Bratislava: Slovakia's 72-hour city

[Music] from the latest on Caribbean cruises to kosher safaris pilgrimages to Jewish Eastern Europe and award-winning wines and international cuisine in sundrenched Tel Aviv sit back and enjoy the trip with the travel edition of the Jerusalem Post podcast Good morning Vietnam no Al if you're listening from the Vietnam Tourism board that was a subtle hint from Mark it doesn't look like Vietnam outside if we're already starting with outside I was heading in a completely different direction but it's East Vietnam the the architecture here is really interesting CU you've got what I'm guessing are communist period very Square buildings and then in between them well you're better at at doing it but it looks like a mint chocolate ice it's lacking the chocolate it's very well no if you look at the ballustrades and the Verandas and everything it is black but it kind of looks like chocolate mint see should we argue about whether that's turquoise or not and whether turquoise is blue or green okay so we are in the capital of Slovakia Bratislava now Mark I have a question for you that's early for the question you know how every so often you say as you did a few episodes ago if I've been in an airport does that that count as a country visit right if I've been in an airport does that count as a country visit yeah Hong Kong exactly as one example so do you count it laia do you count it or not no depends who I'm trying to outdo if if I'm sat with a colleague of mine at work who goes out all the time around the world and has done half of Africa then yes I'll take every airport I can U but my aim is to actually leave the airport okay so the reason I'm asking is you've been to Bratislava as you were saying before we turned on the mic you were here 6 years ago to the very day I was here 30 I think we figured out oh my gosh did we say 37 years ago something like that I think it was over 50 David thank you very much indeed and it was Checker Slovakia so they'd come out of Communism but it still hadn't separated into two countries does this visit right now to Slovakia count as an extra country on top of Czech Slovakia years ago I would say yes but then you start getting into arguments about who owns Which country and we don't do politics well as we know from tourism people that we've interviewed on this podcast before the Cs and the slovaks have an excellent relationship yeah I I think I'll allow it in this particular case because you're in the same place oh sweetheart anyway we are in the capital of Slovakia we're here for a couple of days we've got a lot of fun things to do we're also going to be bringing you quite a bit of the Jewish side of this town and its environs we've got a real fun time coming up but first of all mark would like to pose a question David would you like another coffee oh sweetie pie no I think two is enough if we're spending all day outside and it's raining I don't think it's a good idea for me yeah the weather isn't brilliant is it let's be fair this is one day and according to the weather forecast both all of last week and every day from tomorrow is going to be perfect so it's just one day of rain yeah it's just we're here and that cloud that follows us around we're from Manchester so question question posan used to be called Posen Lviv and we did a show about Lviv a long time ago used to be called lber Believe It or Not Bratislava also has an old name what is that the answer at the end of the Pod Israel is the startup Nation the scaleup nation the Unicorn country join me Mayan Hoffman Jerusalem Post Deputy CEO strategy and Innovation and me zachie Hennessy the J post business and Tech and Innovation correspondent for our analysis of the most critical Israeli Tech Innovations today in each episode of inside Israeli Innovation we'll highlight a new tech Trend discuss the latest Innovation news and interview at least one of Israel's most promising companies so if you like to know what's on The Cutting Edge then this Jerusalem Post show is for you listen to inside Israeli Innovation on Apple Spotify Google podcast or wherever you get your podcast hello old time hi yeah we're on the train well the Train's just actually going past us right now that's a city tram it's not really a train it's like an Omnibus shabang we are as you probably can hear surrounded by a school group or a post school kids group with a couple of moms and together we are going to discover the joys of Bratislava we are with oldtime City tours on their Oldtimer City tour bus and we're going to do a panoramic tour of Bratislava looking forward to this we walked from our hotel Into the Heart of town past the city hall past some governmental buildings past the former National Theater next to the opera house it's a beautiful beautiful downtown and we've only just seen a little bit of it now we're with school children David so you need to set an example and behave the wheels on the bus go round and round round and round round and round all through long oh let me get my breath back just climbed up a little Hill it's not too bad it's only 100 m or so above the town 200 m above the town There's Nothing overly High even though we are in what they call the little carpathians of course the Carpathian Mountain rage stretching through South Eastern Europe but but you don't really see much of the high hills around the capital with some excellent wines if I remember from when we were in Poland and we did Carpathian wine testing and on the way over here we had uh Hungarian wine yeah less said about that the better so we are at Bratislava Castle I would try and put an age on it but what I found out on the way up is it's been built knocked down built knock down built knock down burnt down rebuilt I think the current iteration of the castle was finished recently probably like the turn of the century they started rebuilding at the turn of the last century stopped and then really got going in the 1950s this site dates back to certainly pre the Common Era with talking about Kelts who were here settlements before that the Romans were here but the first real signs of a castle were in about the 9th century when of course things were built more from wood I think the Castle's real claim to fame was during the period of the hapsburgs Maria Teresa