Bratislava – Day 17

After breakfast together at the hotel, we decided to walk to the old town for hot chocolate. On the way we looked in the “new market” near the hotel. It was built in 1983 when the city needed a market space, because the old market had been re-purposed as studios for Slovak television. It is not a building that appeals to me on the inside or the outside. However, The Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic has declared the building a national cultural monument. It has become quite rundown due to a lack of maintenance over the years, but there is a movement to renovate and clean it, partially funded by the sale of designer T-shirts. We had a quick look around inside, and then continued our walk.

There are allium plants in bloom all over the city this weekend.

We spotted another one Bratislava’s statues today – Baron von Munchausen sitting on a cannonball. He is a fictional German nobleman.

The old market was reopened as a market in 2015. It is much more appealing inside and out than the new market.

Each spring this art gallery puts up umbrellas covering the street outside the gallery. This year the pattern is based on the work of surrealist artist Ladislav Guderna who was born in Slovakia in 1921 but emigrated Canada in 1968.

It’s a rainy morning, but the temperature wasn’t unpleasant. Here we are having our hot chocolate in the Old Town Square. The rain kept away some of the crowds.

This is the Canadian embassy.

Ludevít Štúr was a Slovak revolutionary politician, and writer. He was a leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century, and the author of the Slovak language standard.

Bratislava recently built a tomb of the unknown soldier. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a tribute to all fallen soldiers without a name because they could not be identified.

Václav Havel was the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of Czech Republic. He is also known for his plays, essays, memoirs. Inscribed on the edge of the table is: “Truth and love must prevail over lies and deceit. Václav Havel’s Place.”

This is called: Memorial of the Bulgarian Partisans which pays tribute to Bulgarian citizens, who lost their lives in the liberation of Slovakia in World War II.

We followed the pathway along the Danube to Eurovea where we bought some groceries at Billa, an Austrian supermarket chain. We ate on the old bridge which has seating areas. This was the view we had. There were many river boats tied up along the waterfront today.

I still have the bike I have borrowed from Milan, and a one month bike share pass, so we went for a ride together this afternoon. The bike share bikes are known as Slovnaft bikes. Slovnaft is an oil company.

I’m still feeling quite tired, so we came back to the room for a rest, and then went out to another Billa in the shopping centre next to the hotel to get some additional groceries for dinner in the room.

You don’t need to stop to throw out your garbage here as the can is thoughtfully mounted and angled.


Discover more from Lisa Stokes

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.