Some additional info on Bratislava, Slovakia is that it is largely Catholic, about 70%, due to “The Holy Roman Empire” which was largely the phase of the Hapsburg rule.

Maria Theresa (1717 -1780), who I mentioned in my Schönbrunn post, and who was the mother of Marie Antoinette, was the only woman ever to be crowned King and that occurred in Slovakia. She held many other titles, too!  She reportedly spent a considerable amount of time living in the castle in Bratislava.

During her time, she had much of the walls of the city torn down as disease was a large issue and about 40-45% of the population had died off; she also thought it would have the added benefit of making it easier to actually see an enemy advance.

There is a large public park on the opposite side of the Danube which was her doing and we were told it was the first such park in Europe.

Today, there seems to be a good bit of preservation and reconstruction occurring around the town.  It is nicely maintained and has a pretty opera house, philharmonic house, etc.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.