We went out to dinner last night. Unclear as to where we wanted to go, we just began walking around downtown. It was a beautfiul evening and there were other people out strolling as well. We walked hand in hand down the cobble stone streets enjoying the light breeze, peeking into the drinking pubs and glancing at menus to spots we haven't yet been. After circling the entire walking area, we decided to eat at VitaFit. VitaFit offers outside seating and an inexpensive menu.
For under $20 we enjoyed a 3 course meal which began with French onion soup. We absolutely love French onion soup and actually make it quite often. We use a chicken broth base to make ours, but most restaurants in the states use a beef base which we don't care for. Excitedly we waited for our soup hoping it was a chicken broth base, filled with large onions, topped with French bread and gruyere chesse! The waitress brought the two bowls out and we thought she brought the wrong soup...it was green!! LOL! Next to the geen soup were two ramekins of small croissants topped with parsley. We laughed but then tried the soup and it was delicious! We are not sure what made it green, but it was made with chicken broth and had cream. We enjoyed it thoroughly...but it would have been better with gruyere cheese on top!
For our entrees we shared a Greek salad and a plate of pork with a forest mushroom cream sauce and potatos. Tiramisu was of course our choice for desert, it is our favorite! VitaFit has a pretty good tiramisu, but it seems that all of the cafes we have tried it in, here in Papa, make it with cake instead of lady fingers. Regardless, we still enjoy it.
We enjoyed dinner for about 2 hours, engaging in conversation, people watching, and just trying to soak in the beautiful environment. After dinner we strolled around downtown again, identifying some shops we haven't yet visited. It was an exceptionally nice evening!
2010. július 24., szombat
2010. július 23., péntek
Old Communist Remains
We also wanted to mention the "communist section" of Bratislava. When the country was under communist control, the communist party constructed large inexpensive square buildings. This was a fast, cheap way to build space for people to live. These buildings are very easily indentifiable, they can be seen in one of the pictures below. They are painted pink and green which is definitely a paint job that was done after the liberation. These same types of buildings are in Papa as well.
(Bratislava, Slovakia-continued)…
As we were saying, the people looked much different in Bratislava than in Papa. Mainly, the styles were much different. The skirt and shorts length for the women dropped about four inches. There were not as many vividly red hair colors. It is important to note however, that many of the people were tourists. We heard a lot of people speaking English (with American accents)! There was also a large group of Asian tourists, and we also heard German and French being spoken around us.
As we continued on the path towards the Bratislava Castle, we realized that we took some wrong turns. We had to back track a little, but this just meant more sight-seeing! After crossing a bridge, built for pedestrians, the trolley and cars, we began to approach the castle. The beautiful aroma of cedar filled the air as we walked up a large cedar staircase to the back of the castle. Immediately we encountered a sign which gave details about the castle’s history, which was first recorded in 900 AD, and the reconstruction in 1953 after a devastating fire.
We walked on the grounds of the castle which was mostly under construction, but the view was spectacular. From the high elevation, we were able to view the entire city which was a spectacular sight! The reconstructed castle consists of an outer wall which looks original, surrounding the new architecture which was gated. Not being able to enter the castle did not really matter, the outside was fantastic!!
Walking back down the hill towards downtown, we took a different route from when we came up. This route lead us to a narrow cobble stone street with multiple restaurants and shops. We continued along this antique path, which lead us to the “old downtown.” Strolling down the cobble stone streets of this historic city, felt like walking on a movie set…it was unbelievable! The streets looked just like photos we have seen of old European towns. Tall old buildings towered above us as made our way through the maze of shops and cafes.
Hungry for lunch, we decided to eat at a little restaurant called “Twenties”. There was outside and inside seating available, the heat encouraged us to sit inside! We entered the dimly lit restaurant and heard Michael Jackson! The old restaurant and the modern music was a bit at odds, but it worked. We chose a table by the door and ordered 2 virgin mojitos that were wonderfully refreshing!! The menu consisted of authentic Slovakian cuisine like dumplings, cheeses, meats, etc. We ordered two traditional Slovakian meals: Slovakian dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon, and a bowl of cooked veggies, potatoes and cheese. Both dishes were delicious and the portions were very large! Again….the mojitos were excellent!! They were full of a plethora of mint and fresh lime…they were perfect!
