European Guinness Challenge: October 2014

Bratislava

The Guinness

With Bratislava being such a small capital city I was somewhat concerned I would find it difficult to find somewhere serving Guinness but I needn't have worried. There, bang in the middle of the Old Town area was the Dubliner where the Guinness flowed smoothly. I explained to Tamas the challenge I had set myself and he obliged by picking my next destination out of the hat - Belfast, Northern Ireland. I should not have too much trouble finding a pub serving Guinness there!

Enjoying a Guinness served by Tamas in the Dubliner

Getting there and around
We were fortunate in that there's a Ryanair flight to Bratislava from our local airport Birmingham, not quite as cheap as chips since we were going in peak holiday season. At one point I thought things were going to get a bit lively as the gentleman in front swigged from his duty free bottle of spirits but luckily it had the effect of anesthetising him rather than making him any louder than he already was.

As my wife had missed out on the trip to Budapest I'd made earlier in the year so I made up to her by taking her there this time. It's only a couple of hours away and the train trip was good fun.

Team Makeup

This was a trip away with my wife Margaret. That's two this year. It's becoming a bit of a habit.

Accommodation

We split the job of booking accommodation for the trip so needless to say my wife booked a four star hotel in Bratislava and I booked us into a youth hostel in Budapest. Let's be fair though, I did manage to get us a private en suite room in the youth hostel.

Food

We consumed a surprising amount of local delicacies. The hotel served a good slow cooked cheek of beef with dumplings. You wouldn't want to go running after that. One lunchtime we had potato gnocchi which was served in a cream sauce with bits of fried bacon. Another tasty dish but slows you down a bit. On our last day we ate at a Thai restaurant called the classy Green Buddha restaurant. It was good food but the translation must have got somewhat mixed up as my dish was described as mild but blew my head off.

In Budapest we partook of the local snack food i.e. langos, which is fried bread dough served with sour cream, garlic and cheese, served at a kiosk on Margaret Island. To round off our rather eclectic mix of eateries on this holiday we ate in the Govinda vegetarian restaurant in Budapest. Housed in a basement and serving an Indian buffet style food with rose water it certainly filled a gap with its huge helpings.

Sightseeing highlights

Bratislava isn't big. The old town area has a relaxed atmosphere. As it's a relatively new capital it gives the impression that foreign countries struggle to find premises to house their embassies. As you walk around the streets looking at the embassies decked in their flags it's like entering a geography quiz.

The city also seems to have a good number of sculptures. I particularly liked the one of Napoleon in the central square and the man peeping out of the manhole cover.

Quirky moments

On the plane over I read about a new chain of shops recently opened called Bubblelogy, one of which was in Bratislava. It's a type of Taiwanese tea. Keen to experience this we found the outlet but it wasn't quite what I envisaged. It had throngs of young people queuing to buy brightly coloured concoctions. Margaret laughed that I may even consider joining the queue as I evidently looked so out of place. I gave it a miss. What is in those bubbles at the bottom of the beaker?