Escape to myself

A slightly warmer day … a tour around the old town with an excellent guide. It is quiet after Prague; lots of English tourists in almost empty streets. Our guide was very informative on the development of Bratislava particularly the 18th and nineteenth centuries and the role of Austria and Hungary in the creation of the town and the state. The Cathedral was the coronation place of Holy Roman Emperors until 1830 … a sort of Westminster Abbey. The architecture is predominantly Baroque and nineteenth century and classical in style. Bratislava, being in the centre of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has seen a variety if ethnic groups dominating the city by turns German, Hungarian and Slovak. It’s only in the last hundred or so years that Slovaks have become the dominant group. This history of Central Europe is endlessly fascinating … the rise and fall and subjugation of peoples by their neighbours; Bratislava was even occupied by Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth century.