Tue 30.Jun.2015
Bratislava, Slovakia
When last we saw our intrepid wanderer, he was in Rhodes, Greece, indulging
himself with Ripple pictures in Mandraki Harbor. Since then ...
Flash forward! I spent three weeks in Nerja, Spain (again!). There
is only so much of Nerja, and I have posted everything I know how to photograph
there. We'll also skip over a short stopover in Sevilla.
Curiously, I found a cheap flight from Spain to Vienna on Air China, of
all things! I enjoyed the flight itself, but it is a mistake to fly
within Europe - Schengen, really - on a flight that is continuing to
someplace outside of Europe (e.g. Beijing). I had to check out through passport
control on departure, and check back in on arrival; waiting in line at each place.
The checking-out line was long enough to be a pain in the nalga.
A European short-haul flight, with no border controls at all, would have spared
me much bureaucratic hassle on the ground.
Stopover in Barcelona
My flight to Vienna / Bratislava was from Barcelona, so here we are for a single
evening in the great Catalan metropolis. I've never really gotten the hang of
Barcelona, but dipping my toes in the water, so to speak, has always been
interesting enough.
Slovakia: emerging coffee house capital of central Europe.
Do you ever get confused about just what goes into different coffee drinks?
This coffee house in Bratislava offers a cheat sheet, so you needn't admit you
need to ask.
Why do you s'pose the word brew is used for both coffee and beer? If
ever two things ought to have seprate words! OTOH, you can kick back for
an hour with either kind of brew quite comfortably in this city.
My pictures are snapped over a coffee brew.
There is almost always some kind of free entertainment in the old city
in the Summer. Walking through Main Square on a recent afternoon, here was
this fine jazz combo, laying it out for me and whoever else was there.
It wasn't clear whether this young lady had the music in mind, but she
was bouncing around enjoying herself.
There has been way too little strong sun since I arrived. Here is one of
old Sol's moments, through the filter of the city coat of arms.
The most-photographed guy in town is such a cliche. It is more fun to
shoot the people shooting him. Also harder - I have lost more shots to the hordes
who wander in front of me to get to the guy in the manhole.
Roland's statue in Main Square.
Across the lazy river.
Our first image from outside the Old City. Not far out; across the Danube
lies the oldest city park in central Europe, where this gargoyle perches
on a medieval-looking little tower, the size of a pergola.
You can see it below.
A footbridge across the highway to Prague. I spent a few nights in a
fancy 3-bedroom apt near here. A nice lodging in a pleasant leafy neighborhood,
but inconveniently out in the boonies, a bus ride to everyplace, and a bit of
a hike even to the bus.
The little tower with the gargoyle(s) made a better B&W picture than color.
Sometimes the old ways work best.
Would you believe we are in Bratislava if I omitted the New Bridge?
Some of my former favorite angles on it are hidden now by tree branches!
The angles that make the bridge look most like an H. G. Wells Martian.
Good for the trees! I'm glad I already have those shots from past years.
Under the Bridge.
There is a sort of bus hub under one end of the New Bridge. Mostly city
busses, but also one of the two long-distance lines to Vienna. One of the city lines
goes across the border to the two nearest Austrian towns. That's right,
you can ride a Bratislava city bus across the Iron Curtain now, and not
even notice when you cross the border.
Down By The River
We have seen too little of the sun for my taste, but when we do get a nice
afternoon, there are worse ways to spend it than nursing a coffee down by
the Danube, doing some reading, and watching the people show. Bratislava
has a world class people show on a good day.
More Bratislava to come