Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Slovakia

  • Bratislava – Bratislava Transport Museum (A 100 Year Old Wooden Bicycle)

    Bratislava – Bratislava Transport Museum (A 100 Year Old Wooden Bicycle)

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    This bike at the Bratislava Transport Museum might look at though it’s been cobbled together by a particularly imaginative joiner who’d had one too many glasses of some generic lager, but this is a genuine and functioning bicycle crafted by Matúš Povala in 1922. He put it together when he was just sixteen and clearly not burdened by a fear of splinters or broken tailbones, but he was burdened by a lack of money. Born in the village of Pucov in the Orava region of Slovakia, Povala apparently looked at the trees around him, the limitations of early 20th-century transportation, and decided the two should meet. What emerged was less a bicycle and more a moving testament to both ambition and absolute disregard for modern comfort, but it was affordable and ultimately well engineered.

    Povala rode this handmade beast from Orava all the way to Prague in 1922 which is around 500 kilometres of not-so-gentle terrain—on a bike that looks like it’s better suited for intimidating firewood than actual travel. Apparently, he managed to earn some money showing off his invention to curious onlookers, although most of it was reportedly stolen by a charming chap in Prague which feels rather sub-optimal. In true central European fashion, he returned home with ten korunas and probably a lot of stories. Personally, I wonder if my cycling friend Liam could get very far on this, although I couldn’t even get to Prague on a normal bike as I get tired easily and need to stop a lot.

  • Bratislava – Bratislava Transport Museum (Fiat 503)

    Bratislava – Bratislava Transport Museum (Fiat 503)

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    I like an exhibit in a transport museum that hasn’t been modernised and repaired, sometimes the beauty is in the original and its modifications. Well, I say beauty, it’s almost like it’s been converted into a tank. The museum notes that this is a FIAT 503 Torpedo style car from around 1927, although ChatGPT is disagreeing and saying it’s a FIAT 508. Google Gemini is less helpful, it says that it’s not a FIAT, it’s an old truck. Either way, it has been majorly changed and I rather like it sitting here in the corner of the museum.

  • Wizz Air (London Luton to Bratislava)

    Wizz Air (London Luton to Bratislava)

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    My Wizz Air flight was the second of the day to leave London Luton, so I just arrived late the previous evening by train and then waited at Pret landside. The security area opens at 02:00 sort of time, which is really quite early for an international airport.

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    Not many other people were so keen to get through this early in the day. The security process was though well managed and the staff seemed upbeat, which can’t be easy at that time of the day.

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    At least it’s easy to get a seat at this time of day.

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    I’ve written about my visit to Big Smoke separately. As for the food, it was a little bland as that avocado was quite watery, but nonetheless it wasn’t unpleasant. It’s the first time I’ve been here for breakfast and the first time that I didn’t order beer, I instead went for a pineapple juice.

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    I then popped to Avalon for a chicken and avocado salad, along with a Fanta, that most typical of breakfast drinks. This is expensive, well it would be if I was paying for it, at £12 and it was rather dry but I think there was a healthy element to it.

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    And then an almond croissant and half a pint of Menabrea. It’s a generic lager, but it was free and although the croissant wasn’t very authentic, it was light and was a satisfactory snack. The service here is always warm and friendly, although I was dreading them making an error with the number of guests as Priority Pass might have found it suspicious if I had phoned up again.

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    And then a double espresso. My flight was called to board twenty minutes earlier than advertised, so I thought that I might as well wander over.

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    It’s all happening now at Gate 21.

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    The joys of the bus gate.

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    Boarding the aircraft, which is G-WUKT, an A321 which has been in service since April 2022.

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    The flight was uneventful yet again, although the seating Gods gave me a middle seat. However, the two neighbouring passengers weren’t annoying, so the flight went quickly enough (it’s a one hour fifty minute journey), not least as I was asleep for half of it. One advantage of an early morning flight is that everyone seems to be asleep as they’re so exhausted, and I suspect Wizz Air has a fair number of customers who haven’t had any sleep at all, so it’s an extra peaceful arrangement. The crew were quite bouncy and keen, the airline does recruit some really good people and the pilot announcements were all as expected.

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    And safely into Bratislava, where it was evidently too hot. There was a queue of twenty minutes for border control, but although she did look at my passport stamps I was saved having to wait whilst she counted as she just stamped the passport. All very easy, and another £8.99 well spent with Wizz Air for my first time to Slovakia.

  • Bratislava – Bratislava Transport Museum (Pragotron Display Board from Sturovo Railway Station)

    Bratislava – Bratislava Transport Museum (Pragotron Display Board from Sturovo Railway Station)

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    I like a little bit of geeky rail infrastructure heritage and this is the last Pragotron display board which was used in the Slovakian rail network. These are the split-flap displays that were either made by Solari of Italy, or by Pragotron who are a Czech manufacturer. It was taken from Štúrovo railway station where it remained in use until 26 January 2022, before it was brought here. I liked the sound of these when they had them in stations such as Liverpool Street in London, and although I know they had become dated, they did feel like exciting things with their mechanical noises.

    For anyone interested, here’s a photo from Google of when this item was actually being used at the railway station. I particularly like that in the museum the top destination is Warszawa Wschodnia railway station, which I’ve caught many trains from.