Bratislava.
The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava was put on my radar when I was talking to a flight attendant about my plan to see Budapest. I tacked this city onto that trip, I hopped on a train from Budapest to Bratislava. Crossing off another country was made super convenient by proximity, one of the reasons why I love traveling in Europe.
I purchased a train ticket at the station in Budapest for 9 Euro and took the 2.5 hour journey over the boarder. On the way home my train ticket was 15 Euro. From the main train station I took train line 1 and then walked a few blocks to the hostel that I stayed at to drop my bags off. From there I set off to see the sights.
My day started out very early since I did not know how big Bratislava was and I wanted to give myself enough time. I booked a hostel and stayed the night even though I debated on doing it as a day trip. The city is very small and can be seen in a few hours if you leave from Budapest early and arrive back late.
It ended up raining for a portion of the day, so I had to slow down for a bit. For this reason it was good that I stayed the night since I couldn’t be out while it was down pouring.
If you noticed already I obsess over architecture in other cities. Some of the buildings in Bratislava were so colorful and had this design to them that made me think of puff paint or a cartoon.
Even though it rained the other parts of the day the sky was a gorgeous blue.
On the east side of the city you can take a walk up stairs to the top of the hill where the castle is located. It was closed the day I was there, but you can walk around the small garden and courtyard. Side note about the garden, the fountain was tiny and just had rocks in the middle. For a big castle and garden I found it funny they couldn’t afford or didn’t choose to install a more extravagant display.
Bratislava was a great stop on the trip and a very relaxing little town. The tourist population was not very big so it was not crazy busy and it is all in a small walking distance.
Top Sites to See in Bratislava:
- Blue Church of St. Elizabeth
- Historic Building of the Slovak National Theatre
- Roland’s Fountain
- Old Town Hall
- Primatial Palace
- Michael’s Gate
- St. Martin;s Cathedral
- Bratislava Castle
- Duck’s Fountain
