I’m feeling a bit underwhelmed so far in my first day in Bratislava (I strive to be whelmed), compared to the three great cities I visited earlier on this trip. My Airbnb is too far from the action, there aren’t as many sites, and they use the Euro, so things aren’t inexpensive anymore. But I do have some cool plans over the next few days that I hope will work out, and there’s some good-looking nature nearby that I want to check out. In the meantime, here are some tidbits about the city and country:
- Colleen and I drove through Bratislava with friends back in 1998 (on the way from Vienna to Budapest), and much has changed since then. Now Slovakia is in the EU, they’ve adopted the Euro currency, and they’re building new structures all over. In ’98 we didn’t actually stop, so this is my first true visit to the city.
- There’s been a realization that Bratislava is very central, and is within a day’s drive of over 300 million people! So there are a lot of businesses opening here.
- Slovakia produces one million cars each year, which makes it the world’s biggest car producer, per capita.
- Bratislava is very close to Vienna (about 1 hour by train), but less expensive (though still not cheap).
- Bratislava is on the Danube river.
- Bratislava borders Hungary and Austria, which makes it the only European capital having a border with two other countries.
- Bratislava became Hungary’s capital for a while when the Ottomans were at the doorstep.
Famous Slovaks (or children):
Andy Warhol (American Pop artist who gained more than his 15 minutes of fame, born to Slovak immigrants), Martina Hingis (Swiss tennis player born in Slovakia), film director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Stripes; born in Slovakia to Jewish Holocaust survivors), actor Paul Newman (whose mother was born in Slovakia), Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (founder of Czechoslovakia, whose father was Slovak), Alexander Dubček (leader of the 1968 Prague Spring uprising), and Štefan Banič (emigrated to America and invented the parachute).
Rick Steves
Side story: I got a much-needed haircut on Tuesday while still in Krakow. A Ukrainian lady cut my hair, being very deliberate and careful, and taking her job quite seriously. She spoke some English, and she said that there’s a Ukrainian expression that a person matches their hair, so I must be strange and unruly! Ha ha.
Today’s dad joke: What do you call it when you accidentally drop your sausage into your cabbage salad?
Brat in slaw, aw…
(Czech and Pole lend themselves well to wordplay and puns. Slovak, not so much… I’m gonna have to work hard this week.)
Today’s travel quote:
We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.
Anais Nin
Major Meander 
We visited Bratislava on a river cruise, but my memory is faint. I read today that the Polish government has contacted the U.S. about the possibility of sharing nuclear weapons, since Poland adjoins Ukraine. What a bad idea!
Andy Warhol, huh? So interesting to hear about the famous people from these places. Thank you! I vaguely remember that place, just that it was hilly and there was a river. So cool that a woman from Ukraine cut your hair.. maybe that’s the style over there?!
“A person matches their hair…” I cringe to think what that means for me! Really interesting tidbits on the country and city: who knew!