Springtime Travels- Bratislava

Springtime in the Czech Republic gives a whole new meaning to the associative terms "new life" and "great awakening."

After months of overcast skies, the sun is finally poking through the clouds to bathe Prague in light and warmth. It's like the whole city has come out of a deep hibernation and people can once again be seen at weekend events, strolling along the river, and sipping coffee outside of cafés.

Inspired, I have gone back to wandering about Prague and planning some trips within the Czech Republic and surrounding countries (as opposed to flying to Western Europe to find some sun). I spent one of the first springtime weekends in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Slovakia has been on my agenda to visit for a while. Unfortunately, its close proximity to Prague had me push off going because "I can go any weekend" and "It's just too cold now." However, thanks to the sudden increase in sun (and plane ticket costs), Bratislava became the perfect overnight trip.

A little background information… Czechoslovakia was formed at the end of WWI in October 1918 after declaring its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The country remained as one throughout all of WWII and the rise and fall of communism. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Obviously, the two countries have a lot of shared history, as well as culture and language. Even with the limited Czech I know, I was able to recognize some words in Slovak (my Slovak ancestors would be proud). 

To get to and from Bratislava, Cristina (a coworker from Spain) and I took a 3-hour train ride. Since we have off from school on Mondays, we actually left for Slovakia on Sunday and came home the following day. This meant that I would see the city be "touristy" on Sunday and more "low-key" on Monday. But surprisingly, there wasn't too much of a difference between the weekend and weekday foot traffic; compared to Prague and most European cities, Bratislava simply doesn't get as many outside visitors.

This may partially be due to the city's small size; the city center is only a 15-20-minute walk from the train station. Really, I consider Bratislava more of a town than city. And since the city/town is relatively small, most attractions can be seen within 2 days of walking around.

For those considering a visit to Central Europe, please do not let this deter you from traveling to Bratislava. In fact, I encourage you to take advantage of this less touristy destination to stroll the streets and soak in the beautiful sights. With everything in close proximity, a trip to Bratislava can easily be a relaxing one!       

Since it was right next to the train station, the first place Cristina and I went to was Hotel Galeria. And no, this hotel was not our accommodation for the night. We walked around the place simply because it was a cool mess to look at:

We then headed to our real hostel (the Patio Hostel) to drop off our stuff. Along the way, we stumbled upon a pub, park, street, and bus stop all containing my surname. While I had known that my grandfather's family was Slovak, I didn't realize that 'Kollar' was such a popular name in Slovakia.

Next, we went for a late lunch at "Slovak Pub." This place was recommended on an episode of the Honest Guide as having good, traditional Slovak food. And it did not disappoint. I had halušky (potato dumplings in goat cheese, topped with bacon) and I swear, it was the most delicious thing I've tasted since moving to Europe (sorry, pizza from Italy).

After eating an indecent amount of cheese (we had also gotten a cheese board on the side), I felt/needed to walk around for a while.

As I mentioned, many of the main sights in Bratislava are located within the small city center. This meant that we knocked almost everything out within a few hours.

We stopped at the Presidential Palace:

And then passed under Michael's Gate:

Michael's Gate is the last remaining city gate and was constructed during medieval times. It's one of the oldest buildings in Bratislava.

Next, we saw Primate's Palace- a pretty pale pink and golden building:

And of course, we stopped to take a picture of this guy:

While Bratislava has interesting sculptures scattered throughout, Čumil is the most iconic. The statue could be a potential cause of excessive tripping, if not for the people around taking photos. Whether this is a man taking a well-deserved break from the sewers, or a Peeping Tom looking for cheap thrills is up for debate.

Cristina and I then climbed up a steep incline to get to the Bratislava Castle. The view going up the hill was nice (making it a good excuse to stop and catch your breath); you got to see all of Old Town and across the Danube River.  

The Bratislava Castle did not fit my mental image of what castles were supposed to look like (perhaps I have passed Prague Castle and Vyšehrad one to many times). Instead of a medieval feel, the castle had more of a new aged palace look to it (nothing wrong with that):

Next, we went to Bratislava's UFO. This tower is located right on the bridge that connects the two sides of Bratislava.

You can take an elevator ride up the tower to get a high 360 view of the city and grab drinks at the restaurant.

At this point, Cristina and I were pretty tired from waking up early for our train and spending the day walking around. Later that night though, we went to Regal Rooftop, a burger place with a rooftop view. Again, this place was recommended by the Honest Guide and I was happy that we went; we had the whole roof to ourselves (it was a Sunday night) and got to spread out in a bed of cushions and blankets. The perfect end to a busy day.

The next morning, we only had two destinations in mind: breakfast and St. Elizabeth's Church. Since the weather was supposed to get bad later, we first walked over to St. Elizabeth's. This church is also known as "The Blue Church" for obvious reasons:

We then went to Pán Cakes (a play on words- 'Pán' translates to 'Mister') for breakfast and got the typical European take on pancakes (aka crepes).

Since our train was scheduled to leave at noon, we had an awkward amount of time left in Bratislava. There were still a couple sights I wanted to see, but since they were outside the city center, we wouldn't be able to get to them in time. Instead, we went to a café and spent the remainder of our time sipping down another set of cappuccinos.

As I've said, Bratislava makes for the ultimate a lazy-weekend, halušky-indulging, sight-seeing get-away. It was the perfect way to welcome the start of Spring.