Only arrived in on the Saturday morning.
That said, was woken up about 5am on the Sunday 'cos it was lashing again. But it's actually kind of cool being safe and dry in a tent when it's lashing!
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Only arrived in on the Saturday morning.
That said, was woken up about 5am on the Sunday 'cos it was lashing again. But it's actually kind of cool being safe and dry in a tent when it's lashing!
i couldn't wait to leave bratislava to be honest. I thought the locals were the biggest shower of ignorant gits in history. I asked one barman did he watch the game and he replied "no tip", inferring that since i didnt pay him a tip I was not worthy of his attention. I wouldnt mind but it was the first drink I bought and would have left a tip later.
The attitude of the police was even more disturbing. a constant threat of danger with all contact with them. Coupled with the fact I know several people who were robbed and assaulted by local scum.
The train journey has escaped people's attention thus far also. It was dangerous and i couldnt help but feel that had there been some form of accident, people wouldnt have had a chance. They oversold reserved seats meaning that everyone had a claim on a seat when clearly this was not possible. Five and a half hours standing like sardines was agony.
You also may think that when bars etc ran out of supply on thursday that some bright spark may have ensured that there was enough for the busy weekend nights, but that clearly wasnt the case.
As mentioned above, taxis were dangerous throughout, even when negotiating prices there were massive fluctuations in prices and not one person driving a cab was the type of person I would trust to take me home.
I live with a slovak and was told to expect a nice welcome, I left with a bitter taste for sure
I would say we were lucky on the whole .
Now I would never see myself heading there agian but we had very little inter action with the locals . But we were happy to get out of the place as our apartment was poor to say the least and that would be kind to them .
Same in Norway - you get things which cost 3,90Kr rounded up to 4,00KrQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
there is no such thing as a 10 øre coin
couldnt wait to leave bratislava, there was a very uneasy and unsafe atmosphere about, you could sense the cops were nearly hoping for trouble...the service was ridiculous, you would have sweared that they didnt want to make money at all..not a bit of foresight on them at all...I will never go back again(pending we dont play them again)....
Got to agree with all the comments thought Bratislava was a bit of a kip and the bars and restaurants didnt want the service and i wont even start about the dubliner "irish " bar with the 8 bouncers outside ! The train journey was a nightmare though we got seats in the dining carriage after not leaving for 30mins with the bloke telling us we could not sit there with our bags.. ended up just paying for beer al the way down from them.. Prague was the total opposite genuine friendly locals decent boozers who welcomed the custom ...
I thought Bratislave was the biggest sh*t hole i ever had the misfortune of being in! Apart from the fact that we got attacked by a couple of thugs and the bouncers on friday night i just thought the attitude of the people was terrible. The staff in the pubs were ****ed off because the place was so busy and they didnt give a **** about service.
The police were also a disaster. They didnt care that we had been attacked and refused to give us their names or numbers so we could follow up. Sorted that problem by taking pictures of their badges with my phone.
My buddy is off to A&E this morning to get his broken nose fixed. The third world A&E in bratislava couldnt be bothered!
A mate of mine was there a year or 2 ago and couldnt believe all the bad
press I was giving it. I couldnt wait to get the flock outta there.
Bottom line was they equated us to English thugs/hooligans and were ready
to pounce at a seconds notice. A little bit of research on their part would
have worked wonders. All they achieved over the weekend was turn people
off ever visiting on a holiday in future!
Glad to see you have recovered from the river dancing Saint Tom! :D
Only friendly people we encountered in Slovakia were our hotel staff esp the reception, they didn't even charge us for painkillers :o and were always very pleasant. Our taxi driver from the airport to hotel was sound enough and a good laugh. I can imagine that the rest of Slovakia would be different and people would be friendlier outside the capital, bit like most capitals of any country ;) We got ripped off by speedy gonzalez meters twice in Prague, Bratislava was ok taxi-wise. I really didn't like the troopers and the dogs at the brat game, I saw one dog getting out of control and jumping up on on a female irish fan with the cop trying to pull the dog away. It was a joke that the Slovak police were fining every fan at every opportunity, whereas the Czech police just took the ball of the fans in the square.
After the game in Prague that street where the shamrock was on was well dodgy, however the most abuse we got from anyone was from some aggressive skanger.
yeah i seen loadsa trouble outside the shamrock bar...knackers like that can stay at home in future...one of my mates got a box in the face from a dub when he was walking down the street...there is a real scum element creeping in to the away trips
Prob the same one, nasty piece of workQuote:
Originally Posted by citizenerased
general consensus on the slovaks is an unfriendly bunch , thought the old town was quite picturesque but wont be back in a hurry , prague really is an awesome town though, it made the trip for me.