After lunch we continued on the cobble stone streets and walked into a couple of tourist shops. Most items were fairly expensive, especially because the Euro is worth more than the dollar. We are used to being in Papa where our dollar goes a long way! As we walked the scenery began to change from old to new. The shops and restaurants we passed were new and bustling. We then entered a large town square surrounded by both old and new buildings. Small open-air stands were situated in the square selling mostly souvenir items. A beautiful old fountain was at the center of the square, it was a marvelous sight.
We then decided to try and find our way back to our car! We had wondered around so aimlessly, it was a fun challenge to find the parking lot. On our adventure back to the car we ended up on top of the Danube River, about ten blocks away from the car! LOL!! Though we were a bit displaced, we knew what land marks we were looking for the find our way back. Great advice—identify landmarks that will guide you back and act as your North Star—preferably a church steeple, because these can be seen from anywhere in the city!!
We spotted our North Star and began heading in that direction. This path took us by ornate statues, art and water fountains. In addition, we passed by another open-air market and a large shopping complex. Something interesting we have noticed, in both Hungary and Slovakia, people actually use the water in the fountains. In Papa we have seen people wash their hands and feet, as well as drink from a fountain (with clean water), in Bratislava people had their feet in the fountain, cooling off.
We finally found the parking lot, but stopped for ice cream before going to our car. Choosing ice cream was interesting, the young man behind the counter did not speak any English and thought we had ordered when we hadn’t. We ended up holding ice cream cones of an identified flavor. Happily it was great, and we think it was rum raisin… but we can’t be sure! Lol!
Not ready to leave, we headed into the shopping complex which was like a large department store with Tesco (a grocery store) on the basement level. The prices were very high but we had fun looking around. After hearing two people speaking English (from America) we stopped and chatted with them. They were retirees from Florida there on a guided tour; this explained all of the American-English we heard!
When we finally made it back to the parking lot, after five hours of wandering the streets of Bratislava, we examined the machine that would take our ticket to exit the parking lot. We watched as cars scanned their ticket in the machine, the gate open, and they drove off. A bit confused, we wondered why no one was paying…but we hoped we wouldn’t have to either! We got in the car, drove to the exit, scanned our ticket and …..nothing….scan the ticket again…nothing!! OH NO!!! We were not sure what to do, so we backed up and parked. That is when we saw a “Parking Machine” sign. A man was using the machine when we approached. We watched as he scanned his ticket, paid, and was issued a new ticket. Following by example, we did the same, paying 10 Euros for 5 hours ($12.95).
With new ticket in hand, we returned to our car, again rolled up to the exit, scanned our new ticket and…the gate opened. Brilliant!!
We entered “home” into the GPS, and took the shorter, highway bound, route home at 130 km per hour (which is the speed limit on that highway). After an hour and 20 minutes we were home-sweet-otthon.
As we were saying, the people looked much different in Bratislava than in Papa. Mainly, the styles were much different. The skirt and shorts length for the women dropped about four inches. There were not as many vividly red hair colors. It is important to note however, that many of the people were tourists. We heard a lot of people speaking English (with American accents)! There was also a large group of Asian tourists, and we also heard German and French being spoken around us.
As we continued on the path towards the Bratislava Castle, we realized that we took some wrong turns. We had to back track a little, but this just meant more sight-seeing! After crossing a bridge, built for pedestrians, the trolley and cars, we began to approach the castle. The beautiful aroma of cedar filled the air as we walked up a large cedar staircase to the back of the castle. Immediately we encountered a sign which gave details about the castle’s history, which was first recorded in 900 AD, and the reconstruction in 1953 after a devastating fire.
We walked on the grounds of the castle which was mostly under construction, but the view was spectacular. From the high elevation, we were able to view the entire city which was a spectacular sight! The reconstructed castle consists of an outer wall which looks original, surrounding the new architecture which was gated. Not being able to enter the castle did not really matter, the outside was fantastic!!
