Slovakia - A Fresh Wild Feel to it

Country #5 - Slovakia

Rough, crumbling, energetic, rebuilding, spirit and energy of hope and ambition

September 23 to September 26, 2015

Cycling distance in Slovakia: 45km's
Total cycling distance: 1140km's

OK, so this is a bit of a misleading one since I'm including our trip back to Vienna, Austria. But hey! I like things to be sequential.

Slovakia border

A usual we rolled up to the border and once more more had to be satisfied with just a photo of some border monument. Damn you EU! you're ruining my stamp collection. The old abandoned customs buildings lined the area where once the bureaucracies of two entirely divergent political systems met head on.

Novi Most aka UFO bridge

As we rolled along we could see massive housing projects in the suburbs of Bratislava. They were either new or quite nicely spruced up old Soviet style housing blocks. The bike path once in Slovakia was a bit weather worn but still quite good and very well marked.

Before we knew it we were across the Danube from Bratislava, Petrzalka where our gracious hosts lived was in the opposite direction. We stopped and one of the first things we came across was a "bicycle welcome centre". The young English speaking man got us all set up with a Bratislava bicycle map and circled the locations of bike stores and outdoor gear stores.

Old Castle in Bratislava

We needed to get some gear so off we rode to an outdoor gear store. We made it across Novi Most (New Bridge) ...that's the one with the UFO on top. That's where we basically came to a screeching halt ...figuratively speaking. After having been in what can only be described as cyclist heaven we were suddenly thrust into a veritable jumble of stop and go traffic, crumbling and crowded sidewalks and pretty much no cyclists to be seen on the downtown roads.

So we pushed our bikes for kilometers on end to a bike shop to see if they could service them the next day. The few short sections we rode the bikes, mostly over the bridge walkways, the wind was so strong it threatened to blow us to a full stop ...or worse.

Our hosts Oxana and Jan

Now it was time to ride south to Petrzalka, a suburb of Bratislava, designed by the old Soviet mindset which constructed massive apartment blocks to house the people.

Our hosts, Oksana and Jan spoiled us to the max and wouldn't dare let us pay for any of the meals we had in their local brew pub. Oksana is the sister of one of Patti's colleagues back in Victoria. Oksana is a chef at a high end hotel and Jan works in Information Technology for the government.

Moe's Tavern in Bratislava

The next morning we rode into Bratislava and the wind had not abated in the least. I had convinced Patti to take the bikes to a different shop since it was within walking distance of the train station. The super helpful young men, some of who spoke English, were only to happy to take in our bikes to service them.

I insisted on walking to the train station to get some tickets to Vienna, Austria so we would at least know where it was for later in the day.

Now that's a backpack!

We walked through "regular Bratislava" ...the non-tourist area. I absolutely loved it. Nothing seems organized, sidewalks are falling apart, in one area was a large deposit of dog droppings, traffic is relentless, jackhammers are thundering away where new streetcar rails are being laid. This is all contrasted with beautiful buildings in various states of (dis)repair, helpful people, modern stores and shopping districts and the obligatory "ethnic" food stands I've come to love so much. It sharply contrasts with most of the other historic cities I've been to. They all seem to spic and span sterilized ...albeit quite beautiful.

Didn't realize we were this far from Canada

The old historic Bratislava

After getting some roadside food for myself ...Patti was not quite trusting enough to give it a try we were walking and talking when two Americans came up to us and said "You speak English!!) Do you know where the tourist information centre is? That was an easy one, we had just come from there ourselves. Another set of happy customers were on their way but not before they suggested we stay at Haller Camping in Budapest.

Cool Sculpture

We quietly sat in a main square outside the tourist office while I was enjoying my lunch consisting of a "Rich Man" sandwich with Shawarma meat ...Slovakia's answer to the USA's "Poboy" sandw.ich I guess.

