Slovakia: Day 15 - Walking tour in Bratislava, dip in Lake Zlate Piesky

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 15.

12/8 Day 15: 2-hours guided walking tour in Bratislava. Went to the lake that has a sort-of beach at Lake Zlate Piesky to take a dip and cool ourselves down.

Costs
(1) 1 tram ticket (30 minutes) from Vysoka stop to Zlate Piesky stop - EUR1,20

(2) 1 tram ticket (30 minutes) from Zlate Piesky stop to Vysoka stop - EUR1,20
(3) Entrance fee to Lake Zlate Piesky - EUR6

(4) Tips for the walking tour EUR5

Food
(1) Breakfast at Naglreiter Cafe - sandwich with cheese, ham and salad EUR2,70. Cappucino EUR2,45.

(2) Lunch at Meanto - pork sirloin with potato pancakes EUR19,90, sour beer 400ml EUR4,90

(3) Tea break at Laurent cafe - Kremsnita EUR3,60, cappucino EUR3

(4) Dinner at Ramen Kazu - ramen chicken karaage EUR15,90

(5) Gelato at Luculus - one scoop pistacho and raspberry EUR3

The Story

12082026: Breakfast at Naglreiter cafe. We did not have any problem in finding a cafe for breakfast but the problem is finding a cafe that is opened early at 8am. Found one and had a sandwich with ham, cheese and salad leaf and cappucino. 

Then, we made our way to the meeting point for our free guided walking tour. Well, it is not free. We give tips based on how much we enjoyed the walking tour. While waiting for the walking tour to start, I took the opportunity to have my photo taken. The town gets really crowded with tourists by mid-morning. Well, not as many as Vienna in Austria, though. 

I like that some parts of the town have this fine shower to cool a person. Fine sprays of water as one walks under it. 

There are many statues in Bratislava town. The guide of the walking tour told us that the statues were meant to lighten up the mood of the people so they are funny statues. By the way, did you know the difference between sculpture and statue? I did not know, but now I know until I forget the information again. All statues are sculptures but not all sculptures are statues. I can only share that with you, and you can research the rest on the Internet. Haha...

This is a really funny sculpture. It was a favourite among the tourists to snap a photo with it.

Our guided walking tour started at 10am. I chose the tour on Old Town and Castle. I did not enjoy much of the tour. I could not see the connection. We stopped at places and the guide explained the landmarks.

The way towards the Castle.

This is part of the city wall. We walked on some part of it after walking tour. 

A bit of history of the city wall from Visit Bratislava.

At the end of the 14th century three gates were leading into the city: the Michael’s – Northern gate, the Vydrica – Western gate and the Laurinc – Eastern gate. In the 15th century another smaller gate, called Fishermen’s gate was built, leading to the South to the Danube river, and the gates were fortified by embankments by the order of Žigmund Luxembourg after invasion of the Hussites. The fortification walls were made of stone, 130 to 160 cm thick. Their final appearance comes from the first half of the 16th century, when the fortification was strengthened for fear of Turkish raids. In modern era the city walls were loosing their importance and by the order of the empress Maria Theresa in 1775 a large part of the city walls was demolished or built-up, the moats were filled up for hygiene reasons, and the city was integrated with suburbs.

It is free to walk in grounds of the Castle. Entering the Castle has a fee. We did not enter, not really a fan of castle and museums as we have seen many of them. I will only enter a museum if it is really worth it. 

The gardens in the Castle.

The guide shared activities that can be done in Bratislava. We went to WW2 Memorial the next day. 

The Castle is very near the border. Across the Danube river is Austria.

Austria after the river. I guess it is not a problem to swim to Austria. Our guide informed us that the current is strong in Danube river and does not recommend us to swim here.

The Castle in the background. History of the castle from Visit Bratislava:

Bratislava Castle is located in a strategic location above the Danube, as evidenced by traces of its oldest settlement dating back approximately 4,500 years to the Neolithic period.  Later, the Celts lived here, creating a fortified settlement serving as an acropolis for settlements in today's historic center of Bratislava.

