shanTRAnex European Life

Chocolate Easter eggs are an essential part of Easter celebrations in Ireland (and of course Britain), but today I’m leaving the Irish theme and taking a look at some Slovak culture.

You can certainly find chocolate eggs here in Bratislava, but these rather manic looking rabbits are far more popular.

Traditional Slovak Easter eggs aren’t meant to be eaten, although they’re made from real eggs. The shells are emptied of their contents, and then decorated by hand in a variety of styles and techniques. Here’s a fine selection of them, laid out on an Easter market stall in the Old Town Centre.

It’s also lovely to see the beautiful old buildings of the Main Square festooned with decorated eggs at this time of year.

Well, not really. That picture is the unexpected result of taking a photo without flash while passing a closed and unlit market stall one evening. I was just experimenting with my new camera. I didn’t realise how strongly the buildings opposite were reflected in the window until I saw it on my computer afterwards.

The next picture is the same window display a few moments earlier. That time I used flash, which removed the reflections of the buildings but created a reflection of itself.

In another window, in a corner of the Main Square, the Café Mayer provided this sweet and tempting Easter display.

But if you really think Easter and chocolate go together, then the Maximilian Schokocafe is a place you ought to visit

because inside, amongst all the edible and drinkable goodies, is this chocoholics’ dream, a fountain of glistening chocolate.

Veselú Velkú Noc!