Bratislava

I arrived in this city without expectations, thinking it would be small and heavily influenced by its recent communist past. I didn't really like the city at first sight. To be honest, I think this is simply impossible, because it has no obvious beauty. There is the chaotic mix of modern and communist style buildings, a tiny historical centre with few landmark buildings, there is worn down cityscapes and modern architecture, mostly american franchise companies, say McDo, KFC, ... there is the most unfriendly Slovak people, and a language that is very hard to decipher. But after a while, well, I started to like the place. I never really liked ultraclean cities that seem prefab tourist attractions. If you can see the charm of the buildings in decay next to the new temples of capitalism, intermingled with some historical buidings, well, you might like the city too. After all this is a country that went from communism to independency and the euro currency in just 20 years. And seeing this history in the making, the evolution of society at work, well it is a special experience. Probably for many change has come to swiftly, leaving many people unhappy, but hey, after meeting the kindest barwoman in the countryside, even though she didn't spoke a word of any other language but Slovak and Russian, I think this country has a good potential to turn into a tourist attraction pole, but I'm happy to experience it now before it becomes a copy of Austria. I ate in a hotel restaurant underneath Beckov castle (what a view), and the food was excellent for just 10 euros. Curious to visit this place again in say 10 years.