Iron Curtain & Ironman: Bratislava (Day 6)

Hola todos,

When we last left our intrepid traveler (that's me!), I was in a bus that had just crossed into Slovakia. Well, I made it to Bratislava and spent 26 hours practically sprinting around. (30,000 steps! My second largest step count of the trip.)

The Bratislava bus station was under a big mall, so it was pretty overwhelming just to try to find the sign to get outside once I got off the bus. But once I did, my hostel was just a 20-minute walk.

This hostel was great—free laundry, clean bathrooms, a common room and bar, and a beautiful outdoor patio space. I made a dinner in the kitchen and then grabbed a seat out on the patio to plan out the next day's adventure, but I ended up chatting with other guests at the hostel: two guys from Wales, a pair of recent college grads from England, a woman from Germany, a guy from Norway. It was cool to just spend some time asking “What’s [insert topic here] like in your country?” and hearing about the other places folks have traveled.

Later, I managed to get my laundry done while mapping out the next day of touring. (Much needed, too, as I was out of clean socks!)

The next morning, it was pretty hard to wake up. My feet are getting pretty sore and several of my roommates were loudly snoring so I didn't get a ton of sleep… But! There wasn't time to dawdle! I only had 26 hours in Bratislava and had to make the most of them.

Some quick overall notes on Bratislava:

1. Slovakia is on the euro, so I was able to use the cash I withdrew in Amsterdam here. However, credit cards were widely accepted in the tourist hub I was in.

2. Because it was the end of the school year, there were a gazillion school-age children on field trips to their capital. Still, the city didn't feel too crowded, even though it is small.

3. People spoke English well here, too. So my non-existent Slovak wasn't a hinderance at all.

I started with just a walk around Old Town Bratislava, the main tourist-attraction-heavy area, just to get oriented. It was still a bit early, so most stores and tourist attractions were closed.

The Old Town is so cute! Lots of old streets and buildings, and you can tell it wasn’t built with central planning in mind—if you duck down one street, you might end up around the corner. My paper city map was well-used. Overall, the Old Town is very walkable and relatively small. You're able to see a lot with a limited amount of walking, if you need.

This is called the Primate's Palace (and no, it has nothing to do with monkeys). It is the mayor's office and a government administration building. They have interior tours and a hall of mirrors, but I didn't check either of those out because of my limited time. *Fun fact: The mayor of Bratislava is in a Slovakian pop rock band!

I walked around the Bratislava Castle, the main skyline-defining feature of Bratislava and a huge complex on the Danube. There are amazing views from the Castle (you can even seen Austria and Hungary, since their borders are so close to Bratislava!) and a beautiful Baroque garden. I had to come back later to see the garden after the Castle complex had opened, but I was able to see a lot even while it was officially closed.

As a side note, this is the first of my Danube-based cities this trip. (The remaining two are Budapest and Vienna.)

 

Left: The Castle from the walk up the hill. Right: The back of the Castle.

 

Left: A large retaining wall that is part of the Castle. The walking paths like these go up and down the hill the Castle sits on. Right: A view of the part of Bratislava that sits across the Danube from Old Town. Fun fact: 20% of Bratislava lives in that neighborhood (due to the apartment unit-rich buildings from the city's communist era). You can see Hungarian lands from this vantage point, too.

I also came across the St. Martin Church, which is where Austro-Hungarian coronations happened for nearly 3 centuries.

 

Then I found this cute little square, the Old Town square, which was actually started in the 10th century with the first four houses in Bratislava. A sweet woman who spoke no English very generously assisted with my jumping photo antics.

 

In the square, I grabbed an espresso and pastry. (Of course.) This pastry is called a "Pressburg baigel" and has the crust of a pretzel or bagel but is stuffed with a sweet filling (in this case, almond).

At the cafe, the waitress greeted me at first like I was German. Given my looks, it makes sense. But I think it’s so funny when people don’t assume I’m American! (I also had someone yesterday try to speak to me in French when I looked confused at his Czech. That’s the first time that’s happened!)

Then it was back off to touring: the Church of the Annunciation was next. This is the oldest church in Bratislava, built in the 13th century.

I met up with my walking tour and took the Hidden Gems tour. I learned a lot of fun facts about Bratislava and Slovakian history (like that the name Bratislava is a relatively new name for the city and means (roughly) "glory to the brothers.") I even met a woman who lives and works about 20 minutes from me in Northern Virginia during the tour. What a small world!

This is a display indicating where the medieval city walls used to be. You can really feel the shift from historic to functional/communist architecture once you leave the medieval part of the city.

The Danube with a view of the Bratislava Castle on the right.

The Church of St. Elizabeth, also called the Blue Church. Originally, only the roof tiles were blue. They ended up repainting the church from an ugly yellow to this blue and the interior carries on the theme.

This is their monument to unknown Slovak soldiers who have died in various wars. It is right along the main Danube walking/running path.

The opera house, a beautiful building!

Once the tour concluded, I went back to my hostel to cook a quick lunch and rest my feet. But not for long! I had to hop up to the Presidential Palace, their equivalent to the White House. I also tried to get to the public gardens that are behind the Palace, but they were closed to visitors for some reason.

I stopped by St. Michael's Gate next. This gate was one of four entry points to the city back when it was fully fortified. That's a pretty small walkway--they must have had some serious traffic control issues!

Then it was back to the Bratislava Castle, hiking up the hill (and many stairs) to see the Baroque gardens. You can tour inside the Castle too, but I didn't have time before my next tour started. 

I went back to the Old Town Square (again, the Old Town is super compact!) for my second walking tour of the day, which focused on the 20th century, World War II, and communism in Slovakia. We learned about the creation of Czechoslovakia, the different Czech and Slovak involvement in World War II, the partial absorption into the Soviet Union, and what life was like under a communist regime.

It was really interesting to hear my tour guide, who is roughly my age, speak incredibly strongly against communism. He emphatically talked about how the Slovaks had suffered during the Soviet regime and offered their history as a strong warning against modern attempts at communism.

After that tour, I headed back to my hostel to make a quick dinner, grab my bags, and head to the bus station. My 26-hour sprint through Bratislava had concluded; it was time to head to Budapest!

Overall on Bratislava

Bratislava is super compact, which is incredibly convenient for tourists who want to see a lot without having to spend a ton of time commuting between sights. It also maintains is historic/old town charm feel throughout the Old Town, whether you are souvenir shopping, grabbing lunch, or checking out a small concert in the town square.

This city is worth visiting for a day trip, for sure! There seem to be a lot of Danube River cruises that stop in Bratislava for a day, or you can access it via train or bus from Budapest, Prague, and Vienna very easily.

Besos,

Tina the ExploraDora