A day of sightseeing today. I’d had a good explore and wander around yesterday while hunting for a tent pole, so decided to see a couple of the less well known attractions.
First stop today was the transport museum. This had a good selection of cars, trains and other vehicles. Most of the labels were in English too. There was also a temporary exhibition on shipping, which wasn’t in English.
After that, it was off to the UFO bridge, “Most SNP” (I didn’t see Nicola Sturgeon). I paid the rather expensive fee to go to the observation deck
I then wandered back into the main (north of the river) part of town. The bridge itself is quite a structure:
Next up was the Blue Church, which does what it says:
When searching for the transport museum Google first found a train museum in the north of the city. I decided to check this out too, though I could find out very little about it in English.
Handily it was en-route to a hardware shop, where I managed to buy a hacksaw to cut the new tent pole down to size with.
The museum was a bit of a walk from the tram stop, and seemed to be in a rather derelict bit of town. TBH I was half expecting there to be nothing there.
Anyway, eventually I found it. There were no English translations, but Google Translate was very helpful. The indoor bits (I think) only open on special days and by appointment, but you could otherwise wander around. Very little was labelled.
The whole place was pretty much deserted, apart from a group of workers working on the rails. It wasn’t entirely clear where you could and couldn’t go. I’m not entirely sure I didn’t wander into an actual train yard, as some of the trains looked quite new at one point.
After that it was back to town for another wander around. I went past the (now sadly closed) Hotel Kyjev, which is a huge communist era block on the edge of the Old Town. Part of it is a shopping centre with a Tesco in it.
I was going to write about the hostel… I decided to stay here, as it was more like a pod hotel and I felt like (slightly) treating myself after a few weeks camping. I was also curious about all its blockchain, NFT claims too (talk about shoehorning an idea into something else!). I’m guessing it’s turning into rather more of a “normal” hostel, now that particular bubble has burst, but I was invited to buy a NFT for 100 Euro when I booked! Some of the (presumably pre bubble) stuff about the hostel is here. Amusingly the key card has an advert for the local casino on the back of it. It was funny over-hearing the receptionist trying to explain what an NFT is to a customer.
Anyway, it was nice enough; everything was new and clean. Lots of (generated?) art all over the place. It’s clearly had a lot of (crypto?) money spent on it. However the industrial-modern we-workesque decor (and meeting rooms!) did rather clash with the regular hostel vibe. It’s not really clear who or what they’re aiming at. Anyway, an interesting experience.
Off to Hungary tomorrow.
