Day trip to Trnava (Pronounced: Turn Naw Va)

After hanging around the apartment for a day catching up on laundry and waiting for the rain to subside, we ventured off to the mega-city of Trnava. Not exactly a mega-city but a nice small town located about 30 miles outside of Bratislava. Weather is expected to remain partly cloudy and cool, 36⁰ for a high, but no rain.

Trnava doesn’t have any special draw, just another city to explore during our time in Slovakia. Although, Trnava does have the honor of being called “Little Rome” due to the number of churches and basilicas within the city limits. And, it is one of a few walled ancient cities. So I guess there are a few reasons to visit.

First mention of this little town was recorded back in 1211, when Trnava had developed into a market town at a major crossroads. Back then it was known as Nagyszombat, a Hungarian name that refers to the Saturday market (szombat). Not until the 14^th century did the city get its walls and fortifications to keep the neighboring Hussite army at bay.

Didn’t work. The Hussite army attacked and actually defeated the Hungarian army but suffered major losses. Waging siege on the city was out of the question, so several Hussite soldiers dressed as tradesmen sneaked (regular verb) into the city and in the night, overpowered the guards. The city fell without a battle. I’m sure they hid in something like a large wooden rabbit or badger or something like that, to get inside the city walls.  Couldn’t just walk in.

Anyway, here we are at the end of WW1, 1918, and Czechoslovakia is created. Trnava is one of the most industrialized cities in the new country. Fast forward to WW2 and our boy Adolf is looking to regain the Sudetenland which he feels includes Czechoslovakia. 15-16 April 1939, German troops marched into Czechoslovakia and set up a protectorate government.

Remember that Chamberlain guy who was Prime Minister of England and had a piece of paper signed by Hitler that promised not to invade countries that were not part of “Greater Germany”? Well, this really pissed him off because Hitler had just invaded a Czech country. So, Chamberlain puts a stop to this right away. On 17 April 1939, Chamberlain say’s if Hitler invades Poland, there will be hell to pay. So, 4 months later, Hitler invaded Poland. As they say, the rest is history.

During the Holocaust, 82% of Trnava’s Jews we sent to extermination camps.

That was then, today we’re her to see what makes Trnava “Little Rome”. Starting off with a quick stop at the Synagogue Coffee Shop. Yep, someone took an abandoned synagogue and turned into a chic coffee shop. Good coffee but even better pastry, a nice caramel cheesecake. (There seems to be a trend going on here) The place is really popular with quite a few customers for Saturday morning.

Now off to venture through the city, but first, we need to stop at the Visitor’s Center and get a map with all the churches and a walking tour line out. The map lists 37 different churches and sites and a nice red dotted line to follow so we can see them all.

The Visitor’s Center is also one of Trnava’s historic sites. It is located at the base of the ancient city tower that was originally built in 1574. After a few renovations due to fires and new owners, the current tower stands 187’ tall with a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary on top.

The main pedestrian walkway here turns into a Farmer’s Market every Saturday. Had a chance to stroll and check out the local produce.

First church is actually a basilica, a church with special privileges. St. Nicolas basilica is a Romanesque style building that was constructed between 1380 and 1421. It is said that after many tragic events had occurred in Trnava, sweat and blood tears appeared on the face of a painting of the Virgin Mary I the basilica. The basilica also contains an ossuary but we were not able to view this due to services being conducted. Those services began around 11:30am and at 3;30pm were still being conducted. We didn’t stick around for the finale.

Our next church was that of St. Jacob. The church was closed when we arrived so there are only exterior pictures. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t go inside, St. Jacobs church has 13 altars! Originally built in 1383, then refurbished in 1590 after an earthquake, and finally rebuilt again after a fire in 1633.

Before starting our trek around the city walls, we had to check out one of the city’s ancient gates, the Bernolakova Gate. Built in the 14^th century, this gate served as one of two entryways into the city. The gate and surrounding wall are not made of stone, which was a common material used at that time. Instead, the wall and gates of Trnava were made of brick. Recently the town decide to add a little animation to the wall.

Next on the list is St. Joseph’s church. St. Josephs is an early Baroque single-nave church built in 1646 by the Calvinists. (Not sure where the Hobbsinists were at that time) Trnava had been conquered by the Prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Betlen (no, not Drac U. La) who was a Calvinist and decide the town should also be Calvinist. But the town didn’t agree and in 1671, gave the church to the Pauline Order. The main altar was built in 1699.

We continued on through the town and saw a few more churches but didn’t venture inside. Most were closed so we opted for exterior pics. The streets and other buildings made for some very typical European scenes. Pretty neat if you ask me.

One thing that is a bit Unique to Slovakia, they’re love-hate relationship with Russia. All around the country there are statues commemorating the Russian liberation of Czechoslovakia from Germany in 1945. And, there are also statues commemorating Slovakia’s break from Russia (Communism) in 1989.

Nothing like a free economy and democracy to get things going!