Bratislava was pants, we nothing along the lines of Piggy's experience but a few locals trying to intimidate us after the game. General prevalence of insecurity also and you hardly had the confidence in any of the *rsehole coppers protecting you.
Bars didnt seem to want our custom and, bar an unfortunate qualification draw, they certainly wont be getting it again.
Prague was better, we stayed right on Wencelas Square and it was grand. The homie dealers were a good laugh, even met one called Kennedy! Ended up taking up residence at a cheapo local for the weekend, 80cent pints until slightly sauced then round to Scorpio, before eventually stumbling across the road to our hotel or sometimes on for an early morning scoop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerMilla
Agreed a beautiful Old Town with nice bars and restaurants ( and very clean ).....However, it was spoilt by the majority of "Ignorant" ( I mean this in it's truest sense ) locals.They have very little experience in dealing correctly with genuine visitors who wish to spend time and money in their midst ( Unlike Prague which is trully geared for it, with many years experience )
Those in authority are ignorant too, knowing only how to react to violence or those with an aggressive atitude.They seemed confused and unable to cope with politeness, rather trying to provoke aggression in order they could show the only training they have had.......maybe in time!:confused:
i didnt think the service was too bad although we were only a couple but we must of drank/ate in a dozen places. I thought i was getting ripped off in slangs on matchday when she asked for more when i gave her a 1000SK (for 8 pints) but it was a change issue.
However on some of the tourist forums they seem particularily ****ed off with Stag/hen parties and the behaviour that usually follows it so it may have contributed to a frosty reception. also the local police told our hotel to close the bar at about 11.30. on Fri and Sat. Came back for a nightcap only to be told we couldnt be served alcoholic drinks - bit of a joke really the police will say there was no trouble because we closed the bar.
The stupid thing is that the guy who told me said they all went up the street 2 doors to a wine bar and continued drinking (no beer only wine)
I was on the trip with GT so I agree with all her comments - The staff in our hotel were lovely, and saved me with free pain killers when I was a little "poorly" on Sunday morning :o
I didnt feel too safe in Bratislava, cops were real menacing.
I liked Prague, but the only abuse I received the whole week (except from Bear 1 :p) was from a nasty piece of work who started on me in the Shamrock. We had gone in there to meet others and were stood at the top of the steps as we couldnt find them, when he walked over asked where I was from and when he heard the accent let rip with a mouthful of abuse and was all up in my face shouting!:mad: When he stopped he went off to tell anyone who would listen, so needless to say I was out the door straight awayQuote:
Originally Posted by Green Tribe
Lads from the offset the locals had no regard for the Irish. Unfriendly, unhelpful and only out for the quick buck. As for the so called Irish pubs. The Dubliner had what I could only call several thugs on the door. I was lucky enough not to have any problems but I saw many decent Irish fans turned away or evicted for nothing including several elderly supporters.
These types of bars who make their money on the back of the Irish name should be avoided by all Irish from now on even though they have made a killing this week.:mad:
Ah will ye c'mon, 'a real scum element creeping into away trips' because of 1 scummer in probably 9k in total :rolleyes:.Quote:
Originally Posted by citizenerased
The Ireland fans were immaculately behaved in 99.9% of the case.
(cue - recalling of trivial incidents involving irish to prove me wrong)
Shock horror as Irish pub rips people off at an Ireland away game!Quote:
Originally Posted by upkerry
I found bratislava a total kip. Our group of 4 went to 3 different restaurants on Saturday afternoon and they could'nt be bothered with our custom. Very rude and ignorant people. The security at the game was a joke and i even saw a chap in a wheelchair been lifted out of his chair so that they could search it.
Prague on the other hand was a lovely city and they were very friendly and welcoming
Was at the match in the away end. Trying to get in was an absolute nightmare, nobody could tell us where we had to go. I was actually sent in one way and got past security only for my mate to shout behind me that we were in wrong section.
When leaving the ground people around us were shouting "F##k the IRA" and "we are the Slovak skinheads and ye will go home in bodybags".
We went to Vienna the next day and had a great time. If Ireland played them again I reckon we should all stay in Vienna. Was talking to a local in Vienna and he said he has never been to Bratislava despite it only being a fifty minute train journey away because its a s##thole.
