Bratislava

Bratislava

 

23.05 – 24.05

 

 Our experience in Slovaquia, started with the visit of the production plant of Volkswagen near to Bratislava.   They are the third biggest producers of cars in the world, in terms of volume.

For me It was rather clear, a proof of the Taylorism in the 21th century: big chains of production, high control, repetitive tasks and the degradation of the workforce.  The reason: “just in time “standards and efficiency. As sad as it may sound it seems that this old model works well in the automotive industry, at least in terms of profitability, and it makes you wonder how long and how much more we can and are willing to progress at the expense of humans. 

 

This is Slovaquia, a mixture of the old and the new, As the prices started to get lower than in west Europe, I started to feel standing in the east part of Europe. It is easy to perceive  the remains of communism.  Nevertheless, Bratislava, the capital city has emerged  from the communism era in time to be part of the Europen Union, and nowadays seems to be a promising city for commercial investors.

We took advantage of the conditions, and decided to go for a walk into the city centre, located 20 min far from our hostel. Bratislava is a really small city, and the main area is around the centre where all Cafes, restaurants and bars stand. This time we found the best local spot to eat typical food, fried cheese and schnitzel for 3,5 euros, and the very best Kofola: The Coca  Cola from the east. They argue that this was the original one,  I don’t know if it is true, but I must say it tastes better.

 Afterwards, with free tickets to try the vodka and Absenta we started the night at our hostel and the night went by.

 Second day started, with the second main attraction the Castle of Bratislava, a  city’s reconstructed 15th-century castle with views from the ramparts and has a 36o view of the city. The day continued with the visit to Jhonson Controlling,  a company that switched its model from business process outsourcing to Business center.

And this was Bratislava, walks through the ilumanated city, scenary spots for more picture, strange language, and maps of the city, the best bread  and finally some quotes for not being perceived as a turist.