Switching Countries for a Day: Slovakia

It was oh so casual that Elise, Anna, and I decided to leave the country for the day today. We took the OBB train out of Hauptbahnhof at 10:21am and left Austria for the small country of Slovakia. The capital, Bratislava, was only an hour and ten minutes away from Vienna and cost us just 15 Euro each! The entire day, we couldn't quite wrap our heads around the fact that by just jumping on a train almost as long as our commute to school during rush hour we had left Austria and were now in a country that spoke Slovak and seemed to be architecturally confused between European and Communist-style buildings.

The train ride was easy enough, and we passed numerous green hills, farms and windmills as we left the Vienna city limits and crossed the Danube River. As we were nearing Bratislava, two uniformed policemen boarded the train and swept through our carriage. Though we could see their faces, the image suddenly reminded me of the Harry Potter dementors when they invade the Hogwarts Express in book three. It's only natural that this common occurrence for police to sweep through the carriage unexplained would lead me to think about Harry Potter.

By 11:30am we had arrived in the tiny Hlavná Stanica train station just outside the city center of Bratislava. We quickly figured out which train to catch to take us to the historic old town and boarded. We didn't really have any idea where to get off or where we were going besides the town center, so we thought we'd just get off when all the elderly tourists near the front of the bus got off. Too bad we missed them slipping out as we chatted in the back of the bus. The buildings had gone from an interesting Baroque-Communist mixed look to suddenly being apartment high-rises that looked like they were made of cheap, colorless Legos. There was graffiti everywhere and the longer we stayed on the bus, the more run-down the place became. We had hit the highway across the Danube River before realizing none of the white-haired tourists were standing at the front of the bus anymore. Anna deduced that we had accidentally passed up the "Centrum" and so I decided that we would get off at the next stop and take the same bus back where we came from. Our stop was literally on the side of a dirty highway and we took a pedestrian crossing right across it to get to the other bus stop. It was a very strange concept. 

We finally made it to the correct stop and cautiously wandered into the twisting cobbled streets searching for the few tourist attractions I had pulled together and mapped out. Everything was a light shade of beige, from the cobbles to the building walls, but it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Some of it was cute, but then that view was distorted by the graffiti all over the walls. We kept taking little side roads and streets towards what we thought was the center of the historic district and managed to somewhat find our way, accidentally stumbling into a happy couple's wedding photographs. We will live in their photograph memories forever as those obnoxious tourists making faces behind them. Oops? At least it was only for one photo, and we quickly passed them and said sorry.

                 

Left: Elise and I in the cobbled Street

Right: We crashed a wedding photo...

St. Michael's Gate

We came across our first point of interest, St. Michael's Gate. This gate was built in 1300 and is the only city gate that has been preserved from once being a part of the medieval fortifications around the city. It is one of the oldest structures in Bratislava! We followed a large Russian tour group, where everyone was definitely over sixty-five, around the base, as Anna listened in on the tour to practice her Russian fluency.

Tip of St. Michael's gate from the "outside" of the old city limits

After seeing the old gate from all angles, we walked down a busy cobbled road full of shops and cafes and restaurants (called St. Michael's Street). It was actually quite lively! We followed the road around to a sign that pointed towards the Old Town where we saw the Old Town Hall as well. In the middle of the Town Square, there was a giant bike ramp set up and a bunch of teenage boys, all on bikes way too small for them and in clothes way too black for the boiling weather, were practicing jumps and tricks to a stereo playing songs like Destiny's Child and 50 Cent. Maybe the new tunes of the USA haven't caught on yet? It was actually quite interesting to see this happening in the middle of the Town Square, and right next to a cute little art and souvenir market.

View up St. Michael's Street towards the old gate

Old Town Square

Old Town Hall

The cute artsy-souvenir market

Anna and Elise mentioned they were hungry, and I had already planned where we were going to eat. We just had to find the place without having a very good map. On our way towards the pub, we came across The Church of the Clarisse, which was another point on my travel itinerary! The large, pentagonal tower was quite impressive, and though the church was recently renovated, it still looks like one of the oldest buildings in the area. 

Back side of The Church of St. Clarisse

We even got to sneak a peak inside! There was somebody decorating pews with what looked like wedding decorations. We had already passed two different brides in just our first two hours in Bratislava! Maybe it was for one of them.

Interior of the church

Anna at the Slovak Pub

Anna, Elise, and I eventually managed to find our way out of the charming historic Old Town and onto Obchodná Street where we were going to eat. The guidebooks all say that this is a main shopping street, so we were a bit excited. We discovered that main shopping isn't equivalent to Vienna's Mariahilfestraße, but means really tacky, cheap pop-up stores, an H&M with a bar on top, a transvestite club, and lots of kebab shops. I've noticed that here, and in Vienna as well, there are millions of little kebab stalls, or "Kebap" as they call them! However, we bypassed all these absolutely lovely (please note sarcasm) Kebap shops and found The Slovak Pub, where I had planned for us to eat lunch. It was an immense restaurant that looked very authentic. It was even decorated with medieval decorations and the prices were incredibly cheap for being such a big tourist hotspot (however, that's their advertisement so who knows how true that statement might be).