I spent the day in Vienna on the wednesday before Bratislava and I must say that it is a stunningly beautiful and friendly place. I would second the opinion that we base there if we draw slovakia (hopefully not) in the future and the tie to be played in bratislava. Danube cruise is highly recommended and only took an hour
Didn't like Bratislava at all. Had a run in with some locals on the friday night and woke up with black eye, bloody nose and bruised leg.Oh and minus my wallet.:( Seeing as my memory was a little impaired through drink taken, I was unable to provide accurate details to the police. :confused:
Couldn't relax at all after that, and was glad to leave on the monday.
In contrast I thought Prague was a lovely place and the Czech peolple very friendly. Would gladly go back there.:)
We stayed in a little village to the East of Bratislava called Pezinok.We had no problems there and the people were actually very friendly.Granted we were there two days before the crowds came in.We had a taxi arranged through the locals and he was sound.We ate in a restaurant called Chex David near the old town.Again we had no problems.
To be fair I really don’t think they could cope with the large influx of people and there is a big element of scumbags that follow football over there. I saw the police getting stuck into their fans on a few occasions. They were completely unorganized managing to get fans into the stadium. It just appeared that this was the biggest opposition support they had ever witnessed at a game.
We were glad to get out of there in the end and the result in the game did not help one bit. Prague on the other hand was 100% more value apart from the result of course.I had really high expectations of this trip and had been looking forward to it since the draw was made. Shame it turned out to be such a shambles.
I'm slightly surprised to read all the negative reviews about Bratislava. From my personal experience, it would be unfair for me to complain about it as i honestly didnt have any problems there. Dont get me wrong, the people werent overly friendly but i cant think of any particulary poor service i received. It was also a bit shabby as you moved out from the city centre but the old town square was pretty enough.
However, there were a few people in Prague who left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I was mugged in the train station on Monday night of Czech money to the value of £100stg, we were then hugely overcharged in our taxi (we agreed a price beforehand but the driver claimed it was per person when we arrived at the hotel. you wouldnt have argued had you seen the size of him) after the girl at the infomation desk pretty much refused to assist us in obtaining tickets for the metro. Then yesterday i nearly hit a women in the duty free shop at the airport. I had brought a few items and put down a 50CSK note on the counter as part of my payment. I then realised i had 50CSK in coins so i tried to take back the note and give the coins instead (the coins would have been no good to me back in England, though i could have easily changed the note). The woman didnt seem to understand this at all and grabbed the note out of my hand and threw the coins back at me before shouting at me. This drew the attention of the whole shop and was hugely embarrassing for myself who had done nothing wrong.
The trip did turn out to be a bit of an anti-climax with the results but i enjoyed seeing both cities.
Bratislava (excluding the small old town) is an absolute sh1thole. The people lazy commie fcukers who want everything handed to them for nothing. The police, taxidrivers, bouncers etc are intimidating and looked for a fight at every opportunity. The staff in 17s werent too bad.
If we play them again we should all stay in Vienna and then they may get the message. The stadium was falling down and the security before and after was a joke. I was lucky on the train (the Bratislava-Calcutta express) as I had a reserved seat in 1st class. Americans on the train will be telling stories for years about what they saw on that train.
On the other hand, I can not wait to get back to Prague again and I have told everyone that I have spoken to, since I came home, to go to Prague.
Not the only one who was minus a laser card/ fone. I assume I was mugged though I have no recollection of it either. One minute I'm on a boat the next I'm wandering aimlessly round the outskirts, scared & laser/ foneless.Quote:
Originally Posted by supasparx
jesus lads I feel for you.
My phone disappeared in Bratislava as well. Thought Prague was great though.
Our last night in Bratislava there were 2 guys standing at a quiet corner at about 4 in the morning waiting to rob someone. Thanfully there was 4 of us but I pity whoever walked by them alone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colie
Our first night there we ended up in a club beside the main street. I went up to the toilet straight away and the lights got turned off when I walked in. About 6 or 7 young lads surrounded me. I just walked by and they laughed but I was expecting trouble. It was like a scene from Hostel.
I think the Dubliner was serving the cheapest drink in the area because they were the only place to keep prices down. The staff in there were grumpy gits though. The place next door charged you whatever they wanted. The taxi from the airport to the hotel in the centre cost 1000sk. We asked beforehand how much it'd be but he just pointed at the metre. The bus to the airport from the train station on Friday was 18sk which puts it into perspective.
Prague was excellent. My friend got a phone number off one of the best looking women you're likely to see. She's (just) a pole dancer and she actually asked for his number (she said she's coming to Dublin soon). She spent most of the night chatting to us, mainly about Prague and Dublin.
I'd love to go back to Prague but Bratislava was a big let down.
