But time passed by, I was already 20 years old (as if that had been much) and I realized I still hadn't been to actually any of the places I had always dreamt of being to. I also had some problems regarding my private life and health, and these made my assumptions even stronger: you may never know how long you live and you can never base your life on waiting for things to happen by themselves, so if you really want something to be that way, you have to strive for it as soon as you can, because one day it will be too late.
Having convinced myself, I only had to find out where I should go. It was actually quite easy: for me it was always self-evident, that if I ever went abroad by myself, I would choose either Vienna or Bratislava. Since I had been to Vienna earlier, I wanted to see something new and ended up choosing the latter. It was also a great test if I was really ready to visit anything abroad. Luckily, I was.
Where is Bratislava? It is in Western Slovakia, the biggest city and the capital of the country at the same time, with roughly 400.000 residents. Being surrounded by different cultures, it successfully possesses Slovak, other Slavic (like Czech, Polish), Hungarian and Austrian features. It is kind of a mixture of everything that can be found in the vicinity of the city. No wonder, Bratislava is said to be the only capital in the world that borders with two countries (Austria and Hungary).
How to get there? In my case, (I visited the city from Hungary) the bus running between Budapest and Prague was the ideal choice (EUROLINES), leaving at 6:30 from Budapest, Népliget and arriving barely 3 hours later at 9:20 in the Slovak capital.
Instead of EUROLINES, there's currently Flixbus running buses between the two cities, and there are even a bit more buses than earlier to choose from. If you arrive to Bratislava from any other country, I'd advise you to accommodate in Vienna and choose it as a daytrip destination, because this is what the city is perfect for. From Vienna, there are lots of buses and trains to approach Bratislava, and go back the very same day.
Our bus dropped us at the Central Station, which has a really lucky location: if your next goal is the downtown, it only takes 20-25 minutes on foot to find yourself in front of the Michalská brána (Michael's Gate). There are many routes (many of them shorter than the one we ended up choosing) to approach the city centre, but I still think this gate was the best way to get into the iconic downtown:
But what makes Bratislava worth visiting? Many people actually ignore it and choose either Vienna, Prague or Budapest if they end up in this part of the world, never considering to visit this indeed smaller and seemingly less unique, but still beautiful city.
After crossing Michael's Gate, you end up in the actual downtown, as mentioned above: cobblestone streets, cafés, and the flags of embassies from all over the world give it a very special mood. Once again, we didn't follow the (seemingly logical) route but took a turn to some narrower, alleyway-like streets and ended up right in front of the probably most well known building of the city (and maybe the whole country): the castle:
We didn't actually enter any exhibitions at that time, but it is worth 'climbing up' just to observe the city from one of the best locations, too. One can see from there the past (large, often renovated churches and gloomy blockhouses) and the future (modern shopping centres and high business centres):
After buying some obligatory souvenirs, we were ready to get back to the downtown and enjoy the almost town-like mood that the city could offer. Maybe it was the key of success in my case. It offered a lot of tranquillity in a busy and rushing world. You could also find some fairs with all kinds of souvenirs from fridge magnets to paintings of the city. Below, you can see some photos from different locations of the downtown:
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| One of those fairs that gave the city its charm |
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| The Main Square, or Hlavné námestie |
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| It is definitely worth roaming around in the streets of the city centre: there is always one more diamond to find |
We also tried to enter the church, but on that day it was unfortunately closed (as far as I remember, we couldn't find out if it was open on any other day or we just had bad luck). Looking around the church, one could see how quickly the city changed and developped. Old, run-down buildings were being torn down, or renovated (just like the castle).
We took one last glance at the downtown and decided to head back to the bus station. Our bus left the Slovak capital at 19:30 and we arrived back home at 22:30. The 10 hours we had there may sound little, but it was more than enough to see everything we wanted (some sights even twice), so I think unless you want to see some more Slovak towns (or visit Austria, Hungary or the Czech Republic, which are quite quick to access), it is an ideal daytrip destination, but probably not worth staying there for a week. We didn't visit any museums, but even if you calculate that, you can definitely fit in a day. Everything is quickly accessible, the prices are not higher than what you would expect in any other Central-European country (what's more, Slovakia already uses euro, so if you come from Vienna, you don't have to worry about currencies, either!).
Overall, if you are in vicinity, Bratislava is a must, it is ideal for a visit, but if you plan to stay longer, you had better start looking for ideas in other parts of Slovakia (or the other 3 countries that are also quick to reach).
I hope you found my post about Bratislava interesting. If you have any similar experience (or the complete opposite of written above), don't hesitate to write it in a comment, and follow me on Instagram and Facebook for more photos (since these photos I have luckily improved a little bit...:) ).
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