Travel Diary 4: Esztergom, Bratislava, Devin
History providing heritage.
Tuesday morning, a hire car drove us to Esztergom, site of medieval royal castle and large Catholic baroque Basilica about an hour’s drive from Budapest. The castle was the capital of medieval Hungary for several centuries under the Arpad dynasty—“capital” just meaning “the place the king was most likely to be”. Later, Esztergom had also been, like Visegrad, a point of resistance whenever Buda fell. It is now the seat of the Catholic primate of Hungary.
The Basilica has the virtue of architectural unity but, as a ritual space, is nowhere near as inviting as the Matthias Church in Budapest. The Esztergom Baslica is much more a statement of architectural magnificence than welcoming to people.
Esztergom Castle is a fine example of a medieval fortified-high-point castle. It is now set up as a castle-museum, so one could trace the development of the castle over time.
The hire car driver then drove us a further two hours to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. While I like train travel, the advantage of the car was observing more of the countryside, the slightly different traffic customs and how much English has become the language of commerce. We were hundreds of kilometres from any place where English was the local language, yet trucks regularly proclaimed what they were carrying in English.
By the time we arrived at Bratislava, the wider pattern of fortification and locality became clear. Castle up on hill looking over Danube on the Northern/Eastern side and flat plain on other, Western/Southern (i.e. Pannonian steppe), side of river. The flow of the river current no longer felt “wrong” to me—apparently, my sense of direction had caught up with being in the Northern Hemisphere: so the sun being in a Southerly, not Northerly, direction.
Once again, we stayed at a Botel, the Gracia. After a short rest, we walked around the old town of Bratislava, which did not take all that long. I had done a map-app search of nearby restaurants. They were heavily clustered in the old town. Hotelling principle was thus strongly in evidence.
After have walked around much of the old town we returned to the attractive wide bouvelard on the river-side, because it was shaded and near the fountain array: an advantage in a very hot evening.
We had a magnificent meal at Carnevalle: Grill Restaurant & Bar. I had an excellent ghoulash (from memory, the best I have had) and Nigel had a magnificent duck breast (he shared a piece with me). We then wandered around more to the south and back to the river and the Botel.
Wandering around two things were clear. Folk were very keen to sell you gelati: there were lots of places to buy gelati. They were also keen to sell you cooked meat. Carnavelle Grill Restaurant & Bar was next to D Steakhouse: kingdom of steaks. We passed other steakhouses, an Argentinian restaurant and a Brazilian restautrant.
Wednesday was a day of steps and stairs: so many steps and stairs. We walked up to Bratislava castle. The Habsburg royal palace re-developed by Maria Theresa as Queen of Hungary is now the basis of an excellent museum of local history. The palace itself was a re-development of the former royal residence. Sigismund of Luxembourg—King of Hungary, of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor—had the castle extensively rebuilt, intending it to be his imperial capital (i.e., main royal residence).
The castle was part of a network of castles defending the “Bratislava gates”, the Danube river break in the Carpathian mountains. In dramatic contrast to Buda and Esztergom, there is a lack of references to any sieges of Bratislava castle. Though there is a reference to the castle bombarding the town in the C15th when they backed rival claimants to the Hungarian throne. Either hostile armies did not get that far, or they looked at the extremely defensible position, and the network of castles within a day’s ride of each other, and decided it was too hard. So, one can say it was very successfully fortified.
After the fall of Buda and then Esztergom to the Turks, the castle became the repository of the Hungarian crown jewels and the castle and town—known as Pressburg in German—became once again the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. From 1563 to 1830, St Martin’s Cathedral was where the Kings of Hungary were crowned.
The palace had a disastrous fire in 1811 and was left derelict. It suffered further damage in the 1940s. In the 1950s, it was decided to rebuild to as it had been under Maria Theresa: a very fortunate decision. The architect who began the reconstruction, before falling a foul of the Communist authorities, is presented very positively in the exhibition.
In the main entrance way to the castle, there are two striking recent additions, compared to older photos. One is a series of repeated versions of Roman imperial heraldry in stone. Not Habsburg style, but the full SPQR Roman imagery. The other is a heroic equestrian statue of Svatopluk I, the most prominent ruler of Greater Moravia, the first major West Slavic state. Both clearly make a statement about historical antiquity that is neither Hungarian nor Habsburg.
It was fun just walking around the old town, which includes such sights as the whimsical Vienna Gate. We stopped for coffee and I nipped up the street and bought some take-away chilled honeywine—which turned out to be a fine mead. Central Europe is very relaxed about selling alcohol, yet I saw no public drunkenness.
Our time at Bratislava was spent relaxing, walking around, stops for refreshments, with excellent meals in the early evening. The stops for refreshment included an enjoyable tasting plate of beer at Pheasant Pub and the evening meals a magnificent (though expensive) meal at El Gaucho; Argentinian steakhouse.
Thursday, we bused out to Castle Devin (Hrad Devin), which involved lots of steps again. Hrad Devin is a much fought-over castle at the confluence of Danube and Moravan rivers. It was held for some decades by the Bathory family—yes, THAT Bathory family, though the infamous Countess never held the castle, as the castellan at the time refused to hand it over.
The castellan who refused to hand the castle over seems to have been very “managerialist”. He proceeded to screw the locals, showing no respect for agreed/evolved liberties and rights. The lack of any sense of custodianship, or institutions having embedded learning, feels strangely familiar.
I ordered a chai latte from the small caravan in the castle grounds. The nice young man asked if i wanted an espresso shot added to it. Yes, of course, so I had a good dirty chai.
The unexpected thing about the Hrad Devin was it was part of the Iron Curtain, as Austria is on the other side of the river. The exhibition about the castle’s role in the Iron Curtain was both informative and moving. Down at the confluence of the rivers, there is a memorial to those who lost their lives trying to escape: 42 are know of in that part of the Iron Curtain.
The Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks do not make a big thing of the Communist period. But when they do mention it, they make it clear that It Was A Very Bad Idea.
It is striking is how much they all also make it fit into a much, much longer history of national resistance. “The Communists: another lot of oppressive bastards we got rid of.” Given the present travails of Western civilisation—particularly the Anglosphere—I found that somewhat cheering.
Nigel and I had quite a lot of Aperol spritzs during the course of our trip—it seems the summer drink of choice in Central Europe. The barman in the bar on the edge of the town at the base of the castle served an Aperol spritz with a kick. So, I had another. (I was tempted by a third, but I wanted to be able to walk to the bus.)
Generally, Central Europeans cannot do coffee: it is usually just bitter caffeine. Slovaks, unlike Hungarians, can do sausages. On the other hand, the various chai lattes I had were less sweet than I was used to, which was welcome.
In the hillier areas of rural Central Europe, I was surprised how often we passed areas that looked like rainforest, this being a region where it snows in Winter.
Thursday night, had another fine meal at the Rio, a Brazilian restaurant. It is clearly easy to eat well in Bratislava.
Friday, we took the train to Brno, in Czechia.
We very much enjoyed our few days in Bratislava: the city had a relaxed, friendly feel to it. I find it particularly relaxing to walk around, and to look at, architecture that has a human sense of place and heritage.
Great description of my new hometown, Bratislava, and a good choice of a few pictures -- especially the memorial to those killed while trying to escape.
I would have been happy to meet up for a beer, had I not been so busy prepping flat for reconstruction, and had I known how to contact you. Please try to list your expected next few days at the end of your entry, with a request to leave a comment or some other method -- if you want to meet any of your CE readers (like me!).
Hey if you're planning to travel to Bulgaria, let me know. I'd love to meet.