Why don't we do a walking tour?

We both had a pretty good sleep; no dog, no seagulls and best of all, no work to think about!

Breakfast was being served until 10am so we headed down an hour before closing. Before Covid, there was a buffet breakfast where you could help yourself, but not now. Instead you have to go up wearing a mask and point at the food you want; the poor chef then plates it up for you. 

Breakfast wasn't great from either a food or service perspective, which is incredibly disappointing as this was one of the highlights in reviews of the hotel. I was also surprised with the lack of socially distanced tables, but maybe they were having an off day, I'll give it another shot tomorrow. 

The previous night we decided to go on a free walking tour which would start at 11 am. It was due to leave from a point on the square about a 5 minute walk from us; the exact point being between the Carlton Hotel and American embassy. Strange instructions you might think, but you can't really miss the US Embassy as it is the only one with a large fence surrounding it!

There were around 16 in the group which was led by Sasha, a dentistry student at the University. Her English was fantastic and her knowledge appeared to be equally as good. Before leaving our initial meeting point, she gave us a brief history of Slovakia including the separation from the Czech Republic, its part in the World Wars and most importantly how it is not Slovenia! 

After an interesting introduction, we walked to our first stop, the Slovak National Theatre. It is a very beautiful building but there are actually no Slovaks represented on the building; unfortunately I can only remember a few names but they include Shakespeare, Goethe and Mozart!

Our next stop was just a short walk from the Theatre and is one of the most famous statues in the city; it is called Čumil and is a bronze statue of a sewer worker  "peeping" at people walking by. There is now a sign pointing him out as he has apparently lost his head a number of times with delivery drivers hitting him when delivering throughout the old town.

We took a picture then headed to the next statue which is of an old man. The statue is silver and is also of a real person; he was the son of a shoemaker and grandson of a famous clown, and was inspired by the latter's example to bring happiness to the streets of the city. He walked around the old town and in particular the stretch from Michael's Gate to the river, in top hat and tails, greeting women with the words, “I kiss your hand” in German, Hungarian and Slovak. He received free food from several of the city’s cafes, and supported himself with occasional cleaning work. After he died, he was greatly missed and so this statue was erected in his honour.

 After a short stay here, we moved onto the Main Square and the Old Town Hall. It is the oldest city hall in the country with the tower being built in approximately 1370. The hall was created in the 15th century by connecting three townhouses. It also houses the Bratislava City Museum which we are hoping to visit in the next few days.

The next stop was a short walk away and is the only preserved gate of the city fortifications from the 14th century. It is called Michalska Gate and was named after the gothic church of St Michael, which unfortunately no longer exists as it was demolished in the 16th century. We took a few pictures then headed on our travels.

We passed by the "Bird Fountain" before stopping in front of the oldest apothecary in Bratislava; it is currently being refurbished and will possibly house a museum, or a bar...

We were just beside St Martins Cathedral but unfortunately could not visit as it wasn't due to open until 1pm so our guide told us a few random stories instead. 

The first story was about a strange tradition on Easter Monday where men can chase women with willow whips and buckets of cold water; apparently this is tradition in lots of families... It has pagan roots and apparently is worse in smaller villages as the women get thrown into rivers where available!

 

The second story is also a tradition where people go out and buy live carp for Christmas dinner. The carp is still alive so they fill their baths to clean it for the days running up to Christmas. The carp is then fried for dinner and is served with potato salad. Our guide took issue with this as the kids in the family usually give it a name and look after it, and then learn about the circle of life. I don't think we will bring any of these traditions back to the UK...

After hearing these odd stories, we continued onto the last stop; this involved walking through the Jewish quarter and up to the castle. As we were there yesterday, we were not going to bother but the guide mentioned that she would share some information about food and drink, so we climbed back up to the castle for the second day in a row. The picture below is for a famous bar called Andy which has tram seats and is popular with the locals. The sculpture has a statue by a famous artist. Notice where you can touch it for good luck... We haven’t been yet as it is only open after 6pm, but we will get them soon!

Overall the tour was fantastic; we left knowing exactly where to go for dinner and the food and drink to sample. But first, we would visit the cathedral and then go for a well deserved refreshment!