was here it was one of her representational castles built for her son if I am correct I'm trying to remember what they taught us on the bus which was very educational and then when they left it's been Army Barracks a seminary this site has done everything during its lifetime these days part of it is open to the public as a museum I believe some of the rooms are closed off because even to this day it is used for ceremonial purposes and rightly so the new government of the Slovak Republic remember Slovakia is only 30 years old fiercely proud of this building its reconstruction and what it represents slaves only arrived in this part of the world only 1200 years ago and it's a part of the world as Mark outline that's been conquered reconquered been parts of different Empires and it's only been in recent times that the slaves have been able to proudly say this is hours to the right you can see that the building is used as a concert venue occasionally just slightly down the hill to the left is the most amazing view of the danu river you're listening to the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Mark davidp or mail us at Mark davidp pod gmail.com we're back on the bus it's a lovely little route we've left the castle behind we've seen the beautiful blue danu but it looked more green than blue we passed an unidentified flying object more on that later and uh now we're in a beautiful city square with lots of people Milling around lots of uh souvenir stands and other tram just going by it's a lovely city but I think the thing that you wanted to talk about now was contrasts I'll do it quickly before they throw us off the bus one thing about Bratislava is the architectural style changes from building to building there's Gothic barck NE romantic brutalist and plenty of good old communist architecture literally changes from building to building maybe we'll talk about food later on but as we've been going around on this train bus we've seen British pub Chinese food Vietnamese food lots and lots and lots of creperies and pancake stores and I also see the our host is actually coming to the bus CU we've stopped at our Terminus taking photographs of us but I think we probably need to do you Dismount a bus you get off a bus okay more after this we've come into a very small Jewish Community Center for the very small Jewish community of Bratislava and we've eaten some Bean Soup potatoes Mark had a kebab and of course humus and the humus side of it means that there has to be an Israeli somewhere round about here so next to us at the table is Boaz Raz we'll get on to food and kosher options in a couple of minutes but first tell us a little bit about where we are is the biggest Jewish Community all over Slovakia there about 350 members the community center is the only place in the Hall of Slovakia that we have a kosher kitchen a rabbi office is over here basically everything that you need to fulfill your Jewish religion I can tell from the accent of the name you're Israeli how did you end up in Bratislava I actually arrived to Bratislava from from the UK where I was living about 22 years I have a Slovak wife and we actually came to visit Slovakia and we stayed it happened about 6 years ago and since then we are here tell us a little bit about the community today we're right in the Heart of the City Center just outside the old walls there's a synagogue not too far away but to the community live here how do they all meet what's the story on all the high holidays we have activities either in the big synagogue it's a walking distance from the community center or inside the community center which we have a really nice garden and it's a prime location really nice and quiet neighborhood for instance last holiday we celebrated was LBA there about 170 people participating we have few traditions for instance in sukot we have event that it's called sushi in the Suka we have a special chefs Sushi chefs that are coming sushi susha I I see sushi on the sushi they come and they cook the whole day last year it finished within 20 minutes 8 hours of preparation 20 minutes of consuming the food so you said the the main synagogue is just used on the high holidays Ros Shan yumul are there Services the rest of the year what's the story every Shabbat in the Jewish Community Center we have a small B midash so most of the services are conducted over here especially in Winter because the synagogue is quite a large space we have very very tiny communities of for Shabbat about between 10 to 20 people are coming for services and only to hit the the building it just doesn't make sense so we have a small bed midash over here with everything SE Tora rabi lives in a short walking distance from here would you say the community is just an orthodox Community or does it cater to The Wider Jewish Community reform liberal it cater to everyone so in the community we have a reform Rabbi we have an orthodox Rabbi they have really good relationship between each other everybody conducts his own business there's no Distortion there's no tension between the two communities and the community center serves both just an example for pesak first first the L said was celebrated Orthodox second was conducted by the reform rebi and everyone can choose where he wants to go he can go to both he can go to only one of them the relip is really good between the the communities as David mentioned we've had a wonderful lunch here I believe it's really only open for the community it's an opportunity for the community to come in basically have a subsidized lunch as a tourist what is there to eat that's kosher at the moment the only kosher kitchen in Slovakia is here in the community center it serves mainly the community members sometimes if tourists are contacting Us in advance we are able to facilitate the the the needs but we will have new kosher restaurant that will be opened again 5 minutes walk from the Jewish community and it will be the first kosher restaurant in Bratislava for a very very long time it's something that we worked on the last one and a half years almost finish the renovation what's it going to be called what type of food are you going to be serving the name is going to be Sababa quite an Israeli name it's going to be open for breakfast then we'll have a set menu which is a something