Tag: Bratislava

Danube River, Bratislava

Here are some shots of River Danube I took on my visit to my home town of Bratislava.

This is the Bridge of Slovak National Uprising, also known as the UFO Bridge.

The bridge featured on Some Photoblog before, where I talked about the controversy surrounding its construction. (Some parts of the Old Town, including a synagogue, were demolished so that the bridge could be built. It Was The Communists.)

UFO Bridge photographed from the Castle.

Also from the Castle; the opposite bank is Austria. Bratislava lies right on the border of not one but two countries (the second one is Hungary). They all used to be a part of one Habsburg empire once.

Sunset, the best thing anywhere in the world. This bridge is called the Old Bridge.

Danube is the second longest river in Europe and flows through nine countries. Aside from Bratislava, three other capitals are located on it: Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade.

Bratislava Castle

It has made an appearance on the blog before–the photos in the linked post were taken in 2015 with my old compact camera. This last visit, I took a ton of pictures, it was, as it often is, difficult deciding which ones to pick for the blog. In the end I opted for the less obvious, less travel-guide-style shots.

The back of the castle.

The statue is of Svatopluk, ruler of Great Moravia in the 9th century.

Above and below, the baroque gardens.

I Am Still Me – Bratislava Edition

Hello world, I’m still here in Slovakia, and as I have gathered a few cool smartphone pics, I’ve decided to make a blog post. So here it is.

The photos are very much me, in a different city.

The pure randomness: the coat of arms of Bratislava on the street waste bin.

The autumn leaves, of course – this is outside the block of flats where my mum lives; you can see the red bus shelter.

The view from the window – it’s, well, the view from the window of my mum’s 7th floor flat. She lives sort of at the edge of the city, hence the fields.

The coffee drinker – there is no version of me that doesn’t drink coffee. Although that eternal beverage has not really made a proper appearance on Some Photoblog. Yet.

The signs – this one is in the gardens of Bratislava Castle.

The shots from moving public transport – Bratislava Castle from the bus. (There’ll be loads of that, worry not!)

And the beauty too – sunset over the Danube river. With trees.

All pics taken with my smartphone, downloaded onto my tablet and shrank using PicResize. Thanks, Weekly Prompts for the tip. (Normally I save my photos to my laptop’s hard drive and use plain, basic MS Paint to resize the images I choose for the blog.)

My camera is getting a good workout – results to be seen soon!

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

Hello there, world, guess who is back in her homeland like the proverbial prodigal daughter?

Yes, after seven years, I am finally visiting my home country! I’m writing this while staying at my mum’s place (updating the blog from a place other than my flat for the first time since I started it), although it’s unlikely I will post any more during my stay here. I haven’t scheduled any posts for while I’m away, so blog will be dry until I return to Manchester–hopefully with many a great pics!

Throwback – Polaroid 2004

I keep this photograph among my important possessions.

I’ve never personally used an instant camera–never even held one in my hand. The shot is from an event in my home town of Bratislava, organised by Kia, the car manufacturers, when they opened their first plant in Slovakia.

It was in one of the squares in city centre, where they set up a stage for traditional Korean performances (I remember we watched some cool drummers). Among the promotional material they were giving away, like key rings and stickers and bags, that sort of stuff, I don’t really recall exactly, they did Polaroid shots for people.

As you can observe, there is a Kia car in the picture and those two people in front of it are myself and my younger brother! I was 23 and he was 12. I had already left for UK by then, but was back for a visit.

So, the year was 2004. An interesting year, because that was when Slovakia (with 9 other countries) joined the EU. Here in UK, you bet they had a lot to say about that and not in a good way. But on one news program they also said that with Kia now establishing themselves in Slovakia, potential other car manufacturers will follow and the country might one day become a second Detroit. Amazingly, to this day, it was the only positive thing I heard about my country on British TV ever. Now fifteen years later, we have Brexit and car manufacturers are leaving Britain.

And that thing with second Detroit became true.

Obviously I wasn’t the one who took this pic, but I was the one who took the pic of the pic, so is it my pic or is it not my pic?

Bratislava Castle

So I was scrolling through my blog the other day and saw a post where I said I should post pictures of Bratislava Castle one of these days. The post was from July 2016. I don’t know if the present day counts as “one of these days” in relation to July 2016, but I guess late is better than never.

Bratislava Castle 1

These were taken with my old compact Fujifilm. I’ve not actually been to Bratislava since I got the Canon.

Bratislava Castle 2

The castle has a long history; there have been settlements of sorts ever since any people lived in this part of the world. It has been converted numerous times, at one point even burned down. Here’s the Wikipedia article.

Bratislava castle hill

The castle is on a hill as well–here you see the towers just poking out from the trees.

For all other pics of my hometown, check out my Bratislava tag.

And if you want to see more castles, here’s my Pinterest board.

To blog or not to blog?

As I bring my blog back to life, aside from my Gloomscapes series, I still intend to be posting nice things. There was a time in the second half of 2017 when I wasn’t sure what to do with the blog, I felt it lost direction. Even the Weekly Photo Challenge wasn’t doing anything for me.

Well, not only have I got over that, I’m more excited than ever about blog and can’t wait to post more!

Some Song

One the topic of castles on hills:

 

Bridge – Bonus

I’ve already posted my contribution to this Weekly Photo Challenge, however my fingers keep itching to add one more. I really need to talk about the most (in)famous bridge in my home town of Bratislava–the Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising. Most SNP in Slovak (most means bridge). It is also commonly referred to as UFO Bridge. You can see why.

Bratislava UFO bridge2
Danube River

This is a controversial bridge. Why is it controversial?

The construction of the bridge started in 1967. For the bridge to be built, a portion of beautiful Old Town, including a Jewish quarter and a synagogue, had to be demolished.

For one reason or another, they built it in such a way that a roadway had to lead onto the bridge and it was for this reason they deemed the destruction of historical streets and buildings, even a part of castle hill, necessary.

Well, that’s Communists for you.

Bratislava UFO bridge1
Photographed from Old Town side, the other side is Petrzalka

Obviously it’s deeply tragic. As far as I know, no such sacrilege took place in any other Communist country (please, feel free to correct me in the comments if I’m wrong). But the way I see it now is, you can’t escape your history and so, the SNP Bridge is as much a part of Bratislava as all the nice parts.

That round spaceship thing at the top has a restaurant in it–I haven’t been there as an adult though, so can’t tell you what’s on their menu. Apparently there is also an observation deck–imagine the views! I really must go there on my next visit.

You can find more information on the UFO Bridge here, if you want.

Also, Girl Astray has a cool post about it.

That’s it for my Bonus Bridge post.

Bridge