Slovakia - Eastern Europe - page 613

Internet use. Many better hotels now set aside at least one public computer for
guests to use. A few hotels offer in-room dataports or wireless connections.
Laundry & Dry Cleaning At press time, there were no self-service laundries in
Bratislava like you would find in Prague. Many hotels, particularly better prop-
erties, offer laundry service to guests (usually for a fee). Failing that, dry clean-
ers usually offer normal laundry services, but costs can add up quickly.
Luggage Storage & Lockers Railroad stations in large cities, including Bratislava's
main station, have storage lockers or an attendant to watch luggage.
Mail The main post office is at Nám. SNP 35, just outside the main gate to the
Old Town. The rate for mailing a postcard or first-class letter to the U.S. is 25 Sk
(80¢/45p), and 22 Sk (70¢/40p) within Europe.
Safety Crime is generally low, but as everywhere use common sense.
Telephones & Fax Slovakia's country code is 421. To dial Slovakia from abroad,
dial the international access code (011 in the U.S.), plus 421 and then the local
Slovak area code (minus the zero). The area code for Bratislava is 02. Other
commonly used area codes are: Trencín 032; Zilina 041; the High Tatras 052;
Kosice 055. To call long distance within Slovakia, dial the area code (retaining
the zero) plus the number. To dial abroad from Slovakia, dial 00 and then the
country code and area code to where you are calling. A call to the U.S. or
Canada would begin 00-1.
Time Zone Slovakia is in the Central European Time zone (CET), 1 hour ahead
of GMT and 6 hours ahead of the eastern United States.
Tipping In restaurants, round up the bill 5% to 10% to reward good service.
Bellhops, taxi drivers, and tour guides will also expect a small amount in return
for services rendered. Around 50 Sk to 100 Sk ($1.70-$3/90p-£1.85) is usually
enough in any circumstance.
Toilets You will find decent public toilets in cities and towns throughout Slova-
kia. Expect to pay 5 Sk to 10 Sk (15¢-30¢/10p-20p) to use the facilities.
Water Tap water is generally potable and there are no specific health concerns.
If in doubt, buy bottled water, which is cheap and widely available.
3 Bratislava
Slovakia's youthful capital (www.bratislava.sk) has transformed itself from a relatively
unappealing sprawl of postwar, Communist-era buildings into a relaxed and pleasant
medium-size capital in the span of little more than a decade. The city's compact Old
Town has been completely and stunningly renovated. Most of the area is restricted to
car traffic, and in the evenings, it seems, the whole town converges for a cup of coffee
or a glass of wine. Plan on being thoroughly charmed, and you might even consider
extending your stay.
Until relatively recently Bratislava (known as Pressburg to the Germans, and Poz-
sony in Hungarian) was a quiet city on the Danube river (Dunaj in Slovak). It was
only in the past few decades, under Czechoslovakia's then-Communist government,
that the city exploded in population to the current around 500,000. The Communists