A spontaneous trip to Bratislava

Slovakia – August 2018

At the open air cinema in Lucerne on a warm July evening Selina and I decide to go on a city trip for my upcoming 4 days off. The destination? Europe – but between the two of us, we have travelled to most of the better known cities. And we’re on a budget too. We turn to the “explore” feature on Skyscanner and discover cheap flights to Vienna. As I’ve already been, we check the map for nearby destinations and realize that the Austrian capital ist just a 1 hour bus ride away from the Slovakian capital Bratislava. 

A week later we meet up at Lucerne train station after my shift at the hotel and rush to Zurich airport, celebrating the mini-vacation with a cold beer. A short plane and bus ride later, we arrive in Bratislava. The first thing we see is the castle towering over the city and after turning into one of the cobblestone streets, we are smitten. Selina guides us to our hostel and we leave our carry-on bags in the dorm’s locker. After a late evening stroll through the small Old Town, we go to bed in anticipation of what the next day is going to bring.

As we noted the numerous hip cafés the day before, Selina and I can help but give one of them a try for brunch. We “splurge” on iced lattes and salmon toast with eggs benedict. The good thing about living in Switzerland is that as soon as you leave the country, everything immediately becomes super cheap. Unfortunately, the cooling effects of the lattes only briefly help defeat the August heat. In search of some refreshment we head back to the hostel and ask the helpful receptionist if there are any bodies of water nearby where we could go for a swim. 

To our relief he tells us about “Zlate Piesky” – a small lake popular with locals during summer. We take the streetcar to the outskirts of the city and get a whole other impression of Bratislava. We spend the afternoon relaxing in the shade of the trees and occasionally jumping into the cool water. When we feel the first rain drops announcing a summer thunderstorm, we take refuge in a nearby shopping mall and cease the moment to check-out local snacks and beer. That night we enjoy the cafés-turned-bars and return to our dorm when all of the other guests are already sleeping.

On our second full day in the historic town we go full tourist mode. After another delicious brunch, we visit the famous town hall with a high tower with a magnificent view on the Old Town and the castle. Next on the list are all of the numerous statues we’ve been seeing on our previous strolls. We make it our mission to copy all of them as closely as possible – and dare I say, we do a pretty good job! In the afternoon we do some shopping and then go for a short nap. Freshly energized, we climb up to the castle for sunset. We walk through the garden and then find a spot on the fortification wall to drink our beer and enjoy the gorgeous view. Later we head back down to town and go for dinner at a traditional Slovak restaurant/brewery in a pretty courtyard.  

We start day three with another amazing brunch including iced lattes and toast (this time with avocado) at yet another hip café. Having walked all of the streets of Old Town more than once already, we decide to look up what there’s to see outside the city centre. We come across the  town of Devín which sports a castle ruin overlooking the Danube river. During the 1-hour bus ride we get another insight into the daily life of Slovakians. We arrive around noon and walk up the steep hill to the ruin in the glaring sun. Fortunately, our efforts are rewarded with an interesting self-guided tour through the former castle and many opportunities to climb the rocky ruins.

After returning to Bratislava in the late afternoon, we go for another stroll through the streets which by now kind of feel like home. We have dinner at an Austrian restaurant specialized in Schnitzel and potato salad. For dessert we treat ourselves to a slice of cake from the pretty patisserie we’ve been eyeing for the last couple days. We devour the sweets on the main plaza watching a concert of a  balkan band playing at the local summer festival. Enjoying the last day of our mini-vacation we head for Mojitos and Mezcal afterwards, before falling into our bunk beds exhausted and sad to be leaving early the next morning.

If you liked this story, chances are that you will also enjoy reading about another time I travelled with Selina for a short trip to Bologna.