that is very popular in Slovakia most of the people from the offices are going out for lunch and most of them are sitting in places where we have a set menu set price apart from that we're going to save all the Israeli food kumus Falafel kebabs parot lots of salads and in the evening we'll have a small bar over there with koser drinks alcohol beer it's going to be open from morning until about 10:00 you grew up in Israel a Jewish country been living in London in a large Jewish community and you've come to Slava with 300 Jews does it make you feel more Jewish or less Jewish being in a smaller Community it actually makes you feel more Jewish if you want to preserve a little bit of your Jewish Heritage it makes you come closer to the community it's a natural process I saw it on myself and on other people as well that become a little bit closer to Judaism it doesn't mean that we become religious yeah but we are more connected to our past let's say that so if you're coming into Bratislava Sababa right in the middle of town best of luck with the opening boas thank you very much indeed thank you very much pleasure to have you over here and hope to see you again Have you listened to the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition I'm David Harris and together with my co-host Mark Gordon we bring you the best from the world of travel and tourism we have people who literally fly Park City just to do the ski minion and it has that Heavenly taste that you don't really find nowadays in the market when was the last time you went to a restaurant and they bought you a picnic basket about eight courses in a Dracula tour that's a very unusual honeymoon option really the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition brings you the joys of travel and tourism so why not subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts cheers Mark cheers David oh so here on this picture you can see a lot of famous personalities many of them I am sure you will recognize but for us very important is Andy Warhol which is forth from the left even though he was not really from here hello my name is Eva toova I am the local guide here in Bratislava and in the surroundings including also this Museum this is a very bright very open modern museum with big Windows overlooking the Danube what is the museum is uh in fact the gallery it's the gallery of Modern Art of uh Mr Gard Mullen Sten it was the idea of one local man Mr polakovic who is here a director and he had the idea but he didn't have money and somehow it was really good luck for him he met man that was the mentioned Mr Gerard Molen who had money and was uh really interested in opening uh the art gallery in this place most museums galleries tend to be in the center of a city they tend to be opposite the city hall maybe opposite the National Theater we're in the middle of nowhere actually we're in the middle of the danu yes that's right but isn't it nice it's gorgeous it's perfect setting because in some parts of this Gallery you can see the painting and then just the water around and that's perfect combination for uh the founder founding father of this Gallery it was not in the middle of nowhere for him it was in the middle of Europe and just on the place where the three borders come together Austrian Hungarian and Slovak so we are very close to that point the museum as you say is on three borders is the art from this area or is it from a much wider local the art is from this area but uh not necessarily only from Slovakia as far as I know there are exhibitions of the artists of the artists from the neighboring countries as well but this gallery has two parts the indoor or inner and outer part and in the outer part there are many local artists three words come to mind when describing this Gallery one is space one is light and one is color definitely I think those are the three really good preconditions for opening the art gallery so definitely light is necessary to see the art properly colors probably you mean that the art itself is very colorful I don't know what to say to this because the art of the 21st century is still something that I didn't digest properly and the space definitely you need to because many of the paintings are really oversized paintings if I were to come back here on another day say 2 three years time would it be the same art or is it a changing exhibition it's changing approximately three or four times a year the the exhibitions are always different and the setting is always different I mean the nature around so definitely I recommend to come even more times a year every time the feeling would be different it's a beautiful Gallery I think a lot of the images are ones that make you think in fact just turning around and looking at the image behind us Mark where does it remind you of somewhere that you and I have been on a previous podcast vus no uh was it posan or was it wood in the Textile Art Gallery good point no but that's not what I was thinking think Spain oh Dary Salvador Dary the one behind it's almost like it's the grandchild of Dary and a lot of the images here make you question make you think and they might not be everybody's cup of tea but there's certainly plenty for people to get to grips with so before we we move on to our next appointment as I said earlier this is somewhat isolated if somebody's coming here without a car can they get here if they're visiting Bratislava definitely at least there are two possibilities which don't really cost much and one is to use the public transport from uh the new slov National Theater there is every hour a bus coming here and then maybe even much more fun would be to rent a bike and and to come here by bike because you can combine two activities art and some exercise as well and this is really suitable for biking because it's flat it's along the denu river and we have completely sheltered bike routs along the danup river as far as to this Gallery well worth visiting the name danubiana it's nice view of the D you David it's absolutely gorgeous both Banks look exactly the same the trees The Greenery the Rocks leading up to the side the water lapping the ducks on the side the one on the left looks slightly more manicured it wouldn't be P chance that even though you're sort of dangling a microphone in my direction that we're in two different places could be can you see that imaginary line between you and me there's always a line between you and me I try and imagine that there's one maybe even a wall why is there a line there David there's a shared border that runs down the length of the middle of the danu between Slovakia where I am and Austria where you are how's the weather in Slovakia it's actually really hot and the very funny thing is we were told by our hosts bring umbrellas so I've packed an umbrella you've brought a plastic MacIntosh and it's glorious glorious sunshine it's actually almost too hot we're on a twole boat going down the Danube and in an Ideal World we would be sat at the top watching everything go by but for two reasons one the excessive sunshine and two the excessive amount of river passengers that beats us to the good seats we're downstairs by the engine so a little bit about the danu at this time of year we're talking about 3 m deep which is about 11 ft give or take so if you think about it we're in a fairly big ship and yet you know we're not scraping the bottom of the water and living in Israel we don't really see many rivers that you can take a boat down maybe like the haakon you can go canoeing but other than that this is quite a a unique experience when you live in Israel at some point hopefully in the future we'll actually take a river cruise on what they call cruise ships with which you know can host 200 250 300 people but that's for the future right now this is a boat that is taking us from Bratislava to yet another Castle which Castle is it or should we wait and find out should we let our guide tell us we should do you want to go canoeing I can't swim let's go canoeing then Bratislava fact file Slovakia has six international airports including Bratislava and kosit as well as Pani Bratislava is a destination for ryion a whiz and smart wings as well as a number of Charter Airlines kosit has direct flights from Vienna Prague Dublin Liverpool and London Bratislava is around 40 mi from Vienna's International Airport which opens up access to the US Canada Israel France Dubai is stul and most major international airports you can reach Bratislava from Vienna Airport in under an hour by Road rail or even a slightly slower boat up the danu Pani has seasonal direct flights from Tel Aviv in Bratislava travel from the airport to the city center takes around 15 to 20 minutes by car the 61 Bus to the main Bratislava train station costs € you can buy a brat lava card public transport pass which includes free walking tours and free or discounted entry to many attractions a one-day pass costs € 2020 and a 3-day pass € 28 Bratislava has Global hotel chains like Marriott Sheran Radison and IHG other recommended hotels include the Devon Grand Hotel River Park and maral's boutique $100 will buy you9 1 as of July 2023 Slovakia has a continental climate with Four Seasons summers are hot getting to an average 30 C or 86° F Winters are cold cloudy and humid the average winter daily temperature is -2 C or 28 fit Bratislava has a kosher restaurant Sababa and kosha food is available from the local community center details at yala .k kosher food is also available from the River Cafe vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Slovakia can be found on the happy cow [Music] website so as we promised we're about to bring you our guide ever I will'll just tell you a little bit about where we are so we sailed from Bratislava along the danub heading towards Austria but at the same time as we pointed out Austria was sort of to our left the whole time and we were traveling west towards I guess Vienna and then we stopped we docked at a place called Devon above us high on a clifftop is an imposing Castle edifice and down below the danu does something really bizarre it splits into two what were we looking at that was the Confluence of Two Rivers the main river here of course is the danop river and the castle was built right above the Confluence where morava River coming from what is now Czech Republic joins the danop river it's one of its numerous tributaries is it easy to go up and see the castle it looks quite imposing and high it is imposing and high that's right but of course it's POS ible to climb it but if you don't feel you want to practice that much you can go to the middle Castle only already from middle Castle you have a very nice view but those for whom it's not such a big challenge can continue to the Citadel which is the highest part of the castle and the higher they will go the better the view will be if I'm not mistaken the castle is about a thousand years old in 60 seconds or so tell us the Thousand Year history wow that's that's good too okay 60 seconds Kels Romans Slavic people came and then they settled here among them were future slovaks but in the meantime another Nation came hungarians so what's now Slovakia became a part of the Hungarian Kingdom but after Hungarian kingdom was devastated by Mongolians the Germans came here as well and they lived here all together till 1945 then something happened you said Mongolians yes that's right that was very scary situation because they came here in 1241 1242 and they not only completely devastated the country but they depopulated it and that was the reason why Hungarian King Sur he had to escape to save his life and when he returned back after the Mongolians were over found the country depopulated he realized that he had to do something because if the country is empty nobody works nobody pays taxes and then the king will remain uh you know poor forever so he invited German settlers and they really brought the country back to Prosperity so you got as far as 1945 and as we sailing and as we were looking at Maps which are out there for people who were walking here or cycling here to see you were showing us where the Germans were what became basically German territory during the war but in 1945 there was a seed change with the arrival of the Communists of the Soviets how did that affect this Confluence of the morava and the danu with the castle above it really has the influence on uh this uh territory because uh you know communist took over the power in 1948 but it was quite clear immediately after the war that would happen step by step all this area very close to