Walking back down the hill towards downtown, we took a different route from when we came up. This route lead us to a narrow cobble stone street with multiple restaurants and shops. We continued along this antique path, which lead us to the “old downtown.” Strolling down the cobble stone streets of this historic city, felt like walking on a movie set…it was unbelievable! The streets looked just like photos we have seen of old European towns. Tall old buildings towered above us as made our way through the maze of shops and cafes.
Hungry for lunch, we decided to eat at a little restaurant called “Twenties”. There was outside and inside seating available, the heat encouraged us to sit inside! We entered the dimly lit restaurant and heard Michael Jackson! The old restaurant and the modern music was a bit at odds, but it worked. We chose a table by the door and ordered 2 virgin mojitos that were wonderfully refreshing!! The menu consisted of authentic Slovakian cuisine like dumplings, cheeses, meats, etc. We ordered two traditional Slovakian meals: Slovakian dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon, and a bowl of cooked veggies, potatoes and cheese. Both dishes were delicious and the portions were very large! Again….the mojitos were excellent!! They were full of a plethora of mint and fresh lime…they were perfect!
After lunch we continued on the cobble stone streets and walked into a couple of tourist shops. Most items were fairly expensive, especially because the Euro is worth more than the dollar. We are used to being in Papa where our dollar goes a long way! As we walked the scenery began to change from old to new. The shops and restaurants we passed were new and bustling. We then entered a large town square surrounded by both old and new buildings. Small open-air stands were situated in the square selling mostly souvenir items. A beautiful old fountain was at the center of the square, it was a marvelous sight.
We then decided to try and find our way back to our car! We had wondered around so aimlessly, it was a fun challenge to find the parking lot. On our adventure back to the car we ended up on top of the Danube River, about ten blocks away from the car! LOL!! Though we were a bit displaced, we knew what land marks we were looking for the find our way back. Great advice—identify landmarks that will guide you back and act as your North Star—preferably a church steeple, because these can be seen from anywhere in the city!!
We spotted our North Star and began heading in that direction. This path took us by ornate statues, art and water fountains. In addition, we passed by another open-air market and a large shopping complex. Something interesting we have noticed, in both Hungary and Slovakia, people actually use the water in the fountains. In Papa we have seen people wash their hands and feet, as well as drink from a fountain (with clean water), in Bratislava people had their feet in the fountain, cooling off.
We finally found the parking lot, but stopped for ice cream before going to our car. Choosing ice cream was interesting, the young man behind the counter did not speak any English and thought we had ordered when we hadn’t. We ended up holding ice cream cones of an identified flavor. Happily it was great, and we think it was rum raisin… but we can’t be sure! Lol!
Not ready to leave, we headed into the shopping complex which was like a large department store with Tesco (a grocery store) on the basement level. The prices were very high but we had fun looking around. After hearing two people speaking English (from America) we stopped and chatted with them. They were retirees from Florida there on a guided tour; this explained all of the American-English we heard!
When we finally made it back to the parking lot, after five hours of wandering the streets of Bratislava, we examined the machine that would take our ticket to exit the parking lot. We watched as cars scanned their ticket in the machine, the gate open, and they drove off. A bit confused, we wondered why no one was paying…but we hoped we wouldn’t have to either! We got in the car, drove to the exit, scanned our ticket and …..nothing….scan the ticket again…nothing!! OH NO!!! We were not sure what to do, so we backed up and parked. That is when we saw a “Parking Machine” sign. A man was using the machine when we approached. We watched as he scanned his ticket, paid, and was issued a new ticket. Following by example, we did the same, paying 10 Euros for 5 hours ($12.95).
With new ticket in hand, we returned to our car, again rolled up to the exit, scanned our new ticket and…the gate opened. Brilliant!!
We entered “home” into the GPS, and took the shorter, highway bound, route home at 130 km per hour (which is the speed limit on that highway). After an hour and 20 minutes we were home-sweet-otthon.
