Slovakia

This morning, we arrived in Bratislava, the Slovakian capital. Apparently, Bratislava and Vienna are the two closest capitals in the world and Luba, our tour guide called Vienna a suburb - by car, it’s about an hour away. The country itself is roughly the size of the Netherlands, Switzerland, or two New Hampshires with 5.5 million people.

Slovakia had been part of the Austria-Hungarian empire and Czechoslovakia. It now stands on its own since 1993 when it separated from the Czech Republic also known as the “velvet divorce”. The older generations can understand German, Hungarian, in addition to their native Slovak, but they are all distinct languages.

The cruise included an “Off-the-Beaten-Path Capital” excursion which was a walking tour as the Old Town is so close to the river. No buses necessary and logistically very easy despite the light drizzle. We couldn’t see the famous Bratislava Castle that sat on an hill due to the dense fog, but when Maria-Christina lived there, the beloved daughter of Queen Maria-Theresa made Bratislava popular during the Austria-Hungarian empires as she visited often. As such, people invested in palaces in the area and the country has the highest ratio of grand estates to the population.

Our first visit was St. Martin’s Cathedral which is connected to the original town’s fortifications and city walls. Here you can see them incorporated into homes that are still connected to the church:



A view of the double-walled protection:



It was too foggy to see the church tower which is topped by a gold-plated replica of the crown of St. Stephen. Also known as Coronation Church, St. Martin is where 18 or so Hungarian kings and queens were crowned with their names noted on the side of the altar:





Here’s a statue of St. Martin, a Hungarian who ultimately became bishop of Tours, France. He apparently divided his cloak with his sword when he was a soldier, giving a part to a beggar. The cloak either regrew or he had dreamt as if he was helping Jesus. Mmmm, okay…well I’m told he has tremendous pan-European appeal and was very popular:



Here’s Mama Kim channeling her Eastern European old lady vibes and lighting a candle with a European scarf due to the drizzle:



In front, there’s a monument to the synagogue that was torn down by the communist government. Slovakia is 80% Catholic now, but there was once a vibrant Jewish community steeped in education and academia:



In the back was a bust of Liszt with fencing made of notes from one of his compositions:



We meandered the old town and cobblestones, observing plaques, the embassies, and various architecture:



Apparently, Beethoven lived here when he tutored a young woman he was in love with:



And Mozart visited here:



Liszt performed here and the town sponsored him when he was young, contributing to his success and therefore he returned often to perform and to show his appreciation for Bratislava:



Here’s the North Gate of the city fortification:



We stopped into a shop where we were treated to black currant wine and two pastries. Bratislavský rožok also known as Pozsonyi kifli are crescent-shaped, sweet, leavened pastries filled with walnut or poppy paste. Based upon the filling, it could be more of an C-shape or horseshoe and Mama Kim and I split our pastries:





Here’s the town hall and bell tower that has a canon ball from the Napoleonic invasion - apparently there are 18 cannonballs lodged into buildings around the town:



Christmas market in the square:





Navigating the cobblestone streets, we passed theaters, more Christmas market alleyways, and a few statues. Here’s one of “Man at Work”:



And then Hans Christian Anderson who visited once and wrote a nice letter describing the city. I definitely get my Hans Christian Anderson fill when visiting Denmark:



As my mom said, they really celebrate the famous people who have visited and now we have too! But no plaque or statue for us and Yelp review headline is “a lovely stop on the Danube!”

For lunch, we were back on the boat and the service continues to be impressive and the food delish. The local delicacy of the lunch buffet was Rauchkuchlknödel (bacon and smoked sausage-stuffed potato dumplings) with cabbage.

We set sail on the Danube river this afternoon and we napped and relaxed in our cozy cabin.

For dinner, we had a lovely conversation with the Pennsylvania duo and Massachusetts couple. We ordered salmon and smoked salmon tartar, the Avalon signature salad, mushroom consommé with potato gnocchi, and tomato bisque with rice for our appetizers.

For entrees, my mom had sea bass, but I ordered Bryndzové halusky which are Slovakian potato dumplings with bacon, sheep's cheese and sour cream. On the tour earlier, we saw it being prepared and our tour guide explained it’s one of the national dishes. For dessert, my mom had an eclair and I had marscapone and cherries. Photos below:





After dinner, in the lounge was a voting game of what songs would make people dance the most. It was fun with great people watching and we all had a good time led by our cruise director Attila donning a Hawaiian shirt. Here’s the group before the music:



The boat continues to sail through Austria where we will dock in Melk soon and then on to Vienna!