Bratislava

[pineapple stu]

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!

[Saint Tom]

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

[Claret Murph]

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 .

[Réiteoir]

Even more bizarre was in the monster Tesco, where things were priced 149.70 Kr, even though the smallest coin is the 0.50 Kr piece (50 halier)!

Same in Norway - you get things which cost 3,90Kr rounded up to 4,00Kr

there is no such thing as a 10 øre coin

[citizenerased]

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)....

[zinedineontour]

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 ...

[piggy]

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!

[Ash]

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!

[Green Tribe]

Glad to see you have recovered from the river dancing Saint Tom!
Only friendly people we encountered in Slovakia were our hotel staff esp the reception, they didn't even charge us for painkillers 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.

[citizenerased]

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

[Green Tribe]

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 work

[RogerMilla]

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.

[Beavis]

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.

[Sligo Hornet]

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.

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!

[Newryrep]

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)

[Babysis]

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

I didnt feel too safe in Bratislava, cops were real menacing.

Prob the same one, nasty piece of work

I liked Prague, but the only abuse I received the whole week (except from Bear 1 ) 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! When he stopped he went off to tell anyone who would listen, so needless to say I was out the door straight away

[upkerry]

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.

[Beavis]

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

Ah will ye c'mon, 'a real scum element creeping into away trips' because of 1 scummer in probably 9k in total .
The Ireland fans were immaculately behaved in 99.9% of the case.

(cue - recalling of trivial incidents involving irish to prove me wrong)

[pineapple stu]

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.

Shock horror as Irish pub rips people off at an Ireland away game!

[SuperDub]

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