Bratislava; The Capital of Slovakia

We paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $25.00, packed up our passports (that we didn't need), and boarded a train to cross the Morava river -- the boundary between Austria and Slovakia, and marking the political boundary that used to be called the Iron Curtain. We spent a day visiting Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. (Formerly part of the USSR, then Czecheslovakia, and now an independent nation)

Moravia River -- not much to look at considering how long it had an Iron Curtain on it!

Once the river is crossed, even today a lot differences are noticable: the language and the landscape, the apparent wealth of the two countries, the general atmospheres. Bratislava has, as does Vienna, great public transportation, the same beautiful river -- the Danube, Bratislava is an old city -- dates its castle from the iron age. It retains much of its city walls, although not all of them. We walked through Old Town and the walls, the old gates, and then the 'new' city'. We saw street art (more than in Vienna) and street music (again, more than in Vienna)

A model of the city -- you can see the walled part, and on the right, the grassy area fills the old moat outside of the city walls.

St. Michael's Gate -- main entrance through the wall -- a general sense of the streets and old city. In at least one point where the wall doesn't exist any more there is a street sculpture indicating the boundaries of the old wall.

Instagram moment?

Some Street Art and Music

Not found in the Old Town, we were intrigued by this jeweled door knob. Mark pointed out that while we were looking at a door knob, there was quite a lovely building behind us (on right).

As found in many European cities -- here's the opera house or state theater. All impressive

So many statues of heroes. Mostly don't know who they were. There wasn't much destruction during WWII in this city but there was a lot of neglect during the Soviet, and then Russian occupations. The Russians left in 1956

Left: This is a monument constructed when the Russians decided to tear down a synagog to make room for a bridge and a highway, while sparing the church next door. Right: The bridge gives rise to a tower in which one can take an elevator to the top and visit a restaurant. It is called the UFO tower. The bridge crosses the Danube.

Not sure what the one on the left is; on the right is a tribute to miners.

Bratislava Castle lies outside of the city walls and is reached by crossing a bridge and then ascending 900 vertical feet on stairs, and if you want to go into the guard tower of the castle, then 8 more floors. up. But the castle is a bit of a disappointment -- it dates from the iron age, has been through all sorts of political upheavals from the Roman Empire through the Austria-Hungarian Empire, The Kingdom of Hungary, The USSR, Czechoslovakia and so much more. Unhappily, it burned in 1811 leaving only its rock walls. It then sat fallow until the 1950s when the Russians 'rebuilt' it -- but there's just not much in it, either original or new. Great organ in a music room and unlabeled paintings. The grounds are quite nice and some Slovakian government building sit near it.... but.....

The start of the stairs to the castle & the government buildings next to the castle.

The modern organ and music room. The mirror at the end of a hall -- the only furnishing.

An example of what could be saved from the original castle

First is a picture of my feet;I am leaning over a plexiglass wall looking down into the stair well of the east tower that is open to the public. Its top is reached through a steep but, above the level where I took this 'looking-down' picture, modern stair (with railings). See Bill looking out at various views.