Bratislava, Slovakia

The next morning when we woke up we were in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We never knew what we would see when we first looked out the cabin window – the river, the dock or another boat. One day I was looking into the galley window of the boat docked next to us only two feet away. Sometimes the boats are two or three deep and passengers have to pass through other boats to get to shore.

Bratislava was the former Hungarian capital from 1526 until 1784. Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia until 1993 when it split into two countries - Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The population is now around 430,000 and the economy is based on the automobile industry. There is a Volkswagen plant.

We boarded a red trolley to go to the castle.

This part of the world evidently has a severe problem with ice cream vandalism. We saw this emblem in many places throughout the trip.

The castle was under renovation as were many of the buildings we saw everywhere. There was a great view of the town below.


St. Martin’s Gothic cathedral was started in 1452 but took two hundred years to complete. It was the coronation site of 11 Hungarian kings.  


This Renaissance fountain is St. George slaying the three-headed dragon. It is in the courtyard of the Primatial Palace. It is not known whether George actually existed but according to a legend, this Roman army officer became a symbol of the conquest of Christianity.

That afternoon we had a tasting of Serbian, Macedonian, and Montenegro wines in the bar while sailing to Hungary. We learned that the Slovaks like their wine so much that they do not have enough to export.


We arrived at the Gabcikovo lock, a joint project between Czechoslovakia and Hungary in 1977. Its purpose was to prevent flooding, improve sailing, and produce electricity. The project was only completed in Slovakia because Hungary backed out and Czechoslovakia was required to totally change their plans. After the Czechoslovakia breakup, Slovakia inherited the project.














After dinner, we had a classical music concert in the bar by the on-board Romanian musicians, an unbelievable violinist and another man who played a keyboard that can produce the sounds of any musical instrument. 

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