My exploration started off in Bratislava at the new Kempinski Hotel, located on the bank of the River Danube a short walk from the historical city centre, with a quick hop in the complimentary Rolls Royce transfer, I kid you not!My last visit to Bratislava was some eight years ago and I remember a grey dismal looking city. Much has changed! The Old Town is a Mitte Europe standard, except for the huge road on the edge built by the previous regime that destroyed a number of important buildings. Café culture is here, though not as prevalent as in its near neighbour Vienna. Still, very pleasant to sit in an old square having coffee and cake.
Bratislava deserves at least one night on any Central European trip and is easily accessible from neighbouring countries. Vienna is an hour by train or an hour and a quarter by boat along the Danube. Budapest is just over two and a half hours by train and again can be reached by boat along the Danube in around four and a half hours. The relatively undiscovered city of Brno in the Czech Republic is one and a half hours away by train and is a perfect stopover en route from Prague to Bratislava. After a good night’s sleep and an excellent breakfast at the luxury Kempinski Riverside, I was driven to the railway station, yes you guessed it, in the Rolls Royce. The station is located on the northern side of town and from most hotels you will need to take a taxi or a private transfer to get there. The Kempinski transfer to the station is free, fortunately. The 13.16 Inter City train to Kosice waited in the platform and a comfortable First Class seat beckoned. Rail fares are very good value in Slovakia and it is well worth travelling in First Class as Second Class carriages can be very overcrowded especially on Fridays and Sundays. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and comfort of the train, including spotless toilets. Having been some time since breakfast, I ventured to the dining car and once more was surprised at the quality and variety on offer, and the value! I had a chicken stroganoff washed down with a Slovak sparkling wine. All very pleasant and snow covered mountains to boot framing the scene. Travelling in early September, the snow was a bonus as it is not normally expected until November. The four-hour journey to Poprad Tatry flew by and the journey now ranks as one of my favorites – great scenery, viewed from a comfortable train with decent food and wine. How other train companies could learn! The reason I was travelling to Poprad Tatry is because it’s the gateway to the High Tatras Mountains. I was collected and transferred to the Kempinski High Tatra, located in the village of Stary Smokovec, by a driver, as I was unsure of the reliability of Slovak trains and connections. I need not have worried, as the train was bang on time, in fact all the trains I took in Slovakia were on time. I know next time I will catch the train up into the mountains. Especially as the road and train run parallel for a while as they both climb up into the mountains, a very special ride. There is also a cog railway running from Strba to Stary Smokovec. The Kempinski in the High Tatras has to be one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in (and I have stayed in many all over the world!). Service, comfort and above all location were excellent. Out of my bedroom window I looked out over a lake with a snow covered mountain backdrop. So why was I in the High Tatras? To bear watch of course! There are some 800 bears left in the wild in Slovakia, the High Tatras being home to some 300 of them, and I was about to have a really exclusive tour of the nature reserve close to Stary Smokovec. It’s off limits to all vehicles except one - the one that a conservation project has that is also used to transport bear watchers around the park.
The tour guide was a lively Brit who works in Slovakia during the spring and summer, tracking bears and working on their conservation and the rest of the year works in Tanzania, where he has lived for the past 15 years. Next year as a way of promoting the conservation project and to help develop sustainable tourism in the shape of bear watching, he has invited a Masai Warrior to the Tatras to show that bears are not so different from the animals he tracks in Africa. The bear watching was very strenuous to say the least with about 3 hours hiking after an early start at 6am, but it was worth it as the area is so beautiful and of course there is the chance of spotting some bears. This time of year is hyper feeding time for bears as they stock up on energy in readiness for their winter hibernation. As it turned out we only saw one but it was well worth it - a huge male nibbling away at blueberry bushes, more of a gentle pussy than a wild beast! My next stop on the Slovak Explorer was Kosice, Slovakia’s second city, located in the east of the country. I wanted to visit the city as it’s a good stopping point en route from Kiev and Lvov in the Ukraine en route back to Central and Western Europe. Until recently there were not too many hotels in the city that were up to the Railbookers’ standard but last year the Doubletree, a Hilton Family Hotel, opened its doors and has brought a quality product to Kosice. The hotel arranged a taxi to meet me at the station for the short drive to the hotel. I would always recommend pre booking a taxi or transfer in Central and Eastern Europe, as the ones you pick up at stations and airports are often there to rip you off. The taxi cost just over €3 and was well worth it.
