Day 9 – July 16, 2018 (Mon) – Bratislava

After passing through Hainburg, then Devin with its castle, we reached Bratislava in Slovakia in the afternoon. We docked with the Starboard side facing a very long pier which almost spanned the whole length of the ship.

We first went to the Bratislava Castle, built in the 9th century on a hilltop, overlooking the beautiful Danube. We didn’t go inside the castle.

Then we went to Chatam Sofer Memorial, an old Jewish cemetery where hundreds of rabbis and teachers were buried.

Then we went to the Old Town to tour the Museum of Jewish Culture in Slovakia and the oldest Jewish settlement in the city. To be honest, the visit of the cemetery and the museum was something I didn’t enjoy much, after learning so much in Poland about the Holocaust and Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The walk through the Old Town was quite interesting. When we saw the Old Town Trolley, we told the guide that we would hop on it and went back to the ship by ourselves. That was a smart move as we saw a bit more of Bratislava and we didn’t have to walk, though I was very happy to walk past the residences of Mozart and Beethoven.

Of course we had to take a picture of the bronze statue of Cumil the Sewer Worker.

When we walked back to the ship, we made reservations to eat at Bistro Mozart again. The Bistro waitress, Emese, was always friendly and helpful. This time we had a little bit of difference in our appetizer:

The side of the main course was mashed potatoes instead of mushrooms. Best of all, the view of the sunset was amazing. It didn’t look like we were on a river at all…the water’s wide!