Hi there guys and welcome to the second part of my post about Bratislava, the capital of Slovak Republic and my destination for this weekend. If you need to catch up you can find the first part of this article here.
What to do here then? Well, Bratislava compared to Prague is a relatively small city: the historic center is very compact and can be visited in 2 days. Of course the more you wish to grasp from the city the more time you would have to stay but In my opinion a weekend is more then enough to get satisfied.
The city center starts just as soon as you pass by the Michael tower, the main entrance to the city. From here, you will spot lots of nice tiny buildings, some of them dating from medieval times.
The main square of Bratislava (hlavni namestie) houses the Slovakian parliament and a number of nice cafés in old Austro Hungarian style):
From there, we head towards Primacialnie namesti, to admire the parliament from the other side and the palace that gives the square its name (on the left).
A short stroll and you will find yourselves next to the old market (Stara Trznica), full of stands where to sample traditional Slovakian dishes as well as a nice coffee of tea.
Get lost around the crowded (especially on summertime) streets and try to spot as many strange statues as you can, Bratislava is full of them! One that will definitely attract your attention is the one named "man at work". A guy, called Cumil by Slovakians, is emerging with a nice smile from the sewers, looking towards the Michael's tower. Some people say he is just resting, some others that he is trying to look above the beautiful Slovakian women's skirts... I'm not sure what the truth is, so feel free to make up your own ;)
One of the sights to see is definitely the castle, built on a hill and overlooking the river. We headed there Saturday morning to visit the royal gardens as well as taking some time to take some picture of the stunning Danube:
The bridge you see on the last picture is called the Slovak independence bridge, although locals call it the UFO Bridge, thanks to the structure at the top. The view from up there is incredible and the UFO also houses a very nice sky bar, so make sure to sip a nice cold Slovakian beer (very similar to the Czech ones) while admiring the panorama:
Going back to the center we stopped at Hviezdoslavovo námestie, a square that looks like a small boulevard, surrounded by nice cafés restaurants and decorated with lovely fountains (more picture on the third part of the post). The great weather gave the place a perfect feeling. On one side of the square we see the Slovakian National theater, dating from the 18th century :
We stopped at Korzo to eat something and, man, I think I took the biggest schnitzel of my life!
I was too hungry so I forgot to take the picture as soon as it came to the table, but believe me when I say that the one you see here was just half of real dimension.
Full. And satisfied we headed back to the hotel for our last night and last visits... Stay tuned for the third (and last part) of the trip, online tomorrow!
Feel free to leave a comment if you are planning a trip to Bratislava and you need some tips, or just to chat!
Cheers from Slovakia ;)
Click here for the first part!