Trnava is a short railway ride from Bratislava (30-45 minutes, depending on the type of train you catch).



Sources differ as to when this very attractive town was founded (the 7th century, or the 9th century?).

But what all agree on is the importance of 1238, when Trnava became the first town in the Slovakian region to be granted civic privileges by King Bela IV of Hungary (what is now Slovakia , remember, was part of the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary for many hundreds of years). The new status set what had been a purely agricultural hub on a path towards manufacturing, trade, and crafts, and as early as the first half of the 13th century, Trnava started building an extensive system of fortifications (a surprising amount of which you can still see).





The town gained an extra boost in the 16th century, because the Ottomans never made it as far north as this. As a result, it became an important place of refuge for both Hungarian and Slovak institutions. When Esztergom was occupied by the Ottoman forces, for example, that locality's archbishop and his entourage moved to Trnava, and the town became the cultural and religious focus for the Kingdom of Hungary for almost three centuries. It became known as the Slovak Rome on account of its many religious buildings.






This is an incredibly photogenic place, with church towers popping up at the bottom of narrow streets, and broad squares opening up one after the other. The local administration has done a great thing in pedestrianizing so much of the old heart of the city.







So we had an excellent morning's sightseeing. You can't go wrong here really.

The only minor fly in the ointment was that our search for a lunch that was a) traditional and b) not too expensive ended in a fail. I subscribe to the old adage that if you have to ask you can't afford it, and a few places fell into that category; the establishments that appeared to be doing cheaper set-menu-style lunches didn't seem to be open; and the dumpling place that Nigel discovered had apparently changed both its opening hours and its operating procedure. So we ended up with something perfectly adequate, but generic, as opposed to distinctively Slovak.

One of the problems of the kind of whistle-stop tour we're doing (which is already much slower, of course, than most people would choose) is that you don't have time to suss out the good, cheap, authentic food offerings. Never mind. We were fed and watered without breaking the bank, which is what matters.

Trains back to Bratislava are very frequent -- except when we'd just missed one... But close to the station is a lovely linear park, full of woodpeckers and other birds, where you can pleasantly while away the waiting time: