Today was ones last full day in Bratislava and indeed for this trip. As mentioned yesterday, the sole aim of today was to explore the UFO Tower which stands proud over a dual carriageway.
N.B. I thought I would mention that a car has just drove straight down the tramway outside the hotel window…whoopsie!
After a short walk across the River Danube, we reached the base of this majestic structure which, at the time of writing, consisted of a wooden shell with a porta cabin alongside. What was more concerning was the fact that a big step was present to enter, however, we later discovered that a wooden ramp had been constructed around the side. The temporary walkway to the elevator from said porta cabin can only be described as an entrance to a rather strange rollercoaster; walls and ceiling painted entirely black with a rather concerning whirring noise emanating from the end (the elevator!).
Once inside the ‘UFO’, you are presented with stunning panoramic views of the city including the famous Castle. If you are lucky enough to experience the restaurant also, don’t expect large servings of food, it’s one of those posh places where you are required to sample the tiniest portion and then pay a bomb for it…
There seemed to be an upstairs section, however, one isn’t quite sure if it’s accessible as we didn’t venture that far.
Tomorrow, we head over the Austrian border to fly back to the UK from Vienna. For the next adventure, one will be exploring Vilnius in Lithuania followed by Minsk in Belarus. However, before that, simply appreciate the view from ones hotel room…
The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava is a city not necessarily on the conventional tourists bucket list, especially if you are a wheelchair user but you may be surprised by this place! If one thinks of a quaint city that is a cross between Czech and Austrian styled architecture, that’s Bratislava.
Today we ventured into its historical centre, the majority of streets have been revamped from conventional cobbles (unlike Prague) to a very smooth surface whilst maintaining it’s authentic appearance thus making for a smooth roll…
As one only has 2 days here before heading back to the UK, we enlisted the help of a very handy city map marking out the location of the major sights such as St Michael’s Gate and the Man At Work statue…
The city centre itself is quite walkable meaning that one can see the majority of the sights in a matter of hours (it took us around 3 and a half hours including a half hour stop!).
For the next few days, one is staying in the Ibis Hotel. Situated on the slopes of Bratislava Castle, it is pretty much what an Ibis stands for. The only downside is that the accessible rooms contain a bath rather than a shower.
The plan for tomorrow was to trek up to Bratislava Castle, however with Superbunny out of action and the slope up being near vertical, think we will give that a miss! Instead, a well needed chill morning is the plan with a meal up the UFO Tower (essentially a UFO atop of a road bridge) to round off the trip!
The aim of today was to visit the Žižkov Television Tower (or the ‘crawling babies’ tower, the reasoning I will explain shortly). The journey from the hotel was a little hair raising to say the least as construction work around the Florenc area meaning risking life and death attempting to cross 3 or 4 lanes of traffic which is no mean feat especially with Superbunny. Anyway, a few more roads and steep hills later, we reached our destination.
The Žižkov Television Tower was constructed in 1992 towards the end of the Soviet era and was subsequently dubbed the worlds second ugliest building (although one has seen much worse in my opinion). In an effort to boost it’s appearance, a Czech artist was commissioned in 2000 to design fiberglass ‘babies’ which would ‘crawl’ up the tower giving rise to its nickname…
The entrance to said tower is actually sunken down below street level with steps surroundings its perimeter. How do you access the lower level you may ask? The answer to that is practically pretending that you are a car by going through the underground car park…
Disabled individuals and companions can enter the Žižkov Television Tower for a discounted rate of 100 CZK. For the best views, one would recommend visiting the restaurant albeit a little overpriced…
Tomorrow, one heads down to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. Unfortunately, Superbunny had a little accident today rendering it undrivable meaning that one has had to fork out for a wheelchair accessible taxi to take us over the border. Thank god that we are in Europe!
As I mentioned yesterday, the primary aim was to visit the Petrin Tower using the Prague Metro system. Luckily for us, Florenc station (which is fully accessible) is a mere 5 minute walk from the hotel! Now, Florenc is an interchange station for both Line B (the one we wanted) and C and if you have used such transportation systems before, you will know that there is usually one lift for the overall station, not here! At interchange stations in Prague, you have different lifts for different lines, even have street signs directing you to the different lifts via an accessible route, why can’t we have a similar system in London, it’s simple yet effective. This continues all the way down onto the platform meaning that all you really need to know is the colour or letter of the line you want, if the stations are accessible and the destination. Prior to any trips that involve catching public transportation, one YouTubes the actual transport whether that be a bus, metro and tram to see how accessible it is to get on and the size of the gap between said vehicle and the pavement or platform! As usual, Prague uses different rolling stock dependent upon the line, each with varying gaps between the train and the platform edge. In the case of Line B, Russian metro rolling stock are still in service after all these years (the country was previously within the Soviet Union) albeit a little updated with regards to technology and as such the gap is quite substantial meaning that Superbunny had to do some wheelies to get onboard (if you have a wheelchair that can’t do wheelies, you have no hope unfortunately).
