New things coming in my way through my trip here! I am glad sharing these experiences with all of you!
This month friend of mine from Greece visited me and I had the chance to see Bratislava as tourist again. We went at the botanical garden (the weather helped) and there were these amazing plants and flowers. The place itself was huge to explore and enjoy these many colors and varieties and we got to see a fluffy orange squirrel in there..! There are so many! Also, we went to visit the Blue church of St Elizabeth’s. It’s a very cute and romantic place, the colors were white and blue mostly and the decoration was minimal. Last but not least, a nice place to see is near Danube River where there are some floating houses and some of them you can only reach them by boat. You can easily take your bikes and enjoy the view, especially around sunset, because there are these corn fields which are amazing to cross by.
In the middle of the month we had our office BBQ where we all gathered and had fun. I made a greek traditional recipe called tzatziki which, in my ignorance, is a popular plate here. Happy surprise! I was very glad to see they liked greek food. As for the next week we had the volunteer week organized by BDC and some volunteers came at the office to help us clean, paint the fence and trim the trees. It was very kind of them and we all did a very nice job.
As for ending we went to another workcamp at Uhrovec castle. It was very controversial that trip because the transportation is the worst there. We changed three buses in order to arrive, but there were many delays and we were very tired of this. For a 3hour trip, we made in total almost 5! Was unbelievable. Personally, I didn’t even want to go because of that and had this negative energy along the trip. However, when we arrived at the meeting point with the other volunteers, we went hiking till the castle which was on the top of the hill. Half an hour of kind of a steep path but it was so beautiful and peaceful, you could literally hear nothing! Just the wind and our heavy and tired breaths, but worth it!
When we arrive, we met with the local partner and were very kind and made us feel like home. We light the fire and took a tour around the castle. In the evening, because of the absence of light, it was like a haunted house. Very astonishing and had an amazing view and the most beautiful sunset we’ve ever seen. You could only see the mountains and the hills around it. During our stay we helped to arrange the place for the “biely noc” festival. We put on candles, we cleaned it from rocks and we packed collective T-shirts for the tourists. At night the sky was so clean that you could actually see the stars and luckily I saw my first falling star. So happy!
Regardless to say that there were some other volunteers as well who they did a medieval representation of knights and show of bows and swords. They dressed up with traditional clothing and were there to inform us and the people coming, how it was back in the 13th
In the end it was a unique experience full of laugh. I am very glad that I went there and had the chance to meet all those nice and helpful people. We had a very nice group dynamic and we were one. So, out of personal view, I really recommended it, it’s awesome there, but you have to be very patient on the transportation. Other than that, you’ll enjoy it at its fullest! Don’t let that little thing come in your way. See you on October, with many other things to discuss.
Christina
