Czechoslovakia
Paddy’s chapters ‘The Edge of the Slav World’, ‘Prague under Snow’ and ‘Slovakia: A Step Forward at Last’ are full of examples of the confused emotions that the inhabitants of the Czechoslovakian Republic created after the breakup of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. I found Wikipedia’s pages very useful in untangling the history, at least to some extent.
I know Paddy had one chapter for Bratislava, ‘in The Edge of the Slav World’ and then was diverted by Hans to Prague, and I will do the same, I think, taking the train from Budapest up to Prague and then down to Bratislava. That is my aim, but in any case, for the website, it is simpler to place Slovakia and Bratislava together, with Bratislava taking the lead as the capital.
Slovakia and Bratislava
“Hans wasn’t alone in his critical feelings about Bratislava. Most of the people we saw would have agreed – a few worldly-wise Austrians, that is, some breezy Hungarian squires from nearby estates, the amusing Jewish manager of the brewery, a Canon of the Cathedral chapter expert in Magyar history, and the local eccentrics and a few of the local beauties. ‘You should have seen it before the War!’ – this was the general burden of those who were old enough to remember. The great days of the city were long past. During the centuries when all Hungary south of the Danube was occupied by the Turks, the city was the capital of the unconquered remainder of the Kingdom on the north side of the river: the modern province of Slovakia, that is to say. The Kings of Hungary were crowned here in the gothic Cathedral from 1536 to 1784:”
Prague
“And, at this very point, confusion begins. The city teems with wonders; but what belongs where? Certainly that stupendous staircase called the Riders’ Steps, and all that lay beyond them, were part of the great castle-palace. The marvellous strangeness of the late gothic vaults enclosing this flight must have germinated in an atmosphere like the English mood which coaxed fan-tracery into bloom. The Winter Queen, in her brief snowy reign, was equally astonished, perhaps; her English renaissance upbringing – those masques and their fantastic stage-sets by Inigo Jones – may have been a better preparation. I kept thinking of her as I peered up.”
There are multiple tour sites offered online, all possibly beyond my means – which is good! My solution will be to use my audiobook and use Paddy’s guidance, with his exuberant descriptions to encourage my steps up and down staircases and corridors.
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