Day trip across the border to Bratislava
I had meant to take the train to Bratislava (Slovakia) earlier in my stay while the weather was still good. It’s on the Danube, and you can take a boat there from Vienna. It’s only an hour by train from Vienna (border guards on the train checking papers, but no passport stamp), so today was the day I finally got around to it. Still haven’t gotten to Budapest. Grey skies, damn cold, and no surprise – there were large Christmas markets in the Old Quarter of Bratislava!
Bratislava is just across the border from Austria, and is very poor by comparison. It’s one of the oldest former Celtic towns in Europe, and was the eastern border of the Roman Empire. In days gone by, it was an important centre of the Slavic Empire of Great Monrovia, the western bulwark of the Hungarian Empire (at least that’s what I’m told). Those days are long gone… Now, it’s out of the Soviet Union, poor, and happy to be in the EU. Although, they still use their own currency (Slovak koruna).
I had great street food at one of the Christmas markets (where all the music being broadcast were Christmas carols in English. Strange), did a lot of walking (hard on the feet on uneven stones) and stopped in at a café for that traditional Slovak cold weather drink - Irish coffee. To be fair, I did walk by an Irish pub…and a Mexican restaurant, several Chinese, a couple of Japanese… The world truly is a global village.
Bratislava is just across the border from Austria, and is very poor by comparison. It’s one of the oldest former Celtic towns in Europe, and was the eastern border of the Roman Empire. In days gone by, it was an important centre of the Slavic Empire of Great Monrovia, the western bulwark of the Hungarian Empire (at least that’s what I’m told). Those days are long gone… Now, it’s out of the Soviet Union, poor, and happy to be in the EU. Although, they still use their own currency (Slovak koruna).
I had great street food at one of the Christmas markets (where all the music being broadcast were Christmas carols in English. Strange), did a lot of walking (hard on the feet on uneven stones) and stopped in at a café for that traditional Slovak cold weather drink - Irish coffee. To be fair, I did walk by an Irish pub…and a Mexican restaurant, several Chinese, a couple of Japanese… The world truly is a global village.
Great travel day. Vienna subway south from Karlsplatz, streetcar on to the train station, train to downtown Bratislava (saw deer in the fields on the way), and snow on the way back. Finished the day by more of a long walk in the centre of Vienna (huge crowds, hard to move) to a favourite schnitzel place ("eine grosse bier bitte" to wash it down) in the Neubaugasse area, and a walk to settle dinner, with a little Christmas shopping on Mariahifler Strasse, cutting across Gumpendorfer Strasse, right past my favourite coffee shop, then through Nachmarkt to my apartment. See, I’ve learned a LITTLE it while I’m here!
posted by Mark L at
11:27 AM
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