Bratislava, Slovakia

It has been about 15 years since the Iron Curtain opened. Slovakia is one of the countries that is slowly making a comeback as a result of Kia and Volkswagen opening plants here. Bratislava is a blend of old world culture and new world industry. It is a pastiche of Art Nouveau and the high rise. This part of the world prefers to be called “Middle Europe,” for the residents associate themselves more with Western than Eastern Europe (now Romania, Belarus, and the Ukraine.)

During the years of the Soviet occupation, the buildings were painted grey so that they never had to be painted again. Those were the colorless years. Today, the people celebrate their freedom by painting their buildings in vivid colors. Slovakia–once part of Austria-Hungary Empire, once part of the Czechoslovakia–is now its own country and part of the EU. Someday, we were told, the EU might extend all the way to the Ukraine. The United States of Europe?

This 5 minute video details our visit to Bratislava.