Mary in London- 2019: Bratislava, Slovakia: Feb 7

I can now check Slovakia off my country list! Even if it meant getting up at 3am for the airport. A lot of people looked at me as if I had two heads when I told them I was going to Bratislava, Slovakia. But it was really a no brainer for me. Bratislava is a typical day trip most people take when they’re on holiday in Vienna as it’s an hour by bus/plane and has a picturesque old town and two famous castles. And hint hint a flight from London to Bratislava is less than half the price of a flight to Vienna and then my hour bus on Slovak Express cost me exactly 5€. I will defend that the excursion was worth it- killed two birds with one stone- still got to Vienna and now another country tallied!

Upon arriving to the airport, I breezed through passport control. Now was the fun part...figuring out how to get to the city center where my hostel was from the airport. I bought a 24h unlimited transit ticket for a reasonable 3.5€. After taking one bus and transferring to another I checked into my Hostel Blues which was ready early so I was able to freshen up and lock up my stuff. This hostel was highly ranked and perfectly fine especially at 12€/night. I also had a great view! I eventually met my roommates: two girls traveling from the Netherlands and one girl traveling from Portugal solo across Europe.

Around 1pm, I set out exploring. First I went to the Slovak National Theater which was right next to their major shopping mall called Eurovea so of course I browsed the shops. Then I leisurely meandered towards the famous Church of St. Elizabeth aka the Blue Church. This was spectacular in person but a little randomly placed in the middle of very bland buildings. Finally I made my way to the “destination”: Old town. There I saw Primate’s Palace which was in the main square. Other notable things I saw were St. Martin’s cathedral, Michael’s Gate and the man at work statue. After that, I ventured checked off seeing the Presidential Palace. Next I went to the main castle of Bratislava. Upon arrival it was closed but was reopening in a bit. So i made a time killing trek around the grounds (outside of the walls) where there are several viewpoints of Bratislava where you can see their famous “UFO bridge” and all the red roofs of the town. After I stopped at a coffee house (abundant here) and had a tasty hot chocolate with whipped cream. Then the castle reopened. I didn’t pay to go in but I got to see it nice and close. It’s massive. I also happened to catch a nice sunset at the same time so I guess it all worked out! I made my way back to old town to walk around one last time. After I went to dinner and had some dumpling dish that was quite tasty and some Slovakian IPA beers. Solo travel all day was perfectly enjoyable but I must admit I wish I had someone to dine with. Finally around 8pm I retreated to my hostel to just relax after all I had been up for way too long and was getting cranky.

The next morning around 10am I made my way to the central bus station, bought a croissant, and was on my way to Vienna!

Takeaways:

-Bratislava- no regrets but skippable (can be done in a few hours)

-large language barrier

-people are more reserved

-food is good; beer is good