Afternoon in Bratislava

We decided yesterday that we were going to spend Saturday in the capital city Bratislava, so we headed off without any set plans or any idea about what there is to even do in the city. Bratislava is located in the southwest of Slovakia and the edge of the city actually borders with both Hungary, to the south, and Austria to the west, the Austrian capital Vienna is only a short distance away. Ryanair fly to Bratislava from London Stanstead, Edinburgh, Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham International, which would be an alternative option to Brno as its the next closest airport.
Bratislava feels like a relatively small town, afterall we only spent 2 or 3 hours there which included lunch and we didn't feel there was an awful lot to see. However, we by no means explored the city to its full capacity. There are so many bars, cafes and restaurants lining the narrow, traffic-free, cobbled streets it was hard to pick just one! So we would love to go back and try some of the other places-particularly the local wine bars! You can enjoy a wander around the castle and enjoy the views as on a clear day you can see as far as Hungary, Austria and the Danube Valley. Speaking of the Danube, you can actually hop on cruise boats which go to and from Budapest, and there is also the Twin City Liner, which connects Bratislava to Vienna. I love the idea of trying these cruises, if you make a day of it I'm sure you could start off in Bratislava-head over to Vienna for the afternoon, then get back to the city for drinks in the evening.

Here are just a few pics of our first trip, of many I expect, to Bratislava.

The New Bridge.
At the top of the pylon, 80ft in the air is a restaurant overlooking the Danube

Rubberneck, this guy has lost his head twice! Now a sign above
warns of his presence.

Old town hall

  

The Ossuary in Sedlec

When Martin told me there was a church filled with bones it didn't exactly sound like a fun day out but I figured what the heck, a couple of weeks ago we were looking at mummified bodies in a crypt in Brno so maybe this will be worth seeing- he takes me to so many interesting places! So that's what we did, we headed out to the small town of Kutna Hora to see The Ossuary.

In actual fact it was a Cistercian monastery, founded during the 12th century, it obtained patron's rights and became the economic and cultural centre of the area. The obligations of the parish also included burying the dead and according to monastery traditions a cemetery existed here from about the middle of the 13th century. The Abot of the Sedlec Monastery is said to have brought a handful of earth from the Grave of the Lord in Jerusalem and to have scattered it over the cemetery. From then on people from all over Bohemia and even the surrounding countries were buried here, at the time of the great plague in 1318 the chronicle states that 30 000 bodies were buried here, and the number kept rising.

Here are some pictures of how the Ossuary looks today. After being destroyed, reconstructed and having modifications carried out, the interior is now uniquely decorated from human bones, estimated at 40 000 persons. Check out the link above for more pictures and for a much more in depth account of the history of this unique building.

Bones arranged loosely in wooden
 structures without any fixed binding

Bone chandelier

The Coat of Arms of the Schwarzenbergs, who purchased the monastery property in 1784 and had the Ossuary reconstructed in the present form.

Baroque Candelabra in the shape of a little Gothic Tower

Weekend in Prague

We travelled to Prague on Friday on the Student Agency Bus which provides connections to so many cities all over Europe and also to London. Once in Prague we bought a Tourist Pass which cost 310CZK, approx £10. This lasts 3 days and you can use them on the trams, metro and buses so is ideal for getting around.

Today I was registering with a local GP, which was surprisingly easy much to my relief.

A beautiful weekend in Brno

After being here for a week or so we made the most of the gorgeous weather last weekend and decided to head into town to start some sightseeing.

The journey from the UK took around 20 hours! It was pretty rough and I'm not sure I would be up for driving that again in a hurry.

Goodbye Arbroath

Well yesterday the removals arrived to pack the contents of our house into boxes and send it away to storage for two years.