I seem to be one of the few who, like stiofain, found the people in Prague more likely to rip you off than Bratislava. I had absolutely no problems in Bratislava (apart from the pubs running out of beer of course, but the locals told us its the biggest away crowd they've ever had!). I found the taxi drivers in prague were complete rip-off merchants, average price for about a 10 min taxi journey was €20....and thats not when we were really getting fleeced!
Overall though had no real problems and had a brilliant trip. Pity about the games :(
Reading through all the comments you'd think the Brat trip was a complete disaster, but for anyone who wasn't there don't be put off totally. True, the outskirts of the city and around the stadium is grim, bleak and decrepit (but being a regular in the east end of glasgow I wasn't that shocked!)but it is well possible to go there and enjoy yourself. Maybe my group was lucky in that we only got semi-threatened by the locals once or twice(chatting up birds in clubs - slovak lads come over - beat it!) old town is pretty, food and drink good (I missed the beer drought we were on mohitos all weekend!) and the locals were not all totally ignorant, though a fair proportion were.
To contrast with Prague I agree with the lads above in that I think I was fleeced there alot more than Brat. It had a much larger and more spectacular old town than Brat but was jammed with people and tourist tat was on sale outside every second shop. Brat had a quieter and less touristy feel to it. That said if i went back with the missus I wouldn't be expecting any warmth or hospitality in a Brat eaterie.
As for the cops they didn't look twice at me - and there's not many town squares around Ireland or UK I can say that for with a bottle of buckfast in me paw!
What cop in their right mind would go near a Rossi in a Longford TownQuote:
Originally Posted by Bottle of Tonic
jersey with a bottle of Bucky :D
any of ye in the cocktail bar on the sunday night? it was pure bedlam!!
Ripped off in Bratislava for taxis plenty of times, and there was no arguing with them. Got surrounded on the Saturday night when on my own by about 6 or 7 Slovaks but luckily the lads arrived back out of McDonalds before it got nasty.
People on the whole were not friendly, all they wanted was you to go to strip bars etc :confused: Won't be going back or recommending it to anyone.
Having said that we got fined in Czech Republic for not having a Slovakian Motorway Pass/Sticker which went straight into your mans back pocket but the people were a lot friendlier in Prague (met one Bulgarian guy working in one of the tourist shops who could name every player in any Irish game we asked him about, could name the minute of every goal, knew who scored the goal for Scotland that put us through years ago...) though the local bars were just as unfriendly as Bratislava. Found taxis grand, might take awhile to get one for a price you were happy with, but only had to pay more than locals said was max we should pay once, and that was only by 50 CKR.
met that bulgarian lad aswell, what a legend..possibly the best salesman of all time, he even knew a bit of gaelige
Had a great time in Bratislava, our group didn't run into any trouble with the locals at all.
Couldn't find much to do on the Thursday night when we arrived. We were staying in the Botel and they happily provided us with a crate of beer at 3 in the morning, no complaints from us!
On Friday we met some Slovakian friends of ours who brought us to a cheap Slovak bar. We had no problem standing on the tables in there and singing Irish songs, followed by the new Slovakian National Anthem (made up on the spot)! THey brought us to a nightclub on the outskirts of the city, the place seemed run down, but we had great craic in the nightclub. No problem dropping trousers on stage or anything!! Although one of the lads was beaten to a dance off by a 50 year old, no lie!!
The Botel wasn't too bad of a place to stay. The let us hang our "Hello Mammy" flag out no problem, staff were very nice at the breakfast, and they didn't even give out too much to us about the noise. They did however say several 'compliments' (complaints) were made about us!
P.S. Did anyone notice our Irish wannabe Slovakian member of our group dancing around the square in his new Slovakian jersey and headband? :D
That Slovakian guy was a legend!!!
Could not agree more. Was discussing this last week while we were away. I think it started with the friendly in Amsterdam in June 2004 and has continued, particularly in Paris later that year then Cyprus and of course Stuttgart and then again last week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogue Trader
In Bratislava on the afternoon of the game I saw a crowd of young Dubs having a go at some guys from London and Birmingham who I recognised as lads who have been going to matches for years. The usual sh*te about 'no one with english accents had any business following Ireland'.
Talking of trains, I heard that on the famous 1225 from Bratislava to Prague on the Monday that a young 'Irish gentleman' told a nun to move from the seat he had reserved. Also heard about a group of 10 or 12 comprising of some Dublin postmen and some young Wexford lads in the same carriage who gave a local woman a terrible hard time by constantly swearing and using abusive language when she asked them to stop smoking in the carriage. Although I was on that train I didn't see these myself or don't know if these are true or just stories that have grown legs, but I would not be surprised it they were true.
My name a Pavil, yesh!!Quote:
Originally Posted by kellsred