How exciting to get invited to speak at an international school in Bratislava, Slovakia. We had never been to this eastern European country so we looked forward to visiting a new place.
How do you get to Slovakia? We were already so close, in Switzerland. But we discovered that to get to Bratislava, we’d have to spend a fortune and fly via Dubai…. That seemed crazy so we ended up flying to Vienna instead, which was cheap and easy. I’ve always wanted to see Vienna but , unfortunately, there was no time. From Vienna, we took a bus to Bratislava. Not much more than an hour away…. And with the help of a taxi we found the school, tucked away in a residential neighbourhood. I enjoy traveling in Europe where each country has such a distinct culture, architecture and atmosphere. You can often see where borders used to be but now you no longer need passports. While many countries use Euros, some countries still have their own currency. All have their own language, stamps and other uniquely characteristic trademarks within a European Union.
A kind teacher hosted us in her home in the nearby village of Borinka, near the town of Stupava. This way we got to see more of the countryside and spend time with ‘locals’. I liked the yellow churches with their characteristic steeples. The language in Slovakia is something else - some word are easily recognized (like technológie, taxi and centrum) but other words are beyond guesswork (zastávka is stop; predajňa means shop).
A Slovak poem…
Many apartment buildings in the city are still old Soviet buildings. But these get spruced up with more cheerful colours and balconies. The border with Austria is where the Iron Curtain used to be and we wondered how Austrians must have felt to see these concrete cities going up but not being allowed to cross or visit. Apparently they did put up radio towers in an effort to help the Slovak people on the other side of the Iron Curtain, only a stone’s throw away, to listen to the rest of the world. I was surprised by the number of large factories providing employment here: Samsung, Kia, Volkswagen are all here to have products manufactured in Slovakia.
While I worked in school, Kees explored the countryside and nearby towns on foot. He walked for hours around the countryside and through villages. He climbed hill sides and when the cold wind drove him inside, he sampled Slovak beer. We also enjoyed trying traditional dishes with meat, potatoes and lots of cheese.
During our last weekend, we stayed in a funky hotel in Bratislava (The Film Hotel with Oscars at the door; we were in the Bruce Willis room…) and walked all over downtown. The castle towered over the small town with its white walls and red roofs.
We visited squares, statues, fountains, fine buildings and a gorgeous Blue Church.
One of our favourite statues here was ‘Men at Work’.
Our favourite restaurant was The Slovak Pub. This rinky-dink old wooden building had many rooms, each with a theme related to the country’s heritage and history: poets, freedom fighters, heroes. The food was fabulous. We sampled Slovak dumplings with bacon, traditional bread and great soups and local wine.
Men at Work
Leaving Slovakia, we board the train from Bratislava to Prague. Confusion reigns since half of travellers have assigned seats but the other half - us included - do not. A nice group of young Czech men ‘adopt’ us and give us their seats. “Ah Canada, good!” they cheer when they hear where we are from. Then they tell us they spent the national holiday weekend going to Slovakia to taste wine. In the fall, you can do ‘wine walks’ here, walking from winery to winery and visiting wine cellars. They pull out bottles of wine, pass them around and around, while everyone sips from the same bottle. “We are from Pilsen,” they say, explaining that they all work in the Pilsner breweries in Czech Republic. It was a jolly train ride through Slovakia!
A mural in Bratislava.