Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and it is probably the most different of the three cities we visited. Bratislava is a small city with a population coming in at about 500,000. Since communism only fell twenty years ago, evidence of its existence can be seen throughout the city. While the old and history city center is exempt from this, the remainder of the city is marked by homogenous soviet bloc housing. In fact, Slovkia is home to the largest block housing development in Europe.

What makes Bratislava such a great place to visit is its small size. The city center is easy to walk and cover in about two day’s time. So once Eric and I arrived, we hit the ground running and wandered all over the city. The first stop our tour-de-Bratislava was the old town square. This square is really small in comparison to Prague’s, but houses the old city hall building. In the winter time an outdoor ice rink is installed and takes up the majority of the square. Behind the rink is the old city hall. A light yellow, bell tower possessing building which unfortunately was undergoing renovations when we were there. However, a bit of history can be seen on the exterior walls of the bell tower. To the left of the main window a cannonball, which was launched by Napoleon, can still be seen.

From city hall we made our way to Bratislava’s Castle. Like most castles in Europe, Bratislava Castle is located atop a hill. It is a white and red, rectangular fortress which overlooks the entire city. Lucky for us, a large snow fall had occurred the night before we arrived and left everything white. We slowly, and carefully, trudged up the snowy hill to the castle grounds. Once there, we were able to walk around the extremely old stone walls and ultimately inside the outer wall. There, snowy parks and trees comprised most of the grounds. With the accompanying snowscape, the castle looked as if it could be from a Disney movie. From the edge of the outer walls we could also look out over the city center as well as the bloc housing across the Danube River. It was definitely an interesting view to say the least. Unfortunately the interior of the castle is still undergoing an extensive renovation and was closed. I believe the castle won’t be open to the public until the end of 2012.

From the castle, we climbed our way back down to the city center where we visited Michael’s Tower. Michael’s Tower is the only remaining lookout tower which is left over from the middle ages. Since it is not longer needed as a lookout tower, Michael’s tower has been converted to an arms museum. In the five, albeit small, floors centuries of weaponry are displayed; the museum starts with the 15^th century and works its way up the WWII. Pictures were strictly prohibited, but Eric sweet talked our elderly docent and she said we could take one. Unfortunately I screwed it up and you can’t even tell what it is…oops! At the top, or WWII, floor we were able to go out onto the lookout balcony. This provided an exquisite view of the city center. For this, the sun had broken through the heavy cloud cover and provided us with a sunny and somewhat blinding view of the city. It was perfect.

After spending some time on the waterfront of the Danube, Eric and I decided it was time to see what the city had to offer after dark. So we headed in the direction of the old town square and stumbled upon Slang’s Pub. Slang’s is an unpretentious and an inviting pub were the beers and wines are reasonably priced. In addition to cheap drinks, Slang’s also has some affordable food as well. So with beer and wine in hand we ordered the most delicious salami and green olive pizza I have ever eaten. Maybe it is my complete depravity from western food, or the fact that I was a few drinks in, or maybe it we excellently crafted, but I will never forget that pizza. Truthfully, now that I am back in Korea I fantasize about that pizza, but I digress. Slang’s was a great neighborhood pub where good company and good drinks always seems to be guaranteed.

Overall, our visit to Bratislava was eye opening. This was not a city I had really heard of or even thought I’d ever visit. But by going off the beaten path we were exposed to a city which operates as a democracy, but willingly showcases its communist past.