the Austrian border became fenced and became a part of the Iron Curtain so people could come to the council but they could not get to the banks of both Rivers neither to danub bank nor to morava bank and we were just looking at the austrians on the other Bank of morava like from the inside of the cage we passed by in fact walk through what essentially is an arch it's a brutal cement Arch and it's covered in what are meant to be huge bullet holes and on it are a list of names of those people that we know were the victims of the Iron Curtain but it also talks about other people too you can uh read if of course if you understand Slovak you can read in Slovak how many people were kidnapped to the Soviet gulags especially in the 50s that was very common then how many people were in prison just because they tried to escape it was about 80,000 and uh how many people people were otherwise punished during the Soviet era also it mentions how many had to leave the country after the second world war because of the fact they were of the wrong nationality just in case we don't interview you anym on the tape later on as we wander around town evera thank you very much indeed for all of your guiding and your warmth welcome it was pleasure for me to guide you so thank you to never ever our guide forever and ever what have you got there David do you remember a couple of weeks ago it's not that long ago actually we were in lvia maybe in terms of the podcast coming out being published it's a couple of months back we tried I don't even know if we actually no we didn't talk about it on air but we tried rhubarb wine in lvia we did because it's so far north they can't really grow grapes fizzy rubab wine it was very pleasant so now we're trying what is it it's red Curr it's mixed currant I think I think mixed yes the bar that we're outside sells black currant wine but clearly the crop was mixed this year so it's mixed currant wine and you can get white and red and darker colored currants you're good at describing tastes The Man Behind the Bar said it's about 12% it's quite sweet it has that taste of Jewish kiddish wine about it um and it's really rather good it is it's it's sweet but you can also taste a sour cureness is that a word cureness it is now it is after you've been drinking the current wine as we wander around Israel you know there are many walks that you can go on and they talk about the seven species of Israel for example the pomegranates and the olives and so on figs dates and as you're walking through Israel you can actually see them on the trees pick them eat them so it's a pretty much a similar experience here as we got off the boat there was this beautiful tree and there were lots of people around it jumping up trying to reach the fruit they were tiny little Plum likee fruit which were very sweet and you just pick them and eat them do you remember when we were children we were told never pick stuff the trees that we don't know that's why we have forever and ever with us oh Mark you know we just had that lovely current wine I'm dreading what's about to happen in my tummy I feel like I'm floating and heading for space you love Heights don't you David okay there's Heights and then there's UFOs yes thankfully there's no windows on this lift but we're we're heading into space we're hurtling 85 90 M into the sky and we're doing it in 45 seconds I believe feels like about three I can hear the thing rattling behind me I'm holding on it's amazing all all over the world but I guess we particularly felt it in Central Europe because we've been here so many times people are a bit obsessed with tall buildings and you're having to go all the way to the top to look out as long as there's a lift though cuz I much prefer a scary lift to scary stairs we're about to open the door and let's see what we're about to find so it's called the UFO because it's shaped like a UFO there are aliens emerging from a little pink stairwell so I know we said goodbye to her a little bit earlier but Eva has braved the elevator and the elements Eva what are we looking at now we are looking at Bratislava I would say both Banks of Bratislava you can see the right bank which was part of the Roman Empire many centuries ago and which is very flat and then you can see the city center on the other side with all our famous sites including the coronation church including Bratislava Castle including the TV tower on top of the hill uh the TV tower has a shape of a wine bottle Because by the way what we are looking at that's uh the prime wine region of Slovakia little carpatian wine region and we can also see Austria and we can see Hungary as well from here so this is really panoramic view sometimes even two different mountain ranges the carpatian and on the horizon we can see the Alps to the left and I think we're still in Bratislava here I know we're in Bratislava I can see something called Al Park and it says Bratislava shopping center how's the shopping in Bratislava shopping is good because we have more than enough of shopping centers in Bratislava moreover they are open seven days a week except of uh state holidays and we have 13 state holidays when uh all the shops must be closed otherwise Sundays uh open as well contrary to Austria where Sundays shopping centers and shops are generally closed in this angle I can see a graphic with lots of TV towers from around the world and viewing platforms we're at 995 M David how do you fancy the maau tower at 338 M well Kima Watkins from cath Pacific recently suggested that we go over there and take in some of those rather high buildings and my Sima is forget it I think 90 M on the UFO is enough for me hello welcome gentlemen first of all I want to welcome and greeting your listeners to your podcast uh my name is MAA paich I'm a floor manager at UFO restaurant does it help that you have this stunning 360° view or from the point of view of a restaurant is it actually a problem because because people are spending more time looking at the gorgeous views than they are appreciating all the wonderful food that they are serving up it's a really good question but yes it's about the wheew and also about the food and uh the food is about perfect and you can enjoy the food and the sunset and the view as well together in one time it's our best combination