Bratislava to Kosice Slovakia

Bratislava to Kosice, May 3, 2016, 2PM

Yesterday I headed to the train station a 10 minute bus ride to check out my previously online purchased ticket. Good thing as the ticket lady told me I would be facing backward. That’s something I tried to figure out online but there was no way to tell. No problem tho as I was able to change to a forward facing seat. Some like to live in the past. For me the future is far more of interest.

Then I decided to go up and see Bratislava's magnificent castle on the hill which you can see from town and the river as you head up to Vienna. I considered going in one of those tour vehicles where they show you and describe all the historic sights. This would be a first for me. I prefer to wander around self guided.

However, in the end I decided to walk up to the castle wanting to be un-rushed in my quest to take pictures of and from the castle. As the sun came out of the gloomy overcast sky I decided to skip lunch and seize this window of opportunity for some great views.

On my way down from the castle a young woman asked me for directions. From Finland she was going to go back a block and retrieve her mother but only if the castle was near as the up hill climb was long and arduous. I was happy to assure it was just a couple of blocks around the bend. She asked me where I was from and as I told her she said she has guessed correctly. We compared notes.

Her boyfriend was traveling in Ukraine as we spoke. He had remarked how nice the people are there and how incredibly inexpensive it is. As I’ve been pleased to report on this Blog. Bratislava is not as expensive as Vienna but in Ukraine one can get a fine dinner for the price of latte here.

Last night I decided I better figure out how I was going to get from Kosice, Slovakia to Uzhgorod, Ukraine. It took me about 2 hours to figure it all out on line, order my bus ticket and get it printed out at the hotel by emailing it to the guy at the reception desk. More complicated than it sounds, as computer things ofter are, I was glad to finally accomplish this task and put my mind at ease for the following day’s travel across the border into Ukraine.

I’m now on the train from Bratislava to Kosice. Leather seats, lots of room, a smooth ride. Free coffee and bottled water. An appetizing menu. Around 19 euro ($21) for the 5 hour trip. Beautiful countryside with brilliant yellow colors in the well manicured farm fields. 

My seat is great with a picture window view of the countryside. The guy in back of me has no window. Good to have them check out your seat the day before as I did yesterday. Free WIFI with a good connection. It’s a sunny/cloudy day good for pictures. Oh and clean bathrooms too. With a real flower in a small vase. Definitely the best way to travel.

And in the latter part of the journey, seemingly endless snow covered craggy mountain peaks.  Quite a surprise to see on this Spring day in early May. 

I had brought a couple of sandwiches from the hotel breakfast so had my lunch in my train seat.  But then feeling a little hungry late in the afternoon I went to the dining car for desert. I got the "Alpine Plum Dumpling", a dumpling filled with jam infused with vanilla sauce, sprinkled with poppy seeds and sugar.  It was enormous.  Bigger than it looks, filling the entire dinner size plate.




And yes I ate the whole thing.  One of the benefits (or dangers) of traveling solo. 

Before I got the train I got a bit concerned waiting on the platform when they didn’t have my train posted. So I asked a young guy and find I’m at the right place. He asks where I’m from. He’s going to my destination and lives in “Kosika” as he calls it. A very nice city he volunteers. I regret I’ll only be there just overnite. 

One of the reasons I want to spend more time in Ukraine is I’m enjoying my increasing (slowly) comprehension of the language and especially the Cyrillic alphabet. Interestingly, the Slavic language has some similar words, but perhaps less challenging to learn because they use the Latin alphabet. So whilst here I have been saying “good day ” and “thank you” in Ukrainian and been getting smiles and responses in Slavic.

Arriving in Kosice I was pleased to find my my modern two story loft apartment in this attractive old building just one block from the historic district I had come to see.

Viewing my new lodging, I had no idea of the surprise that I was going to experience there in the middle of the night.

But I'll save that for my next post.