SOLO EUROPE III: DAY 8 [BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA]

only 1 hour from vienna is bratislava, the capital slovakia. it was very easy to visit as the austrian railway company offers a pass to take any train to & from vienna within a certain time period, without a reservation. the city is definitely doable as a day trip, which is what i did. it is also easy to buy the pass on the machines. before going on the train, of course i had to get some espresso & bread, this time a pretzel. this was also the first time i tried a melange. this was my go to coffee when i was in austria.

after about an hour train ride, i arrived to bratislava. the train pass also allows local transportation in the city of bratislava. i walked to the tram station and jumped on. i was surprised how a busy street with stores had no street lights! you just walk when you can, which means also watching for the tram. the first stop was the church of st. elizabeth, which is also called "blue church" for obviously being a pretty baby blue. i did step inside, but mostly admired the outside.

church of st. elizabeth (c. 1906 - hungarian art noveau style)

the interior of the "blue church"

i then took a short walk to the old town. i got there early enough that it was not busy & most of the food establishments were not open. starting at one end is the slovak national theatre.

slovak national theatre (c. 1920 - neo-renaissance style)

old town hall down the alley.

the main square of old town bratislava.

bratislava is known for having a lot of sort of random statues throughout old town. i assume it is for tourist reasons as there are lines to take photos of them. 

napoleons army soldier as a reminder of the siege of 1809

my personal favorite, city guard.

cumil, he appears to be the favorite.

there were quite a few quirky & eccentric storefronts.

another fun window

i stopped at a breakfast joint along the promenade to sit, drink some espresso, & do some people watching. i decided to get a crepe since they are one of my favorite foods & man was it crazy. since i do not know slovak, i took a chance and ended up getting straight up candy. the crepe had whipped cream, bananas, chocolate drizzle, nutella drizzle, chocolate chips, & white chocolate chips. i scraped off as much nutella & chocolate as i could. it was too intense for me.

this whole promenade was so pretty. one of the prettiest i have seen in europe.

it is not often that my pre-planned itineraries (i plan every detail months in advance), but this was one of them. google maps mislead me. i thought the history museum was here, but it ended up being the wrong museum i wanted to go to (& the building did not even exist). the correct museum was back in old town.  instead i continued walking to the top of the hill to see the bratislava castle.

house of the good shepard (c. 18th century - roccoco style)

it was a pretty steep walk and i ended up being pretty winded. i decided to walk around the grounds a bit & skip going inside bratislava castle. the castle was built in the 1500s when the area was a part of the hungarian empire. most of the old buildings in old town were built when the city was a part of hungary (and was even the capital for a period) or the austro-hungarian emire that followed.

the view of old town & the danube river from the castle grounds.

i made my way back to old town to visit the city museum. it may be misleading, but this museum is not a museum about the general history of the city; bratislava does not have one. here you can go inside the old town hall & see some old artifacts, but not learn about the history of bratislava itself. as someone who knows very little about bratislava or slovakia, i was hoping to go to a full fledged history museum. one that gives timelines and a basic slovakia history 1010, but there was none. even though the city is the capital of the country, there is no national or city museum like that. 

old town hall (14th century)

i did enjoy being able to walk through the building & tower. the building itself was my favorite part of the museum. i did also enjoy seeing the civil servant offices from the last century; a mix of the old & the more modern.

you are able to walk out on the old town hall tower & see views of old town below.

after, i made my way back to the tram to take an early train back ti vienna. i enjoyed my time in bratislava, but it was mostly walking around then visiting museums (museums are my favorite part of travel; i am an old geezer). i am glad i was able to visit an additional country & that it was as easy as a day trip. i picked up a lemon coca-cola for the train ride home.

the bratislava train station

i did end up finding a chicken shop back in vienna near the hostel & mistakenly got a chicken schnitzel sandwich (i meant to order sans roll).