you've obviously got the fabulous View and you have to have fabulous food to go with the Fab abulous view what's on the menu here we have a combination of mediteran and Asia cuisine actually we have a three and four and eight course degustation menu and our alak art as well Mark and I have talked about degustation David that was indigestion what does it mean to you what does degustation mean to you degustation is a selection of local ingredients with a modern Cuisine would be like what are local ingredients what makes Slovakian food Slovakian actually we have on our degustation menu maybe beef tank which is served with the EOL equ white espuma it's served with poo which is a really good appetizer also we have a fluffy pumpkin wello maybe venison loin and also our perfect desert is a Curt dumplings served with popic espuma and apricot sbet maybe they are my favorite dishes there I'm looking at the D the the de we've already established it's indigestion menu yes yes maybe you should say it'll come out more yes exactly exactly which is probably completely wrong course number seven is smoked marrow ice cream with onion crumble oh it's really delicious and you have to try it once because it's really specific it's a really unusual ice cream is it sweet or savory or both it's yes it's a little bit uh sweet uh and a little bit creamy and really delicate and what wine would you pair it with actually it's paired with our wine which was prepared for 50 Anniversary of this uh building last year ago and actually it's a dein it's a Slovak wine it's a semi- dry uh really tasty I will give you one bottle before we let you go because you've got a whole restaurant here to manage given that the views are 360° are stunning are very different from each window which is the best table in the house our most popular and most favorite table is a table 35 is uh this one in the Middle where sit actually this uh lady and this gentleman perfect view on the old town and also Sunset thank you so much for spending time with us I want to thank you guys thank you for your visit and have a good night this is Mark Gordon from the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Mark davidp pod or mail us at Mark davidp pod atgmailcom day two here in Bratislava and we start the day in a unique Place underground next to the river danu when a Jewish Community has to to move from place to place as space for the Jewish Community changes because of the needs of the community all the city around it different things happen throughout Europe but this is perhaps for you and I the most unique place where we've seen evidence of the moving of a community we were in Prague last year the 100,000 members of the community that were buried with within a small plot are still there the maharal Prague is there everything remains but in Slovakia it was a very different story it's a new day we have a new guide if you could introduce yourself to our listeners that would be great hi I am Blanca I I'm the local tourist guide from Bratislava just explain for our listeners where we are we are also uh directly under the castle of Bratislava and the Castle Hill actually one side of that Hill started to be in the 16th century the Jewish quarter out of the city walls after the Jewish Community had to leave the city and here on the danu they had their Cemetery the cemetery had to be destroyed in 1940s because of the build of the tunnel under our Castle they saved one small part of this Cemetery having over 2,000 Graves this Rabbi District this the famous grave of Rabbi katam sofa his original name Moshe rber around his grave are also Graves other rabbis being in Bratislava before him when we approached the site to the left were a number of modern Office Buildings there's a tram line all you could really see was a sort of stone monolith poking out of the ground we're not actually at ground level are we we've come underground to the grave site here was from the side of the river one 3 m tall wall to protect the cemetery from the danu Waters of course the Nu was in that time much wider like it is now it's now regulated so uh the level was original here where we are now over 3 m underground so they uh preserved it like they built a concrete shelf around and then a concrete panel roof above if I can describe it I guess we are in what feels like an underground bunker with poured concrete all the way around in the ceiling are glass panels I'm guessing there are about 60 70 glass panels here and not only can you see them below ground but they also stick out into the grass above I guess reminiscent of or to remind us that this is a grave site and there were other Graves here as well the other people who were buried here about 2,000 people were moved to the new Jewish cemetery this particular Cemetery was used from the 1600s to the middle of the 19th century and so burial stopped here a new Cemetery was open and as this work was being carried out the Jewish Community here and internationally managed to persuade the authorities to allow the kadisha those Jewish people responsible for looking after Graves to move the bodies to exume them and move them to the new site who can comes today to visit this area so at first it is a very special pilgrimage place for orthodox Jews so Orthodox Jews from all over the world and then we have here a lot of tourists tourist groups we have here Den so danub cruises groups a lot of them especially from us are you able to tell us a little bit about the katam sare who he was he was born in uh frankfur and mine at the end of 18th century he he became to be Rabbi in a lot of places in present Czech Republic Austria finally at the beginning of uh 19th century he arrived uh with his wife to pressburg in that time Bratislava now and uh he stayed here and he was Rabbi here over 30 years for those of you that were listening to the quiz question at the beginning of the podcast there may be a very large clue there as to the answer the katam sofa established a Yeshiva called the pressburg Yeshiva which was not only here for a long time but also was moved across to Israel as many European yeshivat were why was there the need in his opinion to establish this Center that created so many Orthodox rabbis he stayed here uh Bratislava had a perfect location in uh the former Hungarian