Bratislava, Slovakia

Sunday 26 June

The Zlate Piesky  campsite in Bratislava has several advantages – it's close to a major 24hr Tesco shopping centre, rail, tram, has loads of water activities including water skiing, has a very cheap overnight rate and close to the old town of Bratislava. The disadvantage is it's like staying in the Russian Gulag. The facilities are very basic, so much so that we're going to try our onboard shower for the first time tomorrow night. Picture showers with nowhere to hang anything, no curtains, missing tiles, and one push button – set temperature – lukewarm if your lucky. By the way, don't forget to take loo paper if you go to the facilities!!! Not to worry, it's only for 2 nights.

We almost encountered our first campsite rage tonight. A Soviet family had just pulled into the site near us (in a car, so pitching a tent), when along came an Italian couple in a motorhome to set up right beside without leaving very much personal space. With heaps of other spaces still available in the park, it was too much for a neighbouring Dutch man to bear and he went to tell off the Italian who thankfully moved, after much gesticulating. As that appealed to our sense of fair play we then had a lengthy conversation with the Dutch couple who it turns out are true grey nomads and basically spend most of their time travelling about, pitching their tent whenever it pleases them.

We thought Aussies were the BBQ champions of the world. So far we've encountered all nationalities BBQing their hearts out. But considering they spend half the year indoors eating hot, heavy stews, you can understand they love the outdoors and cooking easy meals. They also love a good beer or 10.

Monday 27 June

Public transport is very cheap here. Return tram tickets into the Old Town cost us 2.60 euro in total. Inspectors dressed in plain clothes inspect your ticket with hawk eyes on the lookout for forgeries.

Buildings in many areas are run down, many vacant, but there's all sorts of trade going on. 

In the Old Town most buildings are well preserved and geared towards attracting tourists. There are many palaces now housing museums and galleries (all closed on Mondays) and so many cafes you can't go wrong.

St Martin's Cathedral (Gothic 15^th century) is massive on the outside but from what we saw, is very modest on the inside. We decided against a full visit costing 8 euro as photos weren't allowed. Probably it's most impressive feature, the tower, was under repair due to the constant shaking the building receives from the busy motorway built next door in the 70s. A beautiful gold crown adorns the top.

From here you can also see the bridge across the Danube that was built with the Motorway, the locals refer to as the UFO.  We thought it was straight out of War of the Worlds.

A walk up to the Castle (still under reconstruction) gave a great view of the entire city and the Danube River. Once used by Hungarian royalty the Castle is now an historical museum.

After lunch we set out for a hill and step walk to the Slavin, a memorial to almost 7000 Soviet soldiers killed during World War II and another great view of the city. 

This location also contains some beautiful, big, modern mansions, so there is obviously some money in this town.

The Grassalkovich Palace built in 1760 (and reconstructed in 1996) now seats the President of the Slovak Republic, and is a magnificent building. The public gardens out the back can be visited until dusk.  

We're glad we didn't miss the opportunity to visit this city. Like Budapest, it's not a pristine place but is definitely has charm and worth a look. Just choose another location to stay!!

More photos from Bratislava are here.