Adventures in Europe: Bratislava, Slovakia

Yesterday I began the day in Piran, and caught the bus (approx. 2 hours) to Ljubljana. There, an hour later, I caught a Flixbus all the way to Bratislava (approx. 6.5 hours). I arrived at 20:15. At first I was a little disappointed to be arriving after dark, but I actually I think evening (at least a weekend evening) might be exactly when Bratislava's old town should be experienced! There were hundreds if not thousands of people out, walking around, attending a concert, dining and drinking, and taking in art installations and lit up buildings.

Although this guy is just as easily enjoyed in daylight, he was my favourite!

This one was in the courtyard of the old town hall, which is now a museum.

This is the Slovak National Theatre.

And down by the Danube there was a display of photographs . . .

. . . and Bratislava's famous "UFO" bridge, nicely lit up.

And, finally, there was this piece of artwork, which I took to be a dumpster fire?

I had a beer on a patio and then a donair while I continued to walk around, but when I turned in around 23:30 the crowds showed no signs of dissipating.

This morning, however, it was quite different at 8:00! The streets were deserted! 

I did a bit of a daylight tour with the streets more or less to myself.

This was a display about how most of the Jewish quarter had been demolished while constructing the "UFO" bridge (it is actually called Most SNP or Most Slovenského národného povstania, which means "Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising"). 

I also left the old town to see the famous blue church.

I walked back to the old town along the Danube. Several river cruise boats were docking and offloading tourists from upriver.

Back in the old town I was now able to have breakfast (most of the cafes were not evening opening until 9 or later!). 

At one point I had expected to have all day in Bratislava and leave in the evening to meet Diana in Budapest. But she had to change her plans because Hungary's COVID rules are such that she would not be able to fly in there. Instead she is flying into Vienna earlier in the day, so I left Bratislava just after noon. 

So, after breakfast, I decided the last place I would go would up to the castle, which is on a cliff above the old town.

The castle itself, while nice looking, did not particularly interest me per se.

I was much more excited about the view from up here!

As I descended and came back into the old town, I was able to pass through the city wall, which is well maintained at this section.

I packed up, checked out, and headed to the bus station to catch my bus to Vienna. This station is actually right under Most SNP. I was quite taken with this traditional Slovak cheese vending machine!

I ended up trying some hand made garlic cheese knots. I think the cheese is called korbáčik, which is stringy but then can be tied up with flavouring. In this case, garlic, and they are not going cheap on the garlic!