Kingdom we belonged in the time he established this school because he believed that Orthodox Judaism is very important to preserve the Jews because of course that was in in the the face of the establishment of a growing reform Community which began in Germany and spread around Central Europe practical question if I'm visiting Bratislava can I just turn up at the site do I need to book in advance and do you know is there a payment required to come here yes they required payment and you have to call in advance for your visit because this is not opened uh the whole day it is a very unique place it's a very special place a lot of people have obviously been here before and the floor is filled around the graves with hundreds of small pieces of paper which are prayers that people hope the rabbis hear the katam sofa and the others the original AKA AA amongst them will be the um intercessors for their prayers and that they would be answered in heaven one of the highlights of any visit that Mark and I make around the world but particularly in Europe is to come to a city where there's just one synagogue left for all the obvious reasons in the particular case of Bratislava we actually have the Communist times to thank for the destruction of the other synagogue in town but one synagogue remains here and we've been privileged and honored to meet one of its older members who can tell us a lot not only about this synagogue but also about some of the terrible times of the past and of course the fact that there is the joy of a synagogue still standing here and his name is Ivan Pastak our synagogue is orthodox synagogue and we call it also templum in Hungarian language this architecture by arur Salat stinski he made it he won competition to this synagogue and it is in cubistic style the building is celebrating a special anniversary this year it is a 100 years since the foundation stone was laid is the furniture here the the original furniture from the synagogue and how did it survive this furniture what we seed and tables are original it was from 1923 to 1943 in the synagogue after it was in the garden here in our why did it end up in the garden of the sh because it was Holocaust the regime had the fascists the Nazis didn't destroy what was here it was just stored away tell us the story of on the bimma we have the place that the Torah is read from you showed us you you pulled back the covering and underneath it there are scratches on the surface that the Torah is read from what is that it was German who write swastika the we have it and we don't yes because every boy who is Bar Mitzvah comes to this bimma and he knows that swastika is there you're a very young man you look 20 21 years old but I believe you're slightly older than that and you have a very interesting story about about how you and your mother survived the war can you tell us that story yes thank you very much I not such a young boy but I was a little boy in 1944 when in September to October where the last catching of Jewish people here in Bratislava and we were also catched and Deport to concentration camps my father went to concentration camps straight from Railway stationis nanka to ser and after to aitz and he died in D and me my mother with me we were in concentration camp in maral in the time today this Village called in Slovak language maranka and there we lived several days and one day my mother asked solak Soldier if he has do you have a knife because my boy have some money so the money was hidden in a collar on your clothing yes in my clothing yes and he opened it oh oh boys we have money we are going to Canen and they went to Canen and my mother went after that after and to the left to the forest and to the family who was very good to us and this family I would like to tell his name he was Andre hav and Helena havelova and they hidden us until the end of War we survive until 1945 when we were celebrated here we are 80 years later you married you've got two sons who live here you've got two granddaughters you are a very important part of this SCH this synagogue you are showing people around when the high holidays come you partic ipate in the services in 2023 how important is it for you that this community is still here today and that hopefully it will be here tomorrow for me it is very very important my wife died 14 years ago also my auntie parents grandparents my father died when I was very little little boy my dad my father died in concentration camp daa near Munich my mother died when I was 18 years old maybe it was uh hiding in second world war and after now I'm retired but I would like to help to our community and it's very good that everybody knows that I am here van or Elan Pastor thank you for everything you do to keep this community alive to keep this synagogue open for people to come and learn and thank you to the family that kept you and your mother alive and the important role they played in today's Bratislava Community thank you very much thank you and if you want to visit this synagogue it's open on Sundays and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. my name is Michael vanck I'm the director of the Museum of Jewish culture that is part of the Slovak National Museum we are now standing in one of the last two remaining buildings of the old Jewish ghetto in Bratislava and uh we are standing in in the exhibition of our Museum can you in 60 seconds tell us about the museum and who comes to the museum and what it tries to show about Jewish Bratislava we are in the process of remodeling the 25 years old exhibition so in three years you'll see the I hope totally new Museum but at the moment we have two floors one is dedicated to religious life or life of religious Jews and the other one is dedicated to Temporary exhibitions we are standing in one of them that is talking about the organized swimming within the Jewish community Mark was saying to you before we recorded that of course the world's smallest book is the book of Jewish sport Stars however on our way over here our guide pointed out a plaque to a World Wrestling Champion down the road from here is another plaque to the creator of Krav Maga and here we are surrounded by something that you have built a temporary exhibit about the swimming stars of the 20th and 21st centuries yeah the memorial