If I’m honest, we didn’t really like Bratislava at first.
I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with it, really, but it’s just that our experience getting into the Airbnb was sub-par and our first little adventure – 0,70€ for 15 minutes on the bus – was somewhat underwhelming.
The room is… basic, but perfectly acceptable given we’re only there for sleeping. We’re on the sixth floor of a Socialist-era tower block just south of the Danube which is for all intents and purposes identical to the many others that surround it. It transpires, though, that there is a bar at the bottom called Golf Club where a pint of Budweiser – the proper stuff, lest we forget, not the American shit – is only 1,36€ and after about four hours of two people drinking – and making new friends while playing “guess the year” on VH1 – we still got change from a 20€ note, so it can’t all be bad.
Despite a false start, Bratislava redeemed itself very quickly by having really cheap and easily-fathomable public transport and a bus stop a stone’s throw from the flat. And cheap beer.
Today, we pushed the boat right out and treated ourselves to the extravagance of a 24-hour travel ticket for 3,50€. Bratislava is actually small enough that you can get round the city on foot, but there’s always plenty to see from a bus or a tram. And, Noodles be praised, we were given a map of the public transport network on day one! So we took a bus over the bridge and stopped at the first stop after the river and got our first taste of the old town. We didn’t have a plan, we simply wandered around – hopping on and off things where tempting or necessary – until it was time to go home.
Bratislava is colourful, vibrant, and full of hidden things waiting to be discovered. Much like Zagreb, some of it looks slightly tired and some of it is simply gorgeous. There’s a lot of graffiti, which turns out to be street art upon closer inspection; some of it is a bit tatty, and some of it is brilliant. And they’re proud of it to the point that there’s a festival of street art whose works are remain exhibited and can be stumbled upon at every turn.
I decided we needed to go to the main station, Hlavná Stanica, and take some photos as we’d got off at Petržalka yesterday. I was expecting something wonderful, but was dispapointed; at some point in the eighties, someone decided it would be a good idea to cover the Hungarian-era station frontage with a new foyer, affectionately called the skleník – or greenhouse, in English. It’s worth having a look, though, as there are old locomotives dotted around, and the waiting room with its high ceilings and pillars is from the old station, just don’t expect to warm to it.
We had lunch in town, then took a trolley bus up to the castle from outside the presidential palace and spent the afternoon pottering around there instead. We walked back down to our bus stop, down wonderful steps through winding streets while admiring views over the city and the cathedral.
After further drinks at The Golf Club, we were fed by our Airbnb host’s mother, then retired to bed, satisfied that Bratislava is indeed a lovely place.
