Bratislava, The Anti-Prague

On to Bratislava, just the name sounds mysterious. There is a scene in the movie EuroTrip from 2004. It give a hilarious and vivid depiction of what Bratislava was like after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Velvet Revolution between Czechia and Slovakia. If you like dumb ass teen comedy you should waste 90 minutes and watch it. There are excellent cameo's by Matt Damon and Canadian actress Kristin Kreuk, who is a real beauty...Scotty doesn't know. (watch the movie)

My first impression was the exact opposite of our young heroes in the movie. This is a modern city in every aspect possible. My hostel with the odd name, Apart-Hostel Zero was in the old town and I splurged on a single room for a couple of nights because I live life large! Off I went on the 30 minute walk into the unexpected. Now, here is another google maps tale. I was following along very patiently but after about 20 minutes I stopped to have a good look at where I was and where I was going. It seemed that I was not making any progress and taking a longer route than I had looked at when I was on the bus. Then I saw it. I had chosen the driving route and not the walking route to get to my destination. I am going to need therapy after this trip is all said and done, and it is going to start with Google Maps GPS!

Modern and Developing Bratislava

I entered the Old Town through Michael's Gate which was really nice. However, directly under the gate is a huge brass compass embedded into the cobblestones (which I am getting sick of tripping over). Sure it looks cool, but everyone and I mean everyone stops and stares at it and then takes the photo. People become clueless that it is an actual walkway and not a photoshoot. I was pretty funny so I stood aside and watched for about 5 minutes as people kept bumping into each other. After I walked down a sketchy alley to get to my hostel, I checked in. I had found a two hour walking tour of WW2 and the Soviet Occupation of Bratislava while on the bus, so I signed up for is the next day. My trip from Brno was only a couple of hours and I was ready to roll into this town and see what I could find. My first stop, you guessed it, the Castle of Bratislava or Bratislavský hrad. 

Climbing the path up to the Castle

I have been eating pretty good along the way. There are kabob shops everywhere and when I can not understand a menu, my go to is, If I can see it, I might eat it. That is why street food is so important, well that and it is usually delicious. Today I was determined to have a good Slovak meal and as it turned out, the young guy working at the hostel gave me a few recommendations. I choose the Slovak Pub which stated authentic Slovak cuisine. It is strange that the word cuisine puts me off, much like the word boutique or exclusive. Anyways, the walk to the pub took through laugh that was Michael's Gate and out of the old town. As I strolled along I came across a sign KGB Pub. Yup, I am stopping there tomorrow. I will review it over dinner. Oddly enough my stop was just down the road. It was a rustic style building on a street of modernity.

Now, a few food photos. Not only out of this world delicious, but incredibly filling. While I was eating I did a quick check on the KGB pub. Yup, I will be heading there tomorrow sometime after my tour. The beer, soup and dumplings was about 20 Euro, but it was worth it. Budget travel is great but sometimes you need to offer up a few bucks to the travel universe for a good meal and a good room. This is one of those times.

Cheese filled dumplings with bacon, dill and sour cream

Sour cabbage and sausage soup with sourdough bread

Not a super hustle day by any means. The Old town, although busy was not insane like Prague and the pricing was reasonable. There were a few Irish pubs that I passed and a good meal there was about $20 but what caught my eye, a pint was $4, in the Old Town! I have to be honest, before I came to Europe I was not drinking very much at all for 4 months or so. Now that I am bouncing around Europe it feels like it is a law that I must obey. So, like a good citizen I will obey.

My first impressions after a day in Bratislava are all positive. Although a large city with a busy Old Town, the vibe is quite chill if that is possible. People are moving a bit slower and the locals are incredibly polite and patient with my inability to speak Slovak. Even the tourists seem to have taken it down a notch, well except around that damn Michaels Gate. The city is clean, modern and filled with history but I have not reached the "the architecture on that building is amazing" age yet. Mentioning architecture made me giggle about something I heard years ago, I think when I was on a tour of Versailles in Paris. The cute young guide was talking about all the beautiful buildings and when she went on about the dreaded architecture I heard some guy in the crowd near me say, "You know you are getting old when you are more interesting in the architecture than you are in banging the guide." I don't ever want to give a shit about architecture