Central Europe: Summary

As if a summary of Central Europe were even possible. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to recap what I learned on my tour through Bratislava, Vienna, and Budapest:

These three countries (Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary) once formed a major chunk of a vast empire ruled by the Hapsburg family. The Austrians remember the glory of the Hapsburgs fondly, while the Hungarians speak of them as an oppressive regime (though not the worst they’ve encountered). The Hapsburgs managed to suppress independence movements within their empire, and thus to survive, until the twentieth century. The victors of World War I divided the family's holdings into a collection of smaller states, between which the next world war would drive an even deeper wedge: the Iron Curtain fell right along the Austrian borders with Slovakia and Hungary. The collective Eastern mind has yet to find closure from the dark days that followed. The Cold War’s insistence on separating “East” from “West” in cultural as well as political terms became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: while today, Vienna is every bit as Western as Paris or London, Bratislava and Budapest seem somehow different. This unique flavor is a source of frequent comment from travel journalists, but hard to define.

Despite this difference—or maybe because of it—these former Eastern Bloc countries are in the process of asserting their Western values. Massive, American-style shopping malls attest to an embrace of capitalism. Foreign tourists swarm the streets. English is spoken widely and well.

While each of these cities has a different level of experience in the tourism industry (Vienna's museums have marshaling tour groups down to a science, while Bratislava's seem clumsy), they are fascinating and wonderful places to visit. I have to insert a shameless plug here for the hospitality of Central Europeans. After the history, the architecture, the culture, and the food, it’s the people that make Central Europe so addictive for travelers. This is a region that demands more than one visit. . . . So stay tuned.