rocky hill.
A few minutes later we were tying up at Bratislava. We disembarked, to be met by touts offering tours. Not really our scene, I thought, let's go find the old town and work things out for ourselves. We got a map from the boat office, and stood in the snow trying to figure where we were and where everything else was. As we shivered, the tourist train with enclosed carriages looked suddenly inviting, and we parted with €5 each and sat in. Off we rattled and in minutes we were in the old town. The guide provided a very full commentary, barely pausing for breath -- entirely in German, a language neither of us speaks, but in which we can discern a small amount. We got the numbers, but by the time we had decoded them we had lost all possibility of figuring out what it was 89% of, or what happened in 1803, but we did figure that Maria Teresa was an important figure in the history of Slovakia. The snow persisted, and the windows misted up, so now our inability to make much of the commentary was matched by an inability to see much of the city. We went up to the castle, by which time such daylight as we had was starting to fade. Herself wiped the window, peered into what was by now a greyout, and advised me that the poor visibility might be useful to an acrophobe like me, as we were atop a steep hill. The little train stopped for a 15-minute break. I suppose that in normal circumstances it would have been to give people an opportunity to enjoy what I am sure are great views, but the guide told us where to find the souvenir shop and the toilets. We resumed our trip, and found our German comprehension was improving, as we now know where there is a university hostel. A few minutes later we were deposited in the old town.
By now it was well into the afternoon, and we had not had lunch. The weather was such that we did not want to wander around checking out restaurants, so we headed towards the first one we saw, hoping it would do. It was in the same building as the casino, an imposing edifice known as the Redoute which looked very upmarket -- but the prices on the menu posted outside seemed modest enough. We entered and found a large dining room, somewhat old-fashioned but in a nice way -- good-sized tables that were well-dressed, and not crowded together to accommodate as many diners as possible. The only people there were two men relaxing at the bar, one wearing a waiter's uniform and the other wearing kitchen attire. I got the impression that they might be on their time off between lunch and dinner service, but when I asked the waiter if we could eat, he said yes. We ordered starters and main courses. Herself had venison and I had veal, and the food was interesting, well-presented, and generously garnished. Our side orders
of vegetables were not really needed. Motivated more by curiosity than by hunger, I ordered the cheese platter: it was enough to feed two hungry people rather than one whose appetite had already been sated. Tea and coffee to finish. All that, including four glasses of
reasonable quality house wine and one post-prandium, came to €32.
We did not have much time left, and we had seen very little of Bratislava. When we emerged, the snow had stopped; it was now raining. Protected by hood and umbrella, we splodged forth into the rain and darkness. We looked at the National Theatre and then walked the length of Hviezdoslavovo Square (it's not really a square, more a very elongated rectangle) and got to see the outside of the cathedral, which was closed. We peered at the impressive new bridge over the Danube (named, with great originality, novy most, meaning new bridge, while the only other bridge now has the name stary most which means old bridge). Then we doubled back through some pedestrianised streets that were very much depedestrianised by the weather and tried to form an impression of what the city would be like in better conditions (fairly nice, but somehow lacking the gravitas one usually associates with a capital city). Then it was time for our boat. We boarded, blasted upriver at 60 kph in the darkness without hitting anything, and were back in Vienna in good time for bed.
We really enjoyed our outing, and we hope some day to see Bratislava.
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