On arriving in Bratislava, we decided to make the most of our short time there-just 5 hours stop off en route to Budapest from Prague. We dumped our bags at the left luggage at the station and made our way to the centre of town. Without a detailed guide book we had to find our own way around, not too hard as despite being the capital city of Slovakia, it's about the size of Reading! Our first destination was the President’s house, impressive with fountains and statues at front and back, although a large metal ball somewhat spoilt photos from the front. We then made our way to the main square, where to our disappointment there was a McDonalds. We kept walking.
On Reaching the River Danube, we saw an impressive looking bridge, called the New Bridge (full name the Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising), with a tower on the other bank. We crossed in anticipation of getting great views over the city. For Ł2 we were whisked skywards in a lift, and then on the observation platform could see the contrast in the city. The old town was impressive; full of churches and tiled roofs, the newer part, on the other side of the River was more oppressive, with huge communist tower blocks dominating the landscape.
The next stop on our brief tour of the city was Bratislavský hrad, the city’s castle, built in the 9th century but heavily renovated in the 1960’s, it is nonetheless impressive and overlooks the entire city.
After our few hours in Bratislava we were glad of the fact that it is nigh on impossible to book a hostel there. Not because of the film “Hostel”, but because after 5 hours we seemed to have seen most of the sights, we could have happily spent a couple more hours, but any more than that and it could have become slightly dull. Well worth a visit, but I would recommend it only as a day trip from Vienna, or as a pleasant way to break up a long train journey.
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Little bit lacking in further details about your trip for instance did you eat out or meet any of the locals? Will pop back and rate/comment again if you like :)
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Advantages: Fantastic city, plenty to do and see, beer still relatively cheap Disadvantages: City is loosing some of its authencity by becoming Westernised with the likes of McDonalds popping up
Apr 24th, 2007
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