Путешествие в Словакию Travel to Slovakia

Slovakia 2015

Since the generous Spain opened a multi-visa for us to travel to the Canary Islands, we simply could not help but use it to the fullest. Literally on the day when we found out that the visa is multi, I went through a bunch of airline sites and destinations and determined our further route. The visa was only for 30 days, so the schedule turned out to be very tight. Although it seems to me that if they had opened more, the density would not have weakened : ) Since in the first foreign country for 4 years I used up almost all the pages, I had to issue a second one before the trip for reinsurance. In an unsuccessful scenario, I could end up with a visa, but without pages)

Now let's return to those warm Canary Islands, but unfortunately their outlines, shrouded in the thick of the night, floated past the porthole. Ahead of us was a transplant lasting 30 hours in Hungary. But two Hungary in one year, not comme il faut, so we decided to arrange a transplant for ourselves so that it would not seem small. Arriving at half past midnight, we booked a shuttle from the airport to the hotel (28 euros for two round trip). The hotel was strategically located near the Keletti station. I warned the reception that we will be after an hour, but nevertheless we stand at the door and unsuccessfully try to intercom. By a happy coincidence, a girl was walking along the street and passed near us at the moment when someone's sleepy voice began to tell us something in beautiful Hungarian. The girl talked to the voice and told us that there was no one and everyone was sleeping. But there was an illogical nuance, because if she communicated with someone, it means not only that someone is there, but he also does not sleep. The girl entered into our position, we laughed together, and then it turned out that she did not have money in her account to call the administration. The situation was aggravated by the fact that after 3 hours we had a train to another country and somehow everything completely turned not in our direction. . .

But then the hostess opened the door to us, who said that she was in another room and did not hear the call, and some guest, whom we woke up with our call, spoke to us on the intercom. Gorgeous, the alarm clock showed that we can still sleep for 2 hours and 40 minutes. And how evil I didn’t want to sleep at all, moreover, I couldn’t fall asleep, at least it seemed to me so.

At half past four, the insidious alarm clock rang and we got on the train to the station near which we lived. The coupe turned out to be only ours and very comfortable. And to make sure it was ours, I covered the glass doors with curtains and locked them. Since there are plenty of seats on the train, newcomers can easily settle in another compartment, otherwise some thread of Miskuzi from the Eurotour will sit down and what should we do. By the way, we had a choice between Bratislava and Austria. But Bratislava obviously had two advantages - a little less travel, and the guys from the Eurotour had a good gamble there for a dollar and eighty-three cents. And in general, it was quite thematic to visit this city after watching the movie many times. For two and a half hours the road made up for the lost time. I still remember waking up with the thought that I didn’t finish watching the Minions on the plane, watched them for 20 minutes and continued to sleep. And voila! We are early in the morning in Bratislava! Although yesterday afternoon we were in the Canary Islands, and at night we slept in Budapest.

The weather was clear and frosty. We had breakfast right in a cafe at the station, though with our own food, and they ordered two teas for two euros. They feel good, we feel good, and after the Canary Islands it was not the price for tea) After synchronizing the map on the tablet with the new area and loading new treasures in the Geocatching application, we went on foot straight to the center. On the way to the center, I stumbled hard on a hump in the middle of the sidewalk. The stumbling was so unexpected that I broke all the stereotypes about European roads. He began to peer, but they are not even, it turns out. I think Ukraine already has roads in no worse condition than in Europe.

If we sell “Clothes from Europe” in second-hand stores, then in Europe you can find second-hand clothes “Clothes from Holland”. But what really shocked me was when I wanted to go to the toilet. Many restaurants had signs in the format “Toilet for visitors only”, and at McDonald’s it was just for money, otherwise the turnstile would not let you through.

At the gates of the castle you can see how some kind of truck did not fit in : )

Honestly, a paid toilet at McDonald's didn't add any beauty to Slovakia. It's good that in expensive and pretentious restaurants, toilets were free, even without forced visits to these restaurants. But by and large, the whole of Europe cannot be judged by Bratislava, we will train and we will be able to compare in more detail. Although if you compare the paid toilet in Bratislava against the free one in Sri Lanka, where even paper was given to wipe your hands in the simplest eatery, then Asia clearly wins.

