Bratislava

We have a family tradition of a trip for high school graduation. The first three boys, we could make reservations with confidence, and we have visited some wonderful places. Chris, the 4th son, is about 50-50 to graduate on time, leaving us in limbo for reservations. He knows where he wants to go, though: Germany, then on to Romania for Catalin's wedding. We have slid him seamlessly into the idea that he wants to go to Munich, specifically. The BMW museum is there, which is his biggest draw.

Juggling the various flights, trains, and rentals has had me all over the internet looking at comparative prices, routes, and hotels. Bratislava - look it up if you don't know, thank you - is beginning to emerge as an overnight on the way home. It is the back door to Vienna, and so discount airlines fly in there a lot. Both boys thought seeing someplace new, rather than spending the extra night in Budapest or Dublin, sounded preferable. Fine, then.

I went to look up what sights there are to see in Bratislava. They have not gotten this tourism idea down in the Slovak Republic. I complained that Romania has a crying need for training in hotel and restaurant management - not to mention advertising and say, being nice to customers - but Transylvania at least is well ahead of Bratislava. They do apparently have some things to see there, but...

First there is the List of Attractions. Please note that this is the official Bratislava site.

Descriptions of Night Life are a bit more complete. They have clubs, and the drinks are cheap. That's something.

The tourism guide has an interview this month with the Director of the Municipal Library, talking about competition with the internet. And did you know that Lisxt visited Bratislava 15 times? Imagine.

They could be doing much better with their promotional materials. This is a city that was the capital of the Austria-Hungary Empire for a time, has a castle built in the first few centuries BCE and restored many times since, Gothic and art deco churches, and a medieval Old City.

This is the slide show of their sight-seeing tour, however.

Travel guides note that Bratislava is for those who want to avoid the tourist crush in Prague and Budapest. I think I may like this place.