Bratislava – Day 8

The day started beautifully, warm and sunny with a temperature of 14° rising to 20° this afternoon. I was able to sit on the terrace for breakfast, and the espresso beverage machine was working again.

I decided to use bike share to explore the city today, stopping when something looked of interest to me. I planned a route to the east, crossing the Danube twice, and trying another bridge. I leaned last night that there are six bridges, the sixth built since my guide book was written. I had originally planned to ride to Vienna today, but it would be too far on bike share, and since we are going to Prague for three nights tomorrow morning I felt it might be a bit much to go to Vienna for the day, even on the train.

I planned a route on Ride with GPS, and checked it on Statshunters, to see what new tiles I could collect. It turned out the route was missing one in the centre of the 20 km route, so I added a short down and back to grab it. Planning it this way is a useful to ensure I’m riding in new places. Today’s route took me out of the touristy areas.

I have noted in previous posts that motor vehicle traffic is much lighter here, and I was curious how transport mode share broke out. I found the mode share for 2015 , which is the latest I can find is:

Car 37.7 %

Public transport 32.6 %

Walking 26.7

Biking 1.6%

Brampton’s car use was 67% in 2016. And Brampton’s target for 2041 is to have 58% of the population using carpooling, public transit, walking or cycling as their main mode of transportation which is less than Bratislava was eight years ago. This is depressing for those of us who recognize the need to live more sustainable communities to address the climate emergency. The population here is 440k.

No wonder it feels much more comfortable on the roads here as a cyclist.

We have decided to take the bus to the train station tomorrow, so Michael asked me to find the nearest stop to our hotel this morning. The pedestrian subway has many different shops, and provides access to all four corners of the large intersection near our hotel. Once I came up on the correct corner, it was immediately apparent where we would catch the bus to the station. The subway is accessible due to including escalators and elevators , as well as stairs.

I then went back down and came up on the corner that has the bike share stand, and there were two bikes available this morning.

About a kilometre later I spotted this incredible tree across the street from where I was riding. I crossed the street to take pictures. The flowers look like a foxglove, but I had never seen them on a tree before. As I was photographing it a man stopped and told me that it was a very special tree, that he didn’t know what it was, but it was the only one he was aware of in the area.

When I got back to the hotel, I was able to use Google lens on the image once it had uploaded, and learned that it is a jacaranda tree. One of the common names for it is foxglove tree.

On this street the tram runs in a grassy area in the centre of the road and there are wide multi use paths on both sides of the road for cyclists and pedestrians.

I found a hammock, but it wasn’t very comfortable.

On the monthly bike share pass I am required to dock every 30 minutes or be subject to overage charges. The third time I docked I was unable unlock it again. I wasn’t sure why, but thought maybe there was a limit to the number of times I could take out the same bike, or the number times I could take out a bike within a certain period. I attempted several times and failed, so I decided to walk to the next bike share station, about a 13 minutes away.

Whenever things go wrong for me when I’m travelling like this, I keep myself calm by saying: oh well, at least it will be a good story for the blog tonight. It’s all part of the adventure.

The walk to the next bike share station took me off my planned cycling route and I saw several things that I would otherwise would have missed.

There were very few roads in this neighbourhood with lots of green space, and most of the residential units in mid rise buildings. In place of roads were wide pathways like this one. There were cars lining most of the streets, but I saw very few cars actually being driven. It was extremely quiet without motor vehicle noise. All I could hear was birdsong and happy children. Experiences like this make me think that anyone who opposes denser development, and reduction in motor vehicle development, has probably never been outside of an auto dependent city. I also see many more people with disabilities moving around independently here, than at home.

When I got to the next bike share stand, I still couldn’t get the bike to unlock. I turned around and spotted an ice cream stand so I decided to treat myself as I had forgotten to pack my snacks this morning.

After getting my ice cream, I phoned the help number for the bike share and encountered someone who spoke even less English than the last time I called, but whose English was, of course, much better than my nonexistent Slovak. However, we managed to communicate, and she couldn’t see a block on my account. I tried to unlock a bike again while she was on the line, and the miracle of asking for help caused it to work, I guess. The rest of the day my returns and rentals worked so I think it might have just been user error.