It was a pretty popular place

I ordered roasted spinach and chicken pierogies and a side cucumber salad. It wasn't bad food, just a bit tasteless. I think the Slovaks eat heavy meals without a lot of flavor to keep them warm in the bitter winter months. But that's just my falsifiable theory. My cucumber salad was great though, and tasted just like the pickled cucumbers at Ellis's Heritage Day always tasted! I'm so glad we managed to find that pub and pay just 6 Euro each for our authentic lunch, instead of caving and eating at a Mexican tourist cafe or something in the Old Town. But I do know that Slovak food isn't my favorite and I won't be hurrying to have it again.

My cucumber salad and roasted spinach and chicken pierogies!

We walked back down the "shopping" street, towards the Hrad (Bratislava Castle) in the distance. That would be our final stop.

View of Obchodnà Street and Bratislava Castle

Meanwhile, we walked back to the historic district and saw Primate's Palace which had an exhibit of a Hall of Mirrors, but we didn't end up buying tickets to enter. I really wish we had and Anna and Elise had wanted to, but it probably wasn't as amazing as Versailles anyway. Primate's Palace was actually a gorgeous Classicist building and we could even go into the inner courtyard and sit by the fountain to relax for a bit.

Exterior of Primate's Palace

Fountain in the courtyard

Bride in front of St. Martin's

We passed through the Old Town Square and historic remains of the city and headed to St. Martin's Cathedral. There were at least two brides getting their wedding photos done by the beautiful church in the sunny weather! We might have accidentally walked into some of their shots...again. The large Gothic church was stunning in the light. It was unfortunate that we didn't go inside due to the weddings, but I wasn't too fussed. I've seen a lot of churches in my life, especially recently, and I'm not even Christian!

Who would we run into but fellow IES students! As we were about to leave the church, Anna spotted Eddye, Orli, and Patrick coming towards us, so we chatted for a minute about what we had done and seen and continued on our way with them, back to the area where some of Bratislava's famous statues are. We saw Cumìl, the "Peeper", and a guy with a top hat that I managed to get a picture with! These are the most famous whimsical statues in the city and even have their own traffic signs so people recognize them!

The "Peeper"

That's my top hat 

As we walked back to the Old Town to show Eddye, Orli, and Patrick, Eddye spotted a gelato stand selling one scoop ice-cream cones for only 70 cents! We couldn't resist, and Elise and I had been so good recently and hadn't had any ice cream since being here! My Stracciatella ice cream was lovely and refreshing in the intense heat.

Patrick obviously didn't enjoy his banana-flavored scoop

Back at the market in Town Hall, Anna, Elise, and I parted ways with Eddye, Orli, and Patrick. They had already climbed up to Bratislava Castle and said it was definitely worth the hike up because the views were gorgeous. I had wanted to do that regardless of what Anna and Elise wanted, so I'm glad they were enticed by Orli, Eddye, and Patrick. 

The group

It took us forever to get to the bottom of the hill where the castle was situated, overlooking the Danube River. We got trapped in some cobbled side streets, stuck in a wedding procession (yet another one!) and hit a few dead ends before finally making it outside the old bordering walls of the city.

The bordering walls of Bratislava Old Town, with the cathedral steeple in the distance

The hike up wasn't too bad, but the intense heat made it difficult. But once at the top, there was a cool breeze and quite a lovely view of all of Bratislava: Old Town, the new modern town, and then the Lego-like apartments and ugly worn-down high-rises across the river. Apparently, we could even see Austria and Hungary because it was a very clear day, but I didn't know which direction to look. We probably saw them, but we had no clue which was where!

The castle was quite interesting. It didn't look like a medieval castle at all, despite being built in the 13th century. It used to house the crown jewels of the Kingdom of Hungary and was once Maria Theresa of Austria's place of residence. She spent a lot of time in Bratislava because it was at the crossroads of her old country, Austria, and the country she married into, Hungary. The castle was large and white, with russet-colored roofs on the towers, and a very odd and uneven number and shape of windows. I don't understand why the windows didn't all match up or why there was so much empty space without windows at some parts. It made the castle look like a child's drawing that had been constructed into 3D. But it was still pretty cool to be up there and see all of Bratislava! The Old Town was especially beautiful from up there.

See what I mean about the mismatched windows?

View of the Danube River

The incredible view of Old Town Bratislava from the top of the castle

Goodbye, Slovakia

We finally found our way down and caught the #93 bus back to the train station. Our train to Wien stop would leave at 17:42, so we made it about 20 minutes early just in case. It wasn't too bad of a ride home because Orli, Patrick, and Eddye joined us for the ride, but then Elise and my ride back to the Villa took forever. I had just come back to relax and eat some cereal (of course) when Anna texted saying to be at her place at 9pm so we could go out. If she expected me there by 9pm, I would have had to leave 10 minutes before receiving her text with that information! I made it by 10pm, just a little late. The commute between the Villa and their apartments in the 5th district is ridiculous. No wonder Elise and I aren't too fussed about going out at night in District 1. We keep the party in District 18!

I really enjoyed touring Bratislava, and thought it was very interesting, but now that I've been, I don't really have any desire to go back again, especially if the weather isn't as amazing as it was today! But it was a great trip and so cool that another country's capital city was just over an hour away from the capital of Vienna!