The guidebook says that Vienna and Bratislava are the two closest capital cities in the world. They are about 50 miles apart. The town is quite small, about 450,0000 souls. It was a very quaint town with a compact medieval center, where we spent most of our time. One of the gates into the city center had a big statue of Michael the Archangel slaying the dragon and overcoming evil, referring to the Book of Revelations. Further legend is that people are pulled down to hell by the weight of their sins.

About 20% of the country’s population lives in Bratislava and that city accounts for about 26% of the gross national product. Housing was a problem until a large public housing project was put in place. Just on the outskirts of the city are a row of domino-looking apartment buildings housing 130,000 people!

The city itself was clean and well kept. We did some shopping at a store selling folk art from all over Slovakia. We didn’t find similar stores in any of the other cities we visited on the cruise. I took mostly 35mm film pictures in Bratislava and will have to wait to get these pictures developed and scanned. Meanwhile, the picture the accompanies this entry is of the main bridge over the Danube River. There is a restaurant on the far side of the bridge built high over the bridge. Unfortunately, the restaurant is closed for renovation. There was a huge amount of construction going on in the city, perhaps because it is now the capital of the country and needs to get dressed up a bit. The US ambassador’s residence in Bratislava is built in the shape of the White House in Washington D.C. Slovakia is a very new country, or rather a re-establishment of on old country. It was formed anew in 1991 when the Czech Republic divorced them so they wouldn’t have to continue to subsidize the Slovaks. There isn’t much yet to recommend the city but I’m glad to have been there as we’ll probably never be back.