plages that you stumbled upon are actually the outcomes of our attempts and uh we did exhibition about first the star wrestler that was a world champion makabe champion in 35 in Tel Aviv and then he was luckily because of the Shah was uh called to us where he became a huge star in wrestling that's David unich that was able to fill the medicon Square Garden for example and the other guy IM Feld who invented crow magad that Israelis know very well so I won't talk about that and now uh we are standing in a the room where we talk about the famous Bratislava Jewish swimming club that was kind of a pioneering in actually in swimming in methodology of swimming they had European medalist in 1937 they were the unbeatable team in Czechoslovakia some of the the swimmers survived when they stayed in London when they have a swimming tournament in 39 unfortunately the rest was murdered in Slovakia and other places so but connection to to Israel on one hand we have the members of the barov swimming team I was talking about on the other side are the stories of actually Slovak Israelis we have David seor who was Survivor from Braava immigrated to Israel in 49 and there he became a coach of Israeli swimming team and also the boss of the Israeli swimming Federation and and we have Ivona Tois who was born in in Braava she was the youngest swimming czechoslovak champion beating women at the age of 12 when their family immigrated to Israel in 1964 she was immediately spotted by the Israeli swimmers and she became uh swimming star of Israel representing Israel at the 68 Mexico Olympic Games how do people find out more details about the museum do you have a website you find us on the website of the Slovak National Museum but the best thing is to follow us on the social media so Instagram and Facebook you find us there thank you so much for showing us this Museum David we better get out of here cuz you can't swim oh Mark well what have you done now you know when you get this sort of feeling a warm feeling satisfaction after a good meal after a beautiful sunset after seeing amazing sites historical buildings going on a Bo that type of old Mark oh yes no definitely although if you've seen the sunset we've got a problem cuz it's lunchtime and we're surrounded by gorgeous trees overhead as you can tell is wrap-up time from this particular podcast Bratislava has paid host to us beautifully there is so much to see and do here we've only been in for 48 hours yes but brattis slaver is known as the 72-hour City in fact we know this because there is a lovely gentleman who comes from the Bratislava tourist board who's been following us around he's great he's great he's not a minder at all not in a creepy way he hasn't followed us like that he's been out our guide he's really nice he's called Julius and we have to say a big thank you to Julius but every so often he gives us this piece of paper to remind us that Bratislava is indeed the 72-hour City and our trip has been implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic and of course we have to say thank you to the Bratislava tourist board well done you actually read out what we've been holding every like every three or four hours ulius will make us hold up this piece of paper and in front of us just to prove that we're still here it's like a proof of life when you've been kidnapped you should be very jealous of course of what we do we go around the world doing this type of thing but we always say to you that we have been sponsored by such and such an organization and what a lot of the places do is we'll be just interviewing somebody or looking at a museum piece or an artifact and suddenly there's someone behind us taking our photograph because they want to put it on their Facebook page or show their bosses that they're actually doing a really good job and Ulus has done a splendid job yes thank you Julius I should point out the reason we're thanking ulius is cuz he's sitting opposite us and he's paying for lunch and he took a photograph of us while we were recording and there's beer in front of me no thank you Julius thank you to our wonderful two guides who have got us to places on time over the last few days Eva and Blanca and a big thank you to jack who organized our flights for us Jack from World Jewish travel thank you to all of you for those of you who have got this far in the podcast and obviously you have if you're listening to us right now it's our usual request that you subscribe tell all your friends about what we do give us a fstar rating on your podcast provider and if you could write a nice review that would make Mark and my parents up in heaven look down on us with a big smile I think my parents are probably looking up but we won't go into that no but seriously if you enjoyed this podcast there are dozens and dozens of other podcasts in our travel series Oh I thought you meant dozens and dozens of podcasts that are better than ours by other people there are no podcasts better than ours David you know that you keep telling me that this is award-winning podcasting so if you have an award out there that you'd like to give us we've got a back Archive of more than 60 episodes that are really well worth a listen please send us any comments to our email Mark davidp pod gmail.com and our social media handly thing is at Mark davidp pod quiz Time quiz time go for it so posan is known as Posen or the other way around was known as Posen mhm leiv was known as lenberg what was Bratislava known as jolly good 48 hours or 7 72 hours yeah yeah yeah is it 48 actually now we arrived at night so we've done this in like twice the speed really 36 should we get back to the quiz David yeah yeah go for it what's the answer uh you may have heard it in the Pod unless David's edited it out we shall see pressberg yeah I'm pressing now I'm not a burger oh that was press Mark yes folks thank you very much indeed for listening to the pod hope you enjoyed it we are going to be back in a few weeks time with the continuation of this trip because after we hit the stop button here we're heading to another region of this beautiful country so look out for that but for now Mark oht it's dessert in which case wow look at that oh my good Lord good I'll have the smaller one please okay in that case folks goodbye goodbye [Music]