VIENNA Mayor Michael Häupl and his Bratislava counterpart Andrej Ďurkovský ceremonially opened a new port named Vienna City on the Danube channel in the centre of Vienna in mid July. A new Bratislava information centre called Gate to Bratislava is part of the port, which is also the Vienna station for the Twin City Liner boat service that links the two capitals via the Danube River, the TASR newswire wrote.
“We regard the opening of this centre in the very heart of Vienna to be an excellent thing,” said Häupl. “This Gate to Bratislava is something exceptional. In this way we are confronted with the culture of our neighbours.”
According to Häupl, closeness between the two cities has existed for a long time, but from World War II until 1989 the Iron Curtain divided them.
Bratislava’s tourism information centre in Vienna is the first such centre that the city has opened abroad. Slovakia’s capital city provides free promotional materials to tourists at the Vienna centre as well as selling tickets for cultural events in Bratislava. But primarily the centre exists to provide travellers with useful information and tips prior to a visit to Bratislava and Slovakia.
The Twin City Liner has become a popular means of transportation between Vienna and Bratislava. The line was launched in June 2006 and now boasts two high-speed catamarans bringing passengers from Vienna to Bratislava and as well as in the opposite direction in about 90 minutes time.
Each catamaran has a capacity of 126 passengers.