2010. július 21., szerda
Bratislava, Slovakia
Today we traveled to Bratislava, Slovakia (the capital)! Instead of driving the shortest distance, on the highway, we took the scenic route through the back country of Slovakia. When entering most European countries, it is mandatory to purchase a vignette, which is a highway tax for driving there. Dad told us to just pull over once we crossed the border and purchase a vignette at a gas station. Crossing the border between Hungary and Slovakia was very easy because they are both Schengen countries, so they share open borders. There are no guards patrolling the border, so we just drove in.
About a mile into Slovakia we spotted an old wooden building off to the left. We pulled off in hopes they sold vignettes. When we approached the window, the man behind the counter did not speak any English. He quickly got a woman from the back to help. She spoke little…very little…English. At first, we thought they were saying that they did not have any vignettes, but then she pulled out the price sheet. The prices were higher from those that we read online. Perhaps the prices were higher because we were in the middle of nowhere, we’re not sure. We entered into Slovakia carrying 10 Euro with us. Now that we were out of Hungary, Euro was the new currency, opposed to Forint. According to the vignette prices online, 10 Euro would have been plenty. Our plan was to pay for the vignette, and then find an ATM to pull out more Euros. Dad had given us the 10, in order to purchase a vignette quickly.
The lady behind the counter asked for 13 Euro, we then asked her if she would accept Forint, she agreed. In Forint, the balance due was over 3000 and we paid. She then requested something, not in English , and it took us a quite a few minutes to understand that she needed us write down our license plate number. We did this and handed over the number, she then needed to know what country the license plate was issued (again, this is all in Slovakian). “Hungary” we kept repeating, and she kept saying “English”…we realized she meant “From England”…she assumed we must be from England because we spoke English!! This took another few minutes to work out. She finally understood, but became even more confused! LoL!
She entered everything into the computer (we assume) and handed us a receipt. Typically when you purchase a vignette you receive a sticker to place in the lower right hand corner of your windshield..we just got a receipt. She insisted it was all we needed, so we thanked her and began walking to our car. Looking at the receipt, we saw that the receipt stated we paid only 8 Euro, opposed to 13! So, we went back to the counter and pointed this out to her. She smacked the side of her head and apologized. She had charged us for a more expensive vignette, but entered a cheaper one (the one we needed) into the computer. (Perhaps she would have pocketed this over payment)This is where it got REALLY confusing!! She attempted to give our change back, and call it square. Unfortunately, what she gave us did not add up to our proper change. This took time to sort out, but we eventually got our overpayment back! We are not sure if she was meaning to rip us off, or it really was an accident…but we caught it, called it, and got our money back!
With our “receipt” we began our journey into Slovakia. The country side was very similar to Hungary. We drove past vast fields of sunflowers, corn and wheat. Small towns with churches stood every few kilometers (we are still trying to understand the metric system haha!)
As we approached Bratislava, the view quickly changed from country to city. Many signs were in English, and there were high rise buildings as far as the eye could see. We knew we wanted to go to the old downtown, so we followed the signs which lead to the center of town. Parking signs quickly appeared in abundance, and we found a parking lot directly in the center of downtown. The price would be 1 Euro ($1.30) per 30 minutes. The price was a little steep but we knew it would be the same everywhere, and it was a great parking spot! We parked the Jetta and began to explore the city.
The first thing we spotted were open church doors! None of the churches ever seem to be open in Papa (except on Sunday). We were excited to see if we could just walk in. Fortunately we could, and we were amazed by the beauty. The art work was exceptional, all along the walls and the ceiling! It was magnificent! There were paintings of angels with harps in the clouds and portraits of Jesus. Much of the interior of the church was trimmed in gold. Other tourists walked in as we admired the historic sight.
After exiting the church, we began wandering around the huge city. We came across many clothes shops which had beautiful dresses!! The styles are much cuter than the shops in Papa! We spotted a castle off in the distance, which we assumed was the Bratislava Castle. So, we began walking in that direction.
We noticed very quickly that Bratislava is the old meeting the new! There are ancient monuments next to new coffee shops and pubs. Old buildings lean against the new, and church steeples grace the views at the end of alley ways. Colors dance across the entire city from both the modern advertisements and the beautiful old architecture.
