Slovakia was not high on my travel bucket list, but when I learned that Bratislava is only an hour away from Vienna by train and is often a recommended day trip, I knew it would be part of my itinerary for this trip.
Trains run every 30 minutes or so from Vienna and take just an hour to reach Bratislava. I left my hotel around 8AM and as luck would have it, I made it to Vienna Stadlau station about 3 minutes before the train to Bratislava arrived. I quickly bought my ticket and hopped on board the 8:28AM train to Bratislava hlavná station. The train passes through mostly farmland between the two cities. Bratislava’s main train station, hlavná stanica, does not give a good first impression of the city. It is old, run down, and cramped. I stopped by the tourist office to get a map and then headed for the historic city center.
Although not overly exciting as walks go, I kept turning my head and pointing my camera in every direction. Being in a new country is always exciting, but this felt like a completely different world. I have no frame of reference for the Slovak language and hearing so much unfamiliar dialogue and signage was a bit disorienting at first.
Once I got to the Old Town, I was even more captivated. From the cobblestone streets to the quaint squares and plazas to the cafes and restaurants, it seemed like there was something to ooh and aah at around every corner.
I decided my first stop needed to be for a cold drink. Although Brixton House wasn’t exactly a cute local café, it did have an inviting patio right on the Main Square. I ordered a pink lemonade with strawberry, rhubarb, and mint and partook in one of my favorite activities: people watching. (Mental note: I don’t actually like rhubarb.) I also used the time to peruse my map of the city and plan out my walking route.
After finishing my lemonade, I wandered around the Main Square and then over to one of Bratislava’s famous attractions, the Blue Church. Both the inside and outside of the church are painted blue. While the church wasn’t open at the time, you could look in through a gate at the back to see the interior.
From there, I walked back through the Old Town and up to Bratislava Castle, parts of which were built in the 1200s. The stark white castle overlooks the city from high atop Castle Hill. It was a steep climb up several stone staircases to get to there. From the overlooks surrounding the castle, you can see the entirety of Bratislava spread out below. On the closest side is the Old Town, and across the Danube is Petržalka, a planned communist suburb.
If you know what a picky eater I am, you’ll recognize that trying to find some Slovakian food that I was actually willing to try was a bit of a daunting task. I had seen several reviews of the Slovak Pub online and had plenty of time to check out the menu in advance of my visit. The pub serves all types of Slovakian food and is broken up into several rooms.
I knew had to try Kofola to drink, a Slovakian cola that has a unique taste which isn’t quite as strong as Coke. You can only find it in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. For food, I started with creamy garlic soup with cheese in a bread bowl. Dipping the bread turned out to be the best way to eat it. I like garlic, but whole spoonfuls of it are a bit much. I also had bryndzové halušky, which are potato dumplings with sheep’s cheese (unique to Slovakia) and bacon. It tasted like the most delicious macaroni and cheese you can imagine. The sheep’s cheese had a pleasantly tangy flavor (I wasn’t really sure what to expect), but the bacon was a bit much. I ate around the bacon and got through about half the dish before I was too full to continue.
After my meal, I did a quick walk around the Old Town again and then headed back to the train station. I honestly had no idea Bratislava would be so beautiful. As I said, it certainly hadn’t been on my bucket list, but this small city on the western edge of Slovakia was so endearing, how could I not love the few hours I spent there?
I saved dessert for Vienna since I needed to digest and walk off some of my lunch. I decided on Café Landtmann because it is close to my hotel and has hosted such notables as Sigmund Freud and Gustav Mahler.
One word: kaiserschmarrn. What exactly is kaiserschmarrn? It is basically one huge, fluffy pancake that has been ripped to shreds and served with fruit (in this case, plum compote). And it was sooo good. I didn’t even know I liked plums! I had it with a kaiserspritzer (a white wine spritzer with elderflower syrup). There was certainly no shortage of fattening food in my diet today!
Traveling with Laura 