In the 9th century, during the existence of the Great Moravian Empire, the castle became an important center and probably the seat of a prince. In the 11th century, the castle was rebuilt into a stone palace and the Church of St. Saviour, which became the center of church administration. In the 15th century, during the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg, the castle underwent extensive reconstruction. A new palace was built in the Gothic style and strong fortifications were built. In the 16th century, during the reign of Ferdinand I, the castle acquired a Renaissance appearance. In the 18th century, during the reign of Maria Theresa, the castle underwent a Baroque reconstruction. It temporarily became the residence of the governor of Hungary, Albert of Saxe-Teschen, who was a passionate art collector. His collections later became the basis of today's Albertina in Vienna.

After a fire in 1811, the castle gradually fell into disrepair. In the 20th century, it underwent extensive reconstruction, which was completed in 2011.

After the walking tour, we headed for lunch. Along the way, we walked through the city wall.

We saw small gilded brass crown symbols embedded in the cobblestones of the Old Town. A bit of explanation from Visit Bratislava. 

It marks the historic Hungarian royal coronation route in 1563. The previous coronation site, St Adalbert Cathedral in Esztergom, Hungary, was unavailable because the Ottoman Turks were occupying much of Hungary after the Battle of Mohacs in 1526.

Bratislava was considered to be a safe haven. The city had a double fortification wall encircling it and a history of successfully warding off Turk invaders. The future king would be safe during the coronation as would the nobles and clergy who came to elect and crown the Hungarian king. 

Bratislava was ideally located on the Danube, geographically connecting the Hungarian and Austrian empires, had a beautiful cathedral, Saint Martin’s, and a forward-thinking town leadership who welcomed the notoriety and royal privileges that came with becoming the “coronation city.” In fact, Maximilian, the first Hungarian king to be crowned in Bratislava on September 8th 1563, proved to be the first of eleven Hungarian kings and eight royal consorts to follow in this tradition until 1860, when the event was transferred to Budapest. Originally, the route was fitted out with a red canvas “carpet” upon which the newly crowned king walked with his jewelled crown. Today, it is marked by small gilded plaques with crown emblems, hammered into the paving stones.

Lunch place at Meanto located in Old Town. I took potato pancakes with pork sirloin. I had a lot of potato pancakes in Poland. My sour beer is expensive at EUR4,90. Well, cheaper then Stockholm. 

Found a cafe that has kremsnita. We had a lot of kremsnita in Croatia and Slovenia. Reviews commented that kremsnita is the best here. Also, cappucino is the most expensive for me here. We appreciate the aircond in the cafe.

Went back to our accommodation to shelter us from the afternoon sun for a while. Then, we took the tram nr 4 to go to Lake Zlate Piesky. The 30-minute ticket was sufficient. It is easy to buy the tram ticket from the machine. I was surprised that there is an entrance fee to the lake. I found out eventually that there is another entrance with no fee but I think only the locals know that. 

The tram stop is in front of our accommodation. Very convenient.

The trams go through town like any other vehicle. They get right of way. So, it is important to look left and right before crossing the street. Trams travel slow but it is best to be careful.

The stop for the lake. 

Cross over an overhead bridge to get to the lake.

Looks like it is cheaper to buy the ticket online EUR5,50 compared to on the spot EUR6. I am not a fan of taking a dip in the waters so I paid unwillingly and dissatisfied. If I had a choice, this will not be my selected activity unless it is free. My travel companions like to take a dip anywhere so they did not mind paying and they are not as budget-conscious as me.

This entrance has a resort, a proper changing place and a bar that my travel companions bought beer twice. 

This place has a room to change. I have not seen this sort of space yet in Sweden. I dipped myself twice and got a bit of suntan.

Then, we took the tram back to the same stop. Left our clothes in the accommodation. 

In the tram, one has to validate the ticket.

For dinner, we ate at a Japanese restaurant in Old town as I had tried the Slovakian traditional dishes. There were none for me that I would like to have again. I had ramen with chicken karaage. Not tasty. I should have taken the ramen with miso flavour.

Found a sculpture of St George and the dragon. The one in Stockholm is large and majestic. 

Also found out from a little research that statues and sculptures of Saint George and the Dragon appear across many European countries because he became a widely shared patron saint and a universal Christian symbol of good triumphing over evil. 

Then, gelato. I like this place, Luculus! Gelato portion is bigger than the one we had yesterday at Inonni. One scoop price is the same but the scoop here is way bigger! And we did not need to pay for the wafer cone. Look at the queue!