Bratislava

Often overlooked in favour of Prague or perhaps Vienna, the Slovak capital offers a fantastic short break from some the aforementioned big players.

With a direct flight now possible out of Dublin, it’s easier than ever to make it to Bratislava rather than the usual route of perhaps flying in to Vienna and catching a train or bus from there.  This is our short break trip to intriguing Bratislava…..

Our flight left about a half hour late out of Dublin but for the most part the flight was fine.  On arrival into the very quiet Bratislava airport we arranged to get a bus to the central station.  The bus is very good value costing just €1.50 each to take the 30 minute bus journey.  Top tip, the ticket vending machines only take coins and it must be the exact amount.

Once we arrived at the station, we had about a 15 minute walk to our hotel, we’re staying at the Roset Boutique hotel about a two minute walk to the old town.

Check-in was efficient and friendly and we were offered a welcome drink which was nice and we enjoyed it when we got up to our room.  Our room is a really good size and has a kitchenette area with everything you’d need if you fancied self-catering.  There’s a good size bathroom and two large flat-screen TVs.

As it was lunch time, we grabbed a quick bite to eat in the lounge before heading out to see a few of the sights.  Despite it been a little chilly, there’s blue skies and no rain, a lot different from leaving a cold, wet Dublin.  For most of the evening, we wandered around the old town which is really nice and not too busy given the time of the year.

Near one of the squares is a place called Cafe Mayer which is apparently famous for it’s pastries, so it was a no brainer we try a few.  C opted for a flaky pastry, mousse type thing, I kept it a bit more simple and went for the chocolate type thing, neither of them were very good and had a very artificial flavour to them, perhaps we just picked the wrong things, although my coffee was nothing special either……

After wandering around for a while longer, we headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit and to choose a place to eat for dinner.  There’s plenty of options for food but we decided on the Slovak Pub, which is apparently “the” place to go for a drink and a bite to eat.  We grabbed a drink in a place nearby called Wine Not, which was a fantastic wine bar bang in the centre of the old town before heading to the Slovak Pub.

After a drink……or two, in Wine Not we made our way to the Slovak Pub.  The craft beer thing is also big in Bratislava so they had a good choice of drinks available, I went for a dark ale which was nice, C opted for a glass of wine, which let’s just say, had seen better days.

For food C went with ribs and I opted for a schnitzel type thing.  Like a lot of things, if you’re hungry, you’ll eat it and both of us were hungry, which was a good thing as both the dishes were not great, again, perhaps like our pastries earlier, we just ordered the wrong thing.  That aside, we left feeling pretty full so all that was left to do was to get back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.

The following day, we had an early start, we grabbed breakfast in the hotel which was decent enough, it has a small buffet section and also a short menu to order a few other bits and pieces.  C opted for the porridge which she said was delicious and I went with an omelette, which was not too bad, all this washed down with a decent cup of coffee.

After breakfast we hit the streets, the first stop was the very impressive Bratislava Castle which is on a hillside overlooking the city.  The entire castle was actually destroyed during World War 1 and it wasn’t until the 1950s when restoration begun and even now there’s still work ongoing.  There’s a charge of 12 euro per adult to visit which we did.  The inside is pretty well finished although there is actually very little art or furnishings, something you’d normally expect to see from such attractions.  There is a small “silver” room where there’s plenty of silverware on display, cups, trays, knives, forks, jugs etc. spread out over two floors.

There’s also a small modern art section which looked a tad out of place but was interesting, however there is a very good section on the history of the split of Czechoslovakia, which was worth the admission price alone.  You can also go to the top of the main tower, you just have to navigate a serious of very steep steps, however we were a tad disappointed as you can’t go outside so we had to be content with looking out small windows, although you can see the entire city in every direction.

Once done with the castle we had arranged a food tour for the afternoon.  Our guide called Lila met us bang on time and off we headed.  Our first little nibble was a shot of a blueberry brandy called Čučoriedkovica along with some bread and salt, an interesting combo to say the least, the blueberry liquor was delicious – salt on bread I can live without.

Next it was on to Srdcovka Reduta to try a craft beer and have a thing called Tlačenka which according to our guide is very popular for breakfast with the older generation.  As well as the Tlačenka you eat it with bread, raw onion and vinegar of all things.  Let’s just say it was fun to try traditional Slovak food  – and leave it at that.

We made several more stops along the (four hour) food tour and Lila would also tell us a lot of insightful information and history about Bratislava and Slovickia.  Here’s a few more snaps…….

By the end of the tour, we were pretty full and while Slovak food won’t be changing the world anytime soon, it was fantastic to experience and something we’d do again.

We said our goodbyes to Lila and headed on our way, or next stop was the famous blue church, famous for being … well, blue.  Unfortunately the inside was closed so we were not able to visit.  After taking a photo, we did a bit more walking and came across a large shopping mall which we wandered through and were surprised as to how busy it was.  Afterwards, and as we were at the far end of the city, we decided to take a long walk along the Danube back towards the main centre.  Once back, we made our way across the UFO bridge.

The flying saucer bridge (not it’s actual name) has a restaurant and bar at the top of a tower which as you can see by the photo, looks like a UFO.

We decided to take a trip up to the top to admire the view and perhaps have a drink.  We inquired about having a drink but we were informed that they were booked out, but we could however visit the very top to admire the view, which we did.  As it was now 2C and windy, we did not spend too long up top but it was nice to see the city all lit up.  As we made our way back down, we took a chance and asked the member of staff at the entrance to the bar area if there was any chance of a free table just to have a drink, we lucked out, there was, so we enjoyed the remainder of the late evening having a drink in the UFO, a fitting end to the day.

As it was late when we got back to our hotel, we were now a tad peckish, so we grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant, thankfully they served up until 11:00pm.  I went with a pretty tasty club sambo and C went for the ravioli, which was very tasty.  This was washed down with a beer for me and a glass of wine for C.

The next morning all that was left to do was have breakfast, check out and make our way to the airport.

Bratislava was a wonderful short break and certainly a place we’ll return to, actually our food guide informed us that the Christmas markets are a great time to visit, so perhaps we’ll look into it for our next visit.

Until next time,

C&J