October 3, 2015

 

 

Bratislava?

Yes, Bratislava. There is really no connection for us to Slovakia nor has it always been on our list of places to visit.  But, it does sit right in between Prague and Budapest and those were on our list.  We have heard some good things so why not.

Besides it is a laundry stop and our perfectly comfortable and affordable apartment here lets us take a leisurely morning to get some chores done. It is a breakfast of fruit and yogurt that we picked up last evening at the Tesco store and it is probably a good thing that we get away from the breakfast buffet for a while.  There is a bathroom scale here and there are some tense moments as one of us steps on and then does the arithmetic to convert from kilos.  Whew, still OK in spite of the last three weeks.

It’s almost noon when we start our walk towards the Old Town Square.  There is a really fun market that we stop at along the way with lots of pickles, pastries (including poppy seed strudel that looks just like Grandmas), big crocks of sauerkraut, fall vegetables and other Slovak crafty things. We would buy some things if we didn’t have to carry them all day.

We pass through the small square into the large square and those are relative terms.  In size the Bratislava square is quite a bit smaller than Prague and a lot smaller than Krakow.  The good news, as far as we’re concerned, is that it isn’t crammed with tourists. Rick Steves has recommended Café Roland as a sort of throwback 1900 café and there is seating outside.  We’re opting for one large and one small lunch that we’ll share.  Mary has the Slovak potato salad (cold and wet in a bowl) while John has the Slovak skewer.  That would be at least three kinds of pork and onions as a kabob with potatoes, kraut and assorted other vegetables all covered with a sort of peppery sauce.  Mary has a couple bites of John’s and John has one bite of Mary’s and that ends the sharing.  One of life’s great luxuries is having a beer in the afternoon and today is no exception.

We do the full walking tour in the afternoon.  Bratislava is known for their whimsical statues depicting some event or character from their history. Our Pal Margarita was here a few months ago and gave us a heads-up about some of the sights so we’re keeping our eyes open.  We do old town gate to gate finishing on a park-like promenade that goes down to the Danube.  There are line-ups of the river cruise boats at this stop between Budapest and Vienna.

We take a leisurely Saturday afternoon walk along the river checking out the boats.  There are a lot of local tour boats as well as the long range variety.  There is a Soviet era bridge crossing the river with a large Star Trek sort of tower in the middle.  The locals call it the UFO.  The next bridge is an old iron railroad span that is being rebuilt along with all of the tracks leading into what will be a new terminal.  This will be a stop on a new high speed line from Paris to the “East.”  A very impressive undertaking.  Our river walk ends at Eurovea, and brand new futuristic shopping and office complex.  We haven’t seen all of Bratislava by any means, but this really represents a change of attitude as well as architecture.  It has to be better than the rows of identical apartment buildings left by the Russkis.

Our turn back to the old town takes us past the National Theater and National Philharmonic that share a bustling square.  Further along there are a couple weddings taking place with fancy clothes and pretty cars all over town.  There are vendors in little kiosks selling all sorts of little Slovak knick-knacks, and more tourist moving about so the whole scene is pretty upbeat.  It ain’t Prague but it’s pretty good.

We stick our noses back in the building that housed the market this morning to see if there is any poppy seed strudel left but they have all packed up and the building is being readied for a music event tonight. It’s time for our late afternoon recess.  John has been reading a book detailing the human genome which he swears is like traveling with a personal hypnotist—two pages and he is out like a light.

After a bit of a break and a short cocktail we’re off around the corner to Bratislavska Restauracia, otherwise known as “Flagship.”  Margarita told us about this and its partner Slovak Pub.  Our business tonight involves “Bryndzove Hallusky,” the national dish of Slovakia.  It is a small dumpling like a pierogi that is heated with a sheep’s cheese, bryndzove, and then served with a topping of diced bacon.  It’s sort of a gooey mess with a sharp cheese taste.  The locals tell us that it should be consumed with a glass of buttermilk but we opt for a Slovak Cabernet.  John has yet another version of goulash (pork and kraut – surprise) and Mary finally gives in and gets the garlic soup in a bread bowl.  We both blend the halusky into our main dishes and it mostly disappears.  We’re very stuffed once again and our bill comes to 32 euros including the bottle of wine.  We could have skipped the halusky and been out for under 30.

We take our late evening promenade around the old town.  There is a rap group performing where we saw the market earlier.  That’s quite a change in culture.  Not much else going on on a Saturday night so it off to bed for us.

What did we learn today? A country’s national dish is really designed for people who grew up in that country.