The people in the streets were different from those here in Papa. The difference may be due to the fact we were in a different country, or solely from the fact we were in a much larger town!
To be continued…
About a mile into Slovakia we spotted an old wooden building off to the left. We pulled off in hopes they sold vignettes. When we approached the window, the man behind the counter did not speak any English. He quickly got a woman from the back to help. She spoke little…very little…English. At first, we thought they were saying that they did not have any vignettes, but then she pulled out the price sheet. The prices were higher from those that we read online. Perhaps the prices were higher because we were in the middle of nowhere, we’re not sure. We entered into Slovakia carrying 10 Euro with us. Now that we were out of Hungary, Euro was the new currency, opposed to Forint. According to the vignette prices online, 10 Euro would have been plenty. Our plan was to pay for the vignette, and then find an ATM to pull out more Euros. Dad had given us the 10, in order to purchase a vignette quickly.
The lady behind the counter asked for 13 Euro, we then asked her if she would accept Forint, she agreed. In Forint, the balance due was over 3000 and we paid. She then requested something, not in English , and it took us a quite a few minutes to understand that she needed us write down our license plate number. We did this and handed over the number, she then needed to know what country the license plate was issued (again, this is all in Slovakian). “Hungary” we kept repeating, and she kept saying “English”…we realized she meant “From England”…she assumed we must be from England because we spoke English!! This took another few minutes to work out. She finally understood, but became even more confused! LoL!
She entered everything into the computer (we assume) and handed us a receipt. Typically when you purchase a vignette you receive a sticker to place in the lower right hand corner of your windshield..we just got a receipt. She insisted it was all we needed, so we thanked her and began walking to our car. Looking at the receipt, we saw that the receipt stated we paid only 8 Euro, opposed to 13! So, we went back to the counter and pointed this out to her. She smacked the side of her head and apologized. She had charged us for a more expensive vignette, but entered a cheaper one (the one we needed) into the computer. (Perhaps she would have pocketed this over payment)This is where it got REALLY confusing!! She attempted to give our change back, and call it square. Unfortunately, what she gave us did not add up to our proper change. This took time to sort out, but we eventually got our overpayment back! We are not sure if she was meaning to rip us off, or it really was an accident…but we caught it, called it, and got our money back!
With our “receipt” we began our journey into Slovakia. The country side was very similar to Hungary. We drove past vast fields of sunflowers, corn and wheat. Small towns with churches stood every few kilometers (we are still trying to understand the metric system haha!)
As we approached Bratislava, the view quickly changed from country to city. Many signs were in English, and there were high rise buildings as far as the eye could see. We knew we wanted to go to the old downtown, so we followed the signs which lead to the center of town. Parking signs quickly appeared in abundance, and we found a parking lot directly in the center of downtown. The price would be 1 Euro ($1.30) per 30 minutes. The price was a little steep but we knew it would be the same everywhere, and it was a great parking spot! We parked the Jetta and began to explore the city.
The first thing we spotted were open church doors! None of the churches ever seem to be open in Papa (except on Sunday). We were excited to see if we could just walk in. Fortunately we could, and we were amazed by the beauty. The art work was exceptional, all along the walls and the ceiling! It was magnificent! There were paintings of angels with harps in the clouds and portraits of Jesus. Much of the interior of the church was trimmed in gold. Other tourists walked in as we admired the historic sight.
After exiting the church, we began wandering around the huge city. We came across many clothes shops which had beautiful dresses!! The styles are much cuter than the shops in Papa! We spotted a castle off in the distance, which we assumed was the Bratislava Castle. So, we began walking in that direction.
We noticed very quickly that Bratislava is the old meeting the new! There are ancient monuments next to new coffee shops and pubs. Old buildings lean against the new, and church steeples grace the views at the end of alley ways. Colors dance across the entire city from both the modern advertisements and the beautiful old architecture.
The people in the streets were different from those here in Papa. The difference may be due to the fact we were in a different country, or solely from the fact we were in a much larger town!
To be continued…
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