An able bodied individual wanting to visit the Petrin Tower can simply hop onto the metro, get off and straight onto the Funicular Railway essentially taking you to the tower entrance, simple right? If only it was with muggins and Superbunny! Despite the popularity of the Petrin, neither the Funicular or the closest metro is accessible (even with a manual wheelchair, one did have a quick gander!). Now, the Petrin Tower is on top of a decent sized hill (Kinsky Garden) which overlooks the city hence it was necessary to trek up the side of this thing, however, the views were majestic (better than the tower in ones opinion!)…
An hours trek later, we finally reached the summit where the Petrin Tower stood in all it’s glory…
On first glance at this majestic structure, you would assume a large lift going up its core but no! Upon entering the base, we were informed that Superbunny was too wide for the lift hence the staff bought out a very dusty manual wheelchair for one to transfer into and the reason for this became evidently clear once the lift was presented! Words can’t describe how small this thing was, even a normal sized manual wheelchair had to be bumped and scraped to fill in! We were then informed that this box lift could only go to the second base hence these views had to suffice…
After the prospect dawned that one could potentially get stuck in a lift the size of a box for eternity, we set upon finding an accessible restaurant which we know by now doesn’t tie well with Europe. Luckily, we discovered, what can only be described as Soviet styled apartment blocks with a restaurant benefits. Who knows what it was previously used for as the toilet doors appeared to be akin to chunky jail doors!
The plan for tomorrow is to visit the Žižkovská Tower tomorrow afternoon before stocking up in preparation for the 4 hour train journey to Bratislava on Friday. It is hoped that this tower will have a decent lift!
For those who follow ones blog, you will know that a trip to Prague was booked in 2017 only to have the flight cancelled! Anyway, after a short flight, one touched down at Václav Havel Airport in Prague where the wheelchair accessible taxi that I booked prior awaited us and was a suitable size meaning our experience thus far seems to be plain sailing.
Over the next few days, one is staying at The Grandior Hotel, which, I must say, is ideal when it comes to accessible rooms, plenty of room to manoeuvre plus a rather large bathroom/wet room complete with a shower seat!
Today was all about exploring the heart of Prague and a little route was formed taking in the famous sights such as the Prague Astronomical Clock and Old Town Square. Granted that the area is a little cobbly but it is still manageable for wheelchair users…
The next stop was The Charles Bridge. Akin to The Old Square, the area is a little cobbly in keeping with its historical status but still manageable…
Now, during the numerous trips to Europe, one has come to realise that, particularly in older cities such as Bruges, indoor restaurants pose an obstacle to wheelchair users due to the building having steps. Luckily for us, a few minutes from the hotel, a shopping mall is located with every restaurant you can think of meaning our meal times are sorted for the next few days!
The plan for tomorrow is to attempt to navigate the Prague metro system with Superbunny, ultimately to visit the Petrin Tower.
Today was something of a ‘make it up as you go along’ type of day as the majority of the ship decided to coach it off down to Gdansk (which is 14.5 miles from the port) whereas one thought it best to stay in Gdynia where the ship is docked. From prior research on YouTube, Gdynia is just your average port city and that’s what it essentially is! It’s better sometimes to visit places that are not necessarily on the tourist trail, that’s how you can get a real feel for a country.
It must be said that if you are visiting Gdynia via ship, it is probably best to follow the road signs as the outskirts, let’s just say, could be better, nonetheless it’s all accessible! Now, when you think of a small port city, do you think of skyscrapers? Your answer is most likely no, however, come to Gdynia and you will see the Sea Towers towering over the city…
Why the barbed wire you may ask? When one saw the area, instant had flashbacks to the Quattro Towers in Madrid came to mind. The complex comprises of apartments, restaurants, Polish banks and a Marriott hotel and appears to have been plonked down in a best effort to rejuvenate what looked like a run down area. Now, this is OK providing that the buildings surrounding it do not have barbed wire protecting them, makes for good photography though!
Aside from the Sea Towers, the city also offers a harbour where a few vessels are permanently docked, a small beach and just your typical Polish city centre all of which you can probably see in 2/3 hours…
The primary reason that we returned to the ship early, however, is that as of 4pm, we won’t have any internet access until Saturday morning when we return to Southampton bringing our Baltic cruise to a finish!
Before one starts banging on about Helsinki, I keep forgetting to write about the so called “white nights” phenomenon that we have had the pleasure of experiencing over the past few days. Basically this is when the sun sets at some ungodly hour (think it’s around 12:30am) only to rise again 2/3 hours later hence effectively you are sleeping in broad daylight!
