And so to Slovakia. [Blog post, by me] #projectBrno

[lproven]

(Or, the Slovakian for "beer" is "Hodor!")Letisko M. R. Štefánik -- the airport -- is big, bright and shiny and modern. Rather appealing. Bratislava is only about the same size as Brno -- under half a million inhabitants -- but it's a capital city and the difference shows in the airport. I took some Euros out from a handy ATM, cursing myself for

Comments

Hello!

[marisha725]

I read your notes about Brno and Bratislava thoroughly. It´s interesting to take the perspective of a foreigner (for example, the habit or removing shoes as one enters a home doesn´t seem remarkable to me but apparently it´s not routine everywhere). I live in Slovakia, so let me advocate Bratislava/Slovakia a little :)

"After ten minutes or so, the driver appeared, boarded -- and drove off."
I think bus drivers are officially only allowed to let people in and out at the bus stop. You need to wait by the sign for the bus you want. However, it would be kind of the driver to let you in and/or ask what you need. Which leads to another problem, language. As you may know, Slovakia was a part of Soviet Union until 1989 and English couldn´t be taught at schools, so people over 40 are much more likely to speak Russian than English. But I agree with you that it would be wise to choose English speaking drivers for lines from/to the airport.

Public transport in Bratislava is something that annoys me as well. In most cities in Slovakia you just buy a ticket from the driver, easy as pie, no problem. I don´t know why Bratislava has to be special this way. And I understand your annoyance about the fact that it was no problem to take the fine from your debit card but to buy a ticket, coins are necessary. That would drive me crazy.

"Now, the Czech Republic has more industry and a stronger economy than the Slovak Republic, which has little industry."
Czechia and Slovakia were one republic in past, with Prague as the capital. I believe this explains enough. Low taxes attracted some international companies such as Kia or Samsung but I´m afraid it´s temporary.

Bratislava is definitely not the most beautiful city to see in Slovakia. I´d recommend Nitra, Banská Bystrica, Banská Štiavnica, Kremnica or Piešťany.

It has become a sad overall trend to build ugly cubes (mostly malls) among historical houses in the centre of the city.

Re: Hello!

[lproven]

Thank you for that!

Yes, I still sometimes forget the shoes-indoors thing -- but this is also the rule in Norway and Sweden, where I have visited many times, so it was not new to me. And of course in the Muslim world and in Japan, neither of which I have personal experience of. I think in Europe it's a sign of a country where it snows a lot.

My experience with the public transport was very annoying, yes. I should email this blog post to the Dopravný podnik Bratislava. Not good enough, must try harder.

I found more English -- or German -- understood in Prague & Brno than in Bratislava, though. I didn't expect that.

I fear that you are right about the economy. Possibly here in Brno, too. I am sure I'll return and explore more of Slovakia, though -- possibly once I speak more Čestina than I do now, though...

If you haven't seen them, you might enjoy my earlier posts about Brno:

http://lproven.livejournal.com/297055.html

http://lproven.livejournal.com/297381.html

http://lproven.livejournal.com/297636.html

Re: Hello!

[marisha725]

Thanks for the links, I have already read the posts.

Re: Hello!

[lproven]

Oh, well, good! I'm very glad to know that someone who is not already a friend is reading this stuff.

There will be more soon -- I have a ¾ written post on the other laptop already. It's more personal so far but there will be more travel-oriented stuff up soon,