Bratslavia - parking on the footpath

Trip Start Sep 03, 2008
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Trip End Nov 13, 2008


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Flag of Slovakia  , Bratislava,
Friday, October 10, 2008

After arriving in Wien from Cesky, Shellie and I decided to change our tour to include Budapest, it was after all just over the border, well almost. The road to Budapest runs past a city called Bratislava in Slovakia, so we have made that town our home for the evening.Bratislava is rather small, we walked the old town in about 45 minutes. That said, this city has remarkable access to open space and parkland, right on its doorstep. This afternoon we spent over three hours exploring "Mestske lesy", one of Bratislava's city forests. It was literally five minutes drive from our hostel, which itself is only 15 minutes walk from the centre of the old town.
On our walk we discovered an old chair-lift, probably used for servicing a nearby ski field in the 60's, but now rusting away. We also found the remains of some old saw mills, the last of which is just over three kilometres from the Danube and which commenced operation in the 1760's. The country side is quite hilly, making the transport of timber from the location to the Danube without "post industrialisation" mechanics all the more interesting. We also discovered the remains of a large red railway bridge, which was destroyed in 1944 by retreating Nazi forces. The WWII destruction of the bridge was a reminder of the warning sign on the base of the welcome sign to the park, which was "Visitors enter the forest a their own risk. We advise you not to leave the marked trails because the forest park contains unexploded munitions from the Second World War".
Parking the car today was an adventure. The hostel has "on-street" parking which, in Bratislava means "park the car on the footpath". This was achieved by navigating a 15 cm gutter, placing the car between a tree and a light-pole fore and aft of the smaller than normal-sized parking space you were planning on getting into, and dodging the traffic and trolley-busses who were coming down the main street behind you.
All in all, Bratislava is a lovely city to visit, although you probably would not need much time comprehensively explore the city. Next stop, Budapest.
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