A fully loaded cyclist appeared and we quickly made sure to accost him and lasso him into our tight spider's web so he could regale us with his tales of intestinal fortitude and vice versa. The young little man was from the Netherlands and had done the North Cape (Scandinavia) before heading south. He had already covered over 9000km's and I instantly disliked the little bugger. Even an experienced traveller like me knows when she's been "out-travelled". Two middle aged, oversized, overloaded women on a 3400km trip just doesn't compare to what this young punk was doing ...pshaw!

The road less touristed

Old and crumbly

We continued on and took a sharp turn away from the trodden tourist trail and ended up in my favourite part of any "historic" city. The part that's crumbling and doesn't see many tourists. It all just feels much more real than being amongst a bunch of people speaking my own language.

Narrow alleys everywhere

The train tickets we had were valid on any train from Bratislava to Vienna. Twenty Euros return trip. So we took off in the early afternoon and picked our way back to the train station. We happened upon two young men with supsersized backpacks sitting at a busy bus exchange. My vastly superior traveller instinct kicked in (if you don't clue in to sarcasm and facetiousness, please get off my blog) and I approached them. Where else would they be going but the train station? ...the local pub? The assured me that the number 76 bus would take us there and it would cost us 75 Euro Cents.

Bratislava train station is basically a crush of people in a space way to small to accommodate them all. But it seemed to work quite well in the end. So there we were on Austrian Rail, heading to Vienna.

Old historic Vienna ...not Slovakia

In Vienna we splurged on a 100 Euro hotel in the gay district. It was actually quite nice, especially considering that 100 Euro doesn't get you very much in this horrendously expensive city. I can now appreciate that Vancouver is actually quite affordable in comparison.

Vienna sculptures ...Not Slovakia

We had to check out the gay scene in Vienna so we walked to the Cafe Willendorf, the oldest and most established lesbian/gay venue in Vienna. I wasn't sure what to expect and we were in gay heaven once we arrived. It was a very low key restaurant for all types and kinds. The menu changes every day and was simply delicious. We even went for the Kaiserschmarren for desert and it did not diapppoint. The waiter spoke English and were made to feel at home even though all the other women around us were ....shall we say somewhat more cosmopolitan looking compared to two Canadian west coast bicycle tourers.

The next morning we packed up and went for a walking tour of the city. Sankt Stephan Cathedral is a must we were told. You could either buy an "all inclusive" package for the entire church or individual tickets for the main church, the tower, the catacombs, etc, etc. We opted for the guided tour of the catacombs for something a bit more macabre.

"No photos please" came the loud voice as one ignorant tourist raised her camera after entering the catacombs. We won't name her but let's just say she rides a bicycle, has done a Central American motorcycle trip, is aspiring to become an electrician and is currently on a Danube bicycle trip.

Various urns contained preserved innards and bones were piled with others of their kind for better stackability to save space, especially when the count started mounting during the plague. Pretty creepy stuff but also very real and not the be treated with our typical "Three monkeys" approach.

Oxana the elevator attendant

I texted Oksana to let them know when we'd be back at their apartment. To this day I have no idea to whom the text went but Oksana literally spanked my butt and told us she was worried about us. Then we all went out for some massive ribs and lots of beer ...which they once again refused to let us pay for. But we had conspired in Vienna and secretly left some peach Schnapps and chocolates on the bed. It had by now become clear that the bed we were sleeping in was theirs.

Their son, Andre ended up being the translator since the young people seem to be taught English in school these days. When he wasn't around, for example at the brewpub, the Google Translate app attempted to fill in with mixed results.

Former Soviet era building all spruced up

Old Soviet area building in Petrzalka

I absolutely loved this stage of the trip. The atmosphere was still pretty "western" for lack of a better term but you could see that you had entered a differently developed area of the world. Especially after going through four and coming from one of the most developed countries in the world.

For some strange reason we actually had tailwinds today, only the second time since we started, as we headed to the Hungarian border.