Bratislava, Slovakia

Fascinating afternoon in the current capital (since 1993) of Slovakia, which city was also the capital of Habsburg-era Hungary from ~1526 until 1784. Among other sites on this unique and historical stretch of the Danube are a growing modern city of over 426,000 (with over 100,000 university students), and a military cemetery where many of the Red Army liberators of Bratislava in 1945 rest (and as our guide joked, the Soviets apparently forgot that they liberated Bratislava in 1945 because they and other Warsaw Pact nations brought tanks to do it again in 1968 following the Prague Spring). Other sights included Old City Hall, St. Michael’s tower, the Bratislava Hrad or castle (now adjacent to the national assembly (legislature) building), the Slovenske filharmonia (Slovakian National Philharmonic) building, and finishing with a tasting of Slovakian beers (and pretzels) at the Beer Palace pub. Na zdravie! (which is Slovak too—not just Russian [which is spelled slightly differently in the transliteration]—for “to your health,” or more colloquially “cheers”).Read more