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School is over, summer is coming and Europe is waiting for you to be explored. Looking for a destination… what about Bratislava?

Bratislava, Slovakia is one of the most affordable destination you can get. Don’t think you have to marry a millionaire or sell your beloved CD collection to travel there. Travelling can be cheap and still pleasant. Perfect for a weekend break or a stop during your Inter-rail, let’s have a look how you could spend a budget of 50€.

The capital of Slovakia is a vibrant, young city. It’s a walking city. Don’t trust the locals when they will tell you that something is FAR away and you should take a taxi or bus. You can easily walk around the centre, most of it is actually a pedestrian area and only trams and bikes are allowed in.

Girls say shopping, boys say beer!

Cheap beer and clothes make Bratislava the perfect city for all. If you are looking for young fashion with an Italian touch, with 20€ you can buy a T-shirt and trousers at Terranova. To find the main shopping area, look for Obchodnà or Postova. Camaieu, Newyorker and all the big popular brands are here! If you like shopping centre better, the biggest one is on the other side of the Danube and is called AUPARK. If you decide to go, don’t miss out the chance to have a nice walk in the park.

But if it’s beer what you’re looking for, don’t worry. Even if you have a low budget, you can get litres of beer for you and your friends and enjoy Bratislava’s pub atmosphere. A beer costs around 1.50€. We recommed Zlaty Bazant or Saris (three times winner as the best European beer!). Up to you.

Watch out! Slovakia joined the Euro zone only in January 2009 and prices are still advertised both in SKK and EURO. 1 EURO=30 SKK.

High culture? Low-costs!

Cafe Next Apache, Panenská 28 is the place to go, one of most vibrant cafe/bookstores in Bratislava. The paradise of second-hand books in English, with live music, drinks and a open-air terrace. It was set up by a Canadian in 2004 who came here and fell in love with the city. Located in a 400 year-old building, the bookstore is a haven for foreigners and locals alike who want to chill out in nice surroundings.

One can sit here for hours, play chess, read English books and magazines and drink real tea on the cafe’s comfy sofas. Alongside old Stephen King paperbacks, there are many old books of Bratislava’s glory days before capitalism reshaped the city with graffiti and billboards with women wearing next to nothing to advertise perfume. What’s more, Next Apache has live music and exhibitions.

But if you’re more like a traditional tourist and don’t want to miss the museums in Bratislava, they are generally extremely good values. Don’t forget to take with you your student card and your European Youth Card, there are many reductions for youth!

Slovak National Gallery: €3 (adults); €1.50 (reduced); €.75 (under 15); Municipal Museum: €1.80 (adults); €0.75 (reduced); Museum of Jewish Culture: €1.85(adults); €0.75(reduced); Museum of History: €3.70 (adults); €2.60(reduced); Mirbach Palace: €2.25(adults); €1.10(reduced).

Watch out! Some of the best sites are FREE! Like the Castle!

There are four Tourist Centres in Bratislava, the main Bratislava Culture & Information Centre is located at Klobučnícka 2. There you can get a free map to help you finding your way around and loads of tips on places to see here.

Tasting Europe

Slovakia is not very famous for its cuisine, but don’t despair, there are nice hip restaurants waiting for you. Here you have few suggestions to taste some local food (and beyond).

• Slovak Pub, Obchodna, 62: a good welcome to Slovakia! Check out the beers here and don’t miss out traditional food. Budget 8€.
• Cafè Restaurant Pierrot, Palisady, 29/a. Cool design. Great salads and sandwiches, cool presentation of the food. Budget 12€.
• Primi, Michalska 19: Great variety of Italian pasta and pizza. Amazing cocktails, don’t go for the After Eight, though.

Watch out! Slovak food is nice but usually meaty and fatty. For vegetarians, even if the food is avertised as meat-free, be careful. There might be some meat bits in the bottom!

What are you waiting for? Jump on a train, a plane or a bus and get to Bratislava!

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If you want to know more:

Visit Bratislava — The official Tourist Website.

Bratislava Buff — A young EFL teacher shares his observations and personal experiences of living for one year in Bratislava.

Bratislava on Wikitravel — All you wanted to know about Slovakia’s capital. Wiki helps. And the great thing is that you can add your tips.

In Lisbon today at noon, in the presence of the prime minister, local officials, and representatives of Intel, the first 50€ laptop will be launched. News was leaked yesterday, by local officials and the government, who promised to order 500,000 units for all primary schoolchildren starting in September, at the heavily subsidised price of 50€.

For the Portuguese government, this cannot come to soon. The country has been in the grip of an economic crisis for the best part of a year now, with no apparent end in sight, and despite everything they have done, and to be fair they have been as much of the cause of the crisis as the solution, the creation of 1.000 new jobs in Matosinhos, near Porto, can only be good news.

The new computer, called Magalhães (Magellan), is intended to be the flagship of Intel’s Classmate PC. Originally, Intel was a part of the One Laptop Per Child programme, which aimed to create low-cost PC’s for education in third world countries, but disagreements at the start of the year meant they went their own way, and developed the Classmate PC.

In brief, the Magellan is a small laptop with a 7-inch TFT screen and no hard disk. It contains a 900MHz Celeron M CPU, with 256MB of RAM and runs Microsoft Windows XP Embedded Version 2002, with Service Pack 2. To give additional memory, the computer contains a 1Gb flash memory drive, but also has two USB ports, one for additional memory, and one for a wifi adaptor. It also has an ethernet connection and headphone sockets. For a full review see here.

The Portuguese government has been supporting new technology in schools as a part of it’s e-schools programme (“e.escola”), which has subsidised laptops to students (discounting the VAT) and a deal for schoolchildren where they could buy a laptop for 150€ plus a monthly 15€ fee for wi-fi internet access. This deal, to provide the Magalhães to all primary school children, is part of a new programme called “e.escolinha”, or little e-schools.

Desde el dia 2 de Junio hasta el dia 14 de Junio tendras un 10% de descuento en articulos superiores a 50€, dicho descuento sera aplicado sobre el precio marcado en el articulo.

Este descuento no es aplicable a otras promociones, en el caso de la promoción de anulación de gastos de envio se aplicara la que sea mas rentable, aplicando preferentemente el 10% de descuento ya que los gastos de envio rondan los 8€ aproximadamente.

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