Bratislava

Fiona, Mel and I flew into Bratislava on Dec 29 in the evening, with very rocky take off and landing. However, Fiona assured me that it was just the weather; nothing to do with the very cheap airline! Oh well, we made it.

We made our way to the hostel, completely exhausted. Definitely one of the nicer hostels I've stayed in around Europe.

The following day we got our free breakfast from a cafe down the road that has a partnership with the hostel. It was a really random cafe; socialist themed. Bit strange, but interesting. After that we wondered around, getting our bearings, and eventually made it to the main square where we would embark on a free walking tour. The tour guide was from Bratislava so she knew a lot about not only the area but also the history. We learnt about how Slovakia has been a part of Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and only got independence quite recently. Bratislava is very small (easily a walking city) and everything’s pretty cheap which is nice! We saw many churches, some of them quite pretty. One of the nicest ones, I thought, was the one pictured- it’s called the Blue Church (imaginative, eh?) and while there we were told about how the communist government didn’t want people going to church, and one of their tactics to deter people was to surround the churches with ugly buildings! Another tactic was to make them hard to get to.

Bratislava is also known for their random statues- most of them completely meaningless! One which did have a meaning was a statue of a German man who was mentally disabled but very friendly. He worked at a cafe, and people used to come to him to hear all the gossip. The statue is called something in Slovak which translates to “nice Nazi”- seems slightly inappropriate... Others included a man with a camera nearby a restaurant called “Paparazzi”; a man peeping out of the ground, potentially looking up ladies skirts; and the one pictured, just a random man leaning over a bench. 

In the evening we went to the first Slovak pub for dinner, as recommended by our tour guide. She also recommended that we try traditional Slovak dumplings. However, there was a picture in the menu and it scared us a little bit. It looked more like porridge.. Go figure. In the end Mel and I got schnitzels and Fiona got a soup which came in bread (SO yum) and we shared a different type of dumpling, which Fi convinced us was still very Eastern European- still made with sheep’s cheese. It was alright but I don’t think I’d have wanted to eat the entire serving. Very cool pub.

The view over the Danube

On New Years Eve, during the day, we went to the Bratislava castle. After hiking up about twenty billion stairs we finally made it to the castle grounds. From there you get quite a nice view of the city, and according to our tour guide you can see three different countries from there. Obviously Slovakia, but also Austria and I think the last one was Budapest. However, we didn’t really know where to look for each of them. From the castle you get quite a nice view of the Danube, which also goes through Vienna and Budapest- my next two destinations.  

We went back to the First Slovak pub for lunch; determined to all try the soup in bread. Sadly, they were out of bread! We had schnitzel instead which was still delicious. In the afternoon we wanted to go shopping, but most of the shops seemed to be closed. We bought ourselves some super unhealthy add-water types meals, and some alcohol  to have in the evening.

When we got back to the hostel there were a few Slovenian’s around, keen to hang out before we began the New Year's celebrations. We ate our dinner, played some card games, listened to some strange European music and met every single person staying at our hostel- which was not many, very small hostel. But a nice way to start the evening! Around 10pm we headed out to check out what was happening in town. All over the city people were sending off lanterns, lighting up the sky- it was beautiful! Though, a lot of them did get stuck in trees! We went to the two main squares. One had a DJ and the other a band. The DJ was playing dance music mostly in English, and the band was playing kind of strange music in Slovak- both interesting! 

We had a bit of a dance at each square, then walked towards the Danube; where we’d been informed that there would be fireworks.  We managed to get a good spot between the two main bridges, the perfect place to see all the fireworks. It was evident that it is legal for people to have their own fireworks because they were coming from all over the place- often from people’s hands.  The main fireworks, which were coming off a boat on the river, were pretty spectacular. We went back to the squares, and danced the night away. A really great New Years Eve!

Today I was meant to be going to the other side of Slovakia to meet my uncle and his family (where they are holidaying)- but they are snowed in, so I can’t get to them! Instead, I am going to Vienna for a night!! Then tomorrow I will get a bus to Budapest to meet my uncle (where he lives). 

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)