Once back on the bike, it didn’t take long to get back onto my planned route. Under this clean and well lit highway, I initially thought that the stripe down the centre of the road was the brightest road paint I had ever seen, until I realized there was a small gap between the two directions of the highway above me, and, it was the sun is shining through.

I rode through a neighbourhood of small single-family homes, and then a very large open field lined by large allotment gardens.

Many of the intersections have these mirrors for a better view before turning the corner.

I rode around both sides of a very large park. On the north side I was on the road where for more than a kilometre only one car passed me, and on the south side, where there was an excellent multiuse path.

I spotted this lovely Active Transportation bridge that goes over a tributary of the Danube called the Little Danube and a bike share station. When I docked, I had gone slightly over my 30 minutes and was charged an additional €0.12.

From this point until the harbour I was on dedicated Active Transportation infrastructure along with the Little Danube.

That infrastructure continued through the harbour area.

I came off the path in the centre of the picture, and there was a yield sign to the main path.

Like the other four bridges that I have crossed this has Active Transportation infrastructure on both sides, including ramps for cyclists to ride up, and stairs for pedestrians. This ramp was lovely to ride up with the trees surrounding it.

These were the views from the bridge and along the path.

This bridge has an upper level for motor vehicle traffic, and a lower level for trains and Active Transportation.

I used the telephoto lens on the point-and-shoot camera to get a picture of two bridges of the four other bridges I’ve been across – the Apollo, and the UFO bridge.

This is the view under the bridge.

I rode along the Danube Cyclepath to the Apollo bridge, and this time used the east side. This time I didn’t encounter an obstruction that caused me to ride on the roadway, but there was construction at the bottom that forced me to ride east out of my way before I could ride back west.

Once again, I was delighted by the views.

In this picture, you can see the spiral ramp back down to street level.

I found a bike share station next to a garage station with this very interesting canopy.

I passed another beautifully coloured playground.

We walked on this street the other night past the Apollo hotel. Bratislava is in the midst of a program to make more complete streets. A complete street is one that includes separate infrastructure for each mode of travel.They are also reducing the amount of street parking.

I returned the bike, and went to the hotel to change, and eat my snacks, and realized that I had forgotten to remove the do not disturb card from the door. So I finished quickly and then went out to a coffee shop that we saw last night in the same complex where we ate dinner. I let reception know, on the way out, that we still needed housekeeping.

The café was delightful. The atmosphere, the food, and the music. I Shazamed four songs while I sat there.

The hotel has a bar called The Outlook on the 13th floor. It was a beautiful, bright clear day, so we went up to have a drink when Michael returned from work. It was my first time up there, and I was flabbergasted by the view. Michael had been there once before years ago. The drinks were about three times the price elsewhere. They are definitely charging for the view.

We had dinner at a pulled pork restaurant, in a shipping container, that I noticed when I was looking for the bus stop this morning.

Then we went for a walk around a dense, transit , cycling, and walking oriented neighborhood. The main floors of the buildings are commercial units, the parking is underground, and the green space is imaginatively designed.

As I stood taking pictures of this street art four trams passed within two minutes. We haven’t looked at a schedule here. We just walk to the stop and never have to wait more than a couple minutes. It’s so convenient having frequent transit and a comprehensive network.

The old railway station and 10 track corridor are between this new neighbourhood, and our hotel. It want been decided what will happen but some sort of rail is one of the possibilities.

It was a short walk back to the hotel, and I decided to leave the writing of the blog for the train trip to Prague tomorrow, which will take approximately 5 1/2 hours door to door. It will involve walking, bus, regional rail, and trams. Packing was relatively simple. We are taking Michael’s wheelie airplane, carry-on, and a backpack each. Michael didn’t want the hassle of packing everything else up and putting it in storage, so we didn’t check out of the room; he just let them know that they shouldn’t charge us for an extra person in the room, or Michael’s breakfast or room cleaning while we are gone.