So what seemed like an eternity after booking the holiday, the 6 of us headed off after work to Luton airport eager to head into the depths of a Slovakian winter and experience Bratislava to the fullest. Seems that all the excitement was too much for some of us though, taking the opportunity to sleep hard on the plane, for others the joy of photographing those sleeping was also too much to resist.
After arriving at the airport late at night expecting to walk outside and find the normal 50 taxi cabs waiting desperate for business we spent a good 10 mins in the exceptionally chilly climate frantically waving down any infrequent taxi that rolled up. By the time we arrived at our accommodation, spent what seemed like an eternity checking in, once again the girls were tired and the boys were hungry! Some of the group made it back in time for some sleep…others (no names but they were Australian…) befriended some locals and held them up in a local bar till the very early hours despite protests of “we need to go home – we have lives to lead”.
True to form though and despite the lack of sleep everyone was up and ready to go in the morning on our pre-booked day trip to the outskirts of Bratislava. Much to our delight we realised we were the only ones booked so we had the luxury van and guide all to ourselves. After a quick history lesson and tour around the city of Bratislava, we headed into the Carpathian ranges and their small towns, although the weather was very foggy and cold so we couldn’t see any mountains or much else. First stop was a ceramic making workshop where we got treated to a demonstration of pot making then painting which is a traditional pastime of Slovakia. We couldn’t help but snap up some ceramic bargains, it would have been rude not to.
After that we were off to Červený Kameň (red stone) Castle which ranks among the best preserved in Slovakia and boast the largest cellars in central Europe. After a quick snow fight in the grounds we had a guided tour of the huge castle which apparently you aren’t allowed to take photos inside of but I seemed to miss being told that and was snapping away happily until I was told I wasn’t supposed to – oh well!
From the castle we went straight to our last stop on the tour which was to visit a local winery. It has been said that Slovakia produces some of the best white wine in the world, problem is that it is so good that all of it gets drunk by the locals and there is none available for export which is why you can’t buy it outside of Slovakia. The family vineyard was the highest mountain vineyard in Slovakia and I have to say it was really odd doing a wine tasting session in the snow. You normally equate wine tours with sun! The owner also had a mighty fine collection of old tractors which were restored to working order, would have loved to have started one up and taken it for a burn around the grounds but there was wine, cheese and bread to sample inside.
Coming from a country where wine is of a high standard, and humouring the Aussies who also claim their wine is drinkable, we would always be a hard bunch to please. We were not disappointed though, so much so that we all bought some to have later on that night considering we might not be able to find it outside of Slovakia anytime soon.
We got our guide to drop us in the historic centre of Bratislava on the way back and much to our delight it was the first weekend of the Christmas markets. The others were quick to snap up one of the fried meats on offer, whilst I was more inclined to look at all the Christmas decorations – yeah ok maybe I was sampling the fried goodness as well…I cant tell a lie. After some solid market browsing we decided to recuperate back at the hostel before going out for dinner. Recuperate for some means taking over the lounge room playing games loudly!
After getting bored of the games we ended up going to a traditional Slovak restaurant for dinner – recommended by our friendly guide. The food was delicious, most of us opting for traditional – although Chris got snails and I thought they were a French delicacy? Ah well, they tasted ok! We emerged from the restaurant into the cool of the night and started wandering around aimlessly until some local girls took a shine to the Aussie contingent and lead us to their favourite hangout which happened to be an underground rock bar. No health and safety rules in this place as they shut off the lights and lit up the bar with fire!
The next morning saw us wave goodbye to the Aussie boys as they were on an early flight and one of them was looking a bit worse for wear to be honest…all in the name of fun apparently! That just left the 4 of us kiwis to continue our sightseeing around the city taking in the castle, the new bridge which has a viewing platform like a UFO (unfortunately not open to go up and we still don’t know why as we don’t speak Slovak!) and as many of the historic sights we could find.
Of course all this walking builds up a good appetite so it was back to the Christmas markets for more tasty meat products! We got tired of walking around so headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and get to the airport in good time. Our taxi driver turned up quick smart and it was apparent after wheel spinning out of the driveway that he was on a mission. Zig zagging through traffic, driving at breakneck speed, flashing anyone sitting in the fast lane and hitting the off ramp to the airport at approx 160kph we were all hanging on for dear life. As he screeched to a stop in front of the departure lounge he uttered his first words to us, “8 minutes, good time”. So we bid farewell to Bratislava with that quote in mind…in fact it could be said that we could take it and make it a saying of our own to describe our trip to Bratislava…“6 people, good times”.
1 comment:
Loved the taxi driver bit!
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