Eastern Europe Part 1 - Bratislava - Slovakia

Bratislava

So last week I escaped the cold, drizzly England to go to the cold  an drizzly Eastern European countries (well four of them at least) and the first part of this 7 day travelling extravaganza took us to Slovakia's capital - Bratislava.

When we initially planned this out, Bratislava wasn't on the list, but several airline searches later and glances at our bank balance made the city the perfect place to fly into (I mean you cant really argue with £20 flights can you?). I didn't really know anything about the country, its history or what to expect.

After speaking to some lovely Slovaks we were on our way to the city centre on a bus. We were told it would be best to go to the train station with our bags as we could leave them there, and obviously we were filled with anticipation when the woman helping us said "brace yourself, this is it" in a blatant attempt at sarcasm. She had a point - if you are looking for beauty then best not to start with the train station. However, that said we dropped off our bag and headed into town to see what Bratislava could offer us.

After wondering around the buildings and looking for any inspiration we were getting a little bit worried as nothing was 'popping' out at us. Regardless we trekked on and came across two of the best things that Bratislava has to offer. Apparently the 'most sexist' bar... but that's another story entirely...

Old Town

This was by far the most beautiful part of the city, with the old buildings all clumped together overlooked by the Castle and St. Martin's Cathedral. We spent a good hour wandering around looking at the old houses and walking down the cobbled streets. After trekking up to the top of the hill to see the castle to look at the view we really had the feeling that we were finally in Eastern Europe. The holiday had begun and my camera was whipped out - admittedly maybe I took too many pictures but the ones I don't have on here will find there way to my instagram so have a look if you want any inspiration as to why you shouldn't give this little city a miss.

Slavin 

This was by far one of the most eeriest things that I have ever seen, initially it wasn't something that was on our to do list but as it looked so imposing on a hill just on the outskirts on the city - what choice did we have but to make our way up there and see what it was all about. Knowing a bit about the history of Slovakia I thought that it was something to do with the communism which Stalin had enforced on the country - but I didn't expect to be right. The 'Ode to Stalin' as my travel buddy called it is huge and very imposing, standing over a graveyard full of the graves of Russian soldiers who fought against the invading Nazi's. All the writing is in Russian, and the propaganda used is still in full force - you find yourself almost transported back to that time, with statues of young and helpless Slovaks being looked after by the Soviet Soldiers. I can't really explain it but there is an air which sits over the monument, and you can understand the power that Stalin had over people. If you ever find yourself in Bratislava it might be worth reading up a bit more on the history of the place and definitely don't give this a miss. 

Since this was a fleeting visit, with us rushing to catch the train to Vienna before nightfall, we tried to fit everything in and I am pretty certain we did. Anyone looking to travel to Bratislava, I did it in an afternoon so you will probably be able to as well.

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