I was very pleased with their language. We speak Russian to them, they answer us in Slovak, and at the same time we understand each other perfectly. At first, they spoke to passers-by in English, but then they asked one girl if she understood Russian, and asked her to switch to Slovak. The language is really very cool and it was nice to communicate in slightly similar languages, but completely different. When we were at the finish line to the center, grandma said to us: “Go for half a year behind the nose! ” That is, half an hour on foot in a straight line)

In the morning there was nothing to do on the main square, since the New Year's fairs were still closed. So we went to find a couple of Geocache treasures, and thus get to the castle. Pointers to a paid toilet in the castle began almost a kilometer away, and there was not even a hint on the signs that it was paid and would cost almost a euro. The view from the castle was interesting, on a group of red roofs in the center. And the most interesting thing is that the treasure was indicated on the tablet just a dozen meters from us. We were looking for him, probably, for about 40 minutes. Already in complete despair, tortured by the failure, I could see the container that lay on one of the roofs of the castle and a thin fishing line stretching upward so that it could be pulled out.

But the castle did not want to part with us, most of the paths led to dead ends or anywhere, but not to the exit. There were a number of museums on the territory, among which there was a desire to visit the treasury, but after learning the price for entry, I realized with what funds the treasury was made there. Having overcome the intertwining paths around the castle, we were still able to get out of it. On this, in principle, the main attractions ended : )

Until the evening, they hung out slowly walking along the streets. And in the evening at the fair I drank mulled wine with Strudels. Christmas markets are always fun.

After a hard night of getting from the Canary Islands through Budapest to Bratislava, an equally difficult route to Kyiv awaited us. Having traveled two and a half hours on the train, we even had 5 more hours of sleep, so that later we could transfer to a plane, from which we would get straight to work. The contrast was still the same.

When we checked into the hotel in Budapest at night, there was no one at the reception as always, and there was a sign on the door, please come to the reception at 10 am to pay for the room. But since at ten in the morning I should already be like a cucumber at my workplace in Kyiv, we have a discrepancy. To make matters worse, we were short of two euros and twenty cents in cash.

After examining the room, we found money in the battery, which had been there for centuries, since no one could get it. Presumably it was 2 euros. By dismantling and assembling the radiator, we became ten euro cents richer. Now we lacked only 2.10. I moved the lamp so that it was clear that it was not in its place, and hid the money under the lamp, which I informed the hotel about by email. I put a note to the money that I would transfer 2.10 euros in any convenient way. And they hung a sign on the door to read the email. The second problem of early check-out is to hand over the keys so that the door is also closed from the back. Otherwise, it may come out, as in Masyanya, which was discharged in a hostel in Budapest and stuck between two doors.

I was happy with my spy scheme until the hotel noticed that I checked out without paying, and they didn't read the email. The entire amount of 32.2 euros was debited from the card. Now I had to explain to the technical support of the booking what the hell happened and why the hotel should return the debited money to me. A picture was already drawn in my head, how the manager did not notice the sign, and the new settled tourists will find 30 euros under the lamp. But fortunately, the booking hotel replied that within an hour they would check whether there really was a stash under the lamp and cancel the transaction. In the end, they did.

Trip information

Date of travel: 11/23/2015 – 11/25/2015

Duration: 1 full day (The trip was part of a trip to Canary Islands)

Flights: Wizzair

Flights: Kyiv-Budapest-Kyiv

Train: Budapest-Bratislava-Budapest

Hotel:  Spent the night in Budapest, booked through booking. com

Excursions: All by yourself, on foot

Visas: Self-obtained

Trip difficulty: 2/10 (easy)

Costs for two:

Accommodation: €16 per day

Restaurants: Average bill 17 euros for two

Budapest-Bratislava-Budapest train: 42 euros for two, bought online here , drove 2.5 hours one way