The Stare Mesto (Old Town) is comfortable and quaint–you know you are in eastern Europe; everything is different and in a good way. But the food!

One of the joys of traveling is trying new foods, expanding your pallet and taking risks. I cannot imagine traveling this far and eating things I can get back home. Tonight we dined in a brewery that has a traditional Slovak restaurant attached. The starter was a home made crackling that was chopped and ham fat drippings added to make something like a pâté. Served with sautéed onions and soft rye bread–I would be hard pressed to think of a spread that I have ever had that was better. Did you say, “carbs?” I didn’t hear you–I was too busy chomping away–remember the adventurous food part! Kathy and I will take a walk when finished. Main course for me was crispy duck legs on a bed of stewed red cabbage with ham dumplings–scrumptious. Kathy had stewed beef in a pumpkin cream sauce with puffed bread dumplings–excellent. We shared sides of marinated tomatoes and creamed cucumbers.

The Stare Mesto (Old Town) of Bratislava is charming. Church steeples abound. Mainly Roman Catholic, the city has a large share of Lutheran churches as well. The streets are thick cobblestone–really old time thick cobblestone. The narrow streets curve around so that you don’t end up where you thought you were going. But, that was ok, since where you went was pretty and interesting. I saw a big crystal beer mug, hand-cut and crafted in Slovakia, in a store window, and that is my main souvenir for the trip. Each ancient archway leads to a new street to search, and we walked hand in hand around the entire area. The castle fortress sits on the hill above the Stare Mesto and gives the area a majestic feel. So, as you can see, I walked enough to eat that pátê.
WEG – Monday, September 28, 2015

Kathy’s post script: We are so pleased with public transportation in Europe and the ease of using it. We feel quite comfortable with the process and are performing quite well in our travels. Yesterday in Vienna, we looked at the map of the train routes and figured out (by ourselves) the plan to get to the train station the next day from our apartment, and we bought our tickets — for less than three euros. This morning we left our Vienna apartment, walked a block to catch the U6 tram, transferred at the appropriate stop to the U4 tram, then transferred to the U1 that brought us to the main hauptbahnhof in Vienna where we then boarded the train to Bratislava. Upon arrival in Bratislava, we paid less than two euros to take the x13 tram to our stop in Stare Mesto (the Old Town) where we met our apartment manager & settled in to an apartment in the Old Town.

Apartment living in Europe has been a positive experience for us. Our apartment in Bratislava is wonderful. For a mere 72 euros, we have a fully furnished apartment with a kitchen equipped with cooktop, microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, coffeemaker, cookware, & dishes; two master bedrooms each with a king-sized bed; a couch & chair; dining room; bathroom with a shower & a washing machine; & two TVs with English channels (which we don’t have time to watch!) — and internet that works! It is beautiful. In our Vienna apartment, I was amazed to have use of a clothes washer/dryer combination that effectively performed both tasks.

Just wanted to share with you some of the details of travel in Europe with the Graumann’s.