Anyway, Helsinki, for some unknown reason when one visualises the city, modern architecture springs to mind. This is partly true, however, there are sights i.e. old brick churches mixed in also working surprisingly well.
As usual, one docked at the port around 2 miles from the centre so decided to scrap the “walking into the centre” idea and simply stroll around the various harbours. Despite this, it turned out said the road that one was rolling on along ends up in the centre anyway.
One thinks that it has been said 2 or 3 times on this trip alone, however, the city is home to it’s own tram network, just like all the rest, it depends upon the rolling stock as to whether it is accessible for wheelchair users.
One was also lucky enough to be in Helsinki on market day, this not only provides fresh fruit and vegetables but also a wide range of souvenirs, not appealing when one had a million seagulls swooping up and down!
Tomorrow is yet another day at sea before we dock at our final port of call, Gdynia in Poland (the porting city for Gdansk, however, attempting to source a wheelchair accessible taxi company who speak English is impossible, Gdynia looks nice though!
Whilst in St Petersburg, one chose to tour with I Love Travel after reading Cory Lee’s experience with the company. A lovely lady met us outside the cruise terminal and whisked us away into the city passing some of it’s famous landmarks such as The Winter Palace and The Peter and Paul Fortress…
After stopping off to purchase souvenirs and grabbing a bite to eat (Sushi in Russia – why not!), one headed down to the pier to board the accessible boat for a river tour. Now, when watching the video on Cory’s blog, one noted a nice metal ramp being put into place to bridge the gap between the pier and the boat itself strong enough to sustain the weight of an electric wheelchair but for me, a piece of plywood, someone could have broke that with their own weight! The positive side to this, however, is that you do get a whole new perspective of the city from the water…
Today, our tour guide took us to visit the Peterhof Palace. Peterhof is located just outside the city and is commonly referred to as the “Russian Versailles” with the inspiration, as implied, taken from the city of Versailles by Peter The Great.
The grounds are mostly wheelchair accessible albeit a little bumpy and comprises of many fountains (including a ‘trick’ fountain with the idea being that standing on the wrong stone triggers a fountain of water!).
Peterhof also backs on to the Baltic Sea (or the Gulf of Finland to be exact) hence offers great views, especially towards the Lakhta Centre which is currently under construction but will become the tallest building in Europe!
All in all, I Love Travel is a great company to tour the city with, very knowledgeable and will do their upmost to assist wheelchair users.
Tomorrow, we begin our very slow journey back to the UK stopping off at Helsinki.
It must be said that leaving Stockholm last night through the fjords was probably one of the most awesome views from a cruise ship thus far!
Anyway, one is pleased to report that we docked in Tallinn at the planned port meaning it was a mere 15 – 20 walk to the Old Town in the heart of the city…
Akin to Bruges, the majority of the Old Town comprises of cobbled streets and drop curbs are scarce making it a nightmare for Superbunny plus the pavements become very tight at points! However, if you look beyond this, the area does have stunning architecture!
Now, financial districts, yes one knows that I have a thing for them everywhere I go but they do have their uses as on this occasion. As you might expect reading the above, nearly all the shops and restaurants in the Old Town have steps whereas the New Town with all it’s glass skyscrapers doesn’t thus that’s where we eat.
The New Town is in stark contrast with smooth pavements and drop curbs as you would expect making it much easier to roll around for a wheelchair user…
Tomorrow we dock in St Petersburg in Russia where we will spend 2 days (Saturday and Sunday) touring the city with ‘I Love Travel’ including an accessible boat tour which should be an experience!
This morning we docked in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Unlike Copenhagen, the port is situated within walking distance of the centre (if you know where your going!). We began our meander into the centre with Superbunny by following some fellow passengers who turned out to be lost also, in fact, one is pretty sure that we did a massive circle! On consultation of Google Maps, it turned out that we still had a 45 minute walk ahead of us and it was at this point that we ditched the ‘walking into the centre’ plan. When one researched Stockholm prior to the cruise. I discovered that the city possesses an observation deck quite close to the port and it was this that became the foundation of our new plan. In order to get to the Kaknäs Tower, it was necessary to traverse through the Ladugårdsgärdet area consisting of lush greenery and forestry, quite surreal considering it’s in the middle of the city!
The tower itself stands majestically on a hill and offers panoramic views, quite cheap too, around £6pp…
On reflection of this Baltic cruise, it seems that it may have been better to have a private tour guide picking us up directly from port as it has become clear that, unlike the Caribbean, the ports are much further out of town! Saying that, we have a tour booked for St Petersburg and sourcing one as we speak for Helsinki on Monday.
Tomorrow, we dock in Tallinn, Estonia where the port seems to be in proximity to the city centre!
