Bratislava

I made it to Bratislava on time to meet my CouchSurfing host, Marian. Really nice guy. Met me at the train station. And he came with two Germans, Marco and Nadine, who stayed with him the night before. I liked their energy. We walked around the city a little and visited the castle.

Bratislava’s “New Bridge” looks like a UFO.

A really small car.

Bratislava is a pretty small city. Some nice architecture, but that gets boring. Buildings. Big deal. A big attraction for tourists were the statues set up around the city. Especially this one. The Watcher.

I found an Andy Warhol, who was born in Slovakia, and this Napoleonic soldier.

On the bus, they have a strict policy against ice cream.

Marian and I went to Devin castle, which is at the junction of the Danube and the Morava rivers. Across the river is Austria. It was great getting out of the city.

The most interesting thing was an artifact we saw in the museum. A loaf of bread about 1000 years old. Carbonized and black. I wish I took a picture.

Staying with Marian was great. We celebrated on September 26, the date that marked 3 months for me on the road. He gave me a cell phone since I had been complaining about the inconvenience of not having one. Really generous. I liked his pet rat, Lola.

I had read that Slovakia was famous for beautiful women.  I was disappointed.  Beautiful women seemed rare, from what I saw.  Serbia still #1.

It was a short stay in Slovakia, and I only got to see the capital city.  It probably would have been better to see the Tatras.  If it wasn’t for Marian, my stay in Bratislava probably would have been unmemorable.

Hungary-Slovakia Border Crossing

I decided that two domestic trains would probably be cheaper than one international train.  Especially from Budapest.  Leaving Budapest is expensive.

I wanted to get to Bratislava, Slovakia.  According to some person on some forum, it cost 16 euro to go direct.  I decided I would go to Esztergom, and then cross the Danube to Sturovo, Slovakia.

I got up at 6am and took a bus and the metro to get to the train station.  That cost me 500 forints because I had to take two metro lines (Budapest is retarded in this way — if you transfer from one metro line to another, you have to pay extra).  But I didn’t pay for the bus.  Attila told me bus travel is free.  He doesn’t have a pass but he takes the bus all the time.  Controllers don’t monitor buses often in Budapest.  Only the metro, and maybe trams.  So, during my stay in Budapest, I kept a ticket in my pocket ready to validate if I saw a controller.  I was always on the look-out and ready to jump off the bus.

The train to Esztergom cost 900 forints.  Really good.  But the train station was well away from the center, so I had to get a city bus.  140 forints.  Not bad either.

Then I started walking to cross the border.  It started raining.  I saw a road sign and it seemed I was going the wrong direction.  I asked directions and happend to ask a a Hungarian-born Californian.  He walked me to the bridge as we talked about the US economy collapsing.

It started raining hard.  I picked a great day to cross the border on foot.  I got out my tarp poncho and draped it over me and the bag.  And then I crossed the mighty Dan.

I’m posting all the photos of this experience because I think they’re great.  Really funny.  Look at my face, recoiling from the rain.  Look at the hump on my back.  Great photos, capturing the struggle.

I got to Slovakia after a long walk over the bridge.  No border control because of the Schengen Agreement.

Time was running out.  I only had 40 minutes to get to the train station.  I asked someone and he told me the train station was far away, at least an hour’s walk.  He pointed me to the bus station.  No one at the bus station could speak english, and one guy who seemed to understand me, shook his head when I asked for a bus to the train station.

Now I was panicking.  I had arranged with my CouchSurfing host in Bratislava that I would get this train and he would meet me as I arrived.  If I missed this train, I would have to find a phone or internet cafe to call him.

I ran into a bank and asked if anyone spoke english.  A girl helped me.  She told me that a bus would come by in 20 minutes.  My train left in 20 minutes.  She called for a taxi.  The taxi came in 5 minutes.  I had two big bills in Slovakian currency and some Hungarian forint.  The driver said he could take forint.  I took out 1000 forint (~$6.50).  He said that was okay.  Yeah, well, what the hell do you require?  He didn’t give change, of course.  This was a panic situation and he helped out.  Oh well, I screwed that one up.  It was a 5 minute ride.

I got the train ticket, which was ~$11, and got on the train.

Then I added up all my expenses.  About $25, which is about the same as the cost of the direct train from Budapest.  I didn’t save anything, might have lost some, and definitely lost time.  But I gained in experience.  And I got a story out of it.  That must be worth something.