1,865 kilometres from home...
Wednesday 22 March 2017, 6pm, 5 girls trying to find a plan for the weekend. We've seen enough of Poland, so why not visit abroad? In less than an hour, we decided to prepare a trip to Bratislava and Vienna. We booked two nights in a hostel and off we went. As always, we like improvised plans: )
And no, Patricia couldn't sleep for an hour and arrived in Vienna at 4:55 with a zombie-like face and a body in tatters from the bus. From Vienna, we changed stations and took another bus at 6:00 in the morning to Bratislava.
We spent about 11 hours in the capital of Slovakia, but the truth is that it was enough to get to know its historic centre and a few other things. If you go for a full day you will have plenty of time to enjoy what there is to see in Bratislava.
I am going to summarise in parts everything that we had time to visit during the day:
St. Michael's Gate
This is one of the four gates that gave access to medieval Bratislava, and the only one that remains. It dates back to the 14th century and was part of the wall that surrounded the city.
Hlavne Namestie Square
This is the main square of Bratislava and is located in the historic centre. It is a very lively square, with a few cafes and terraces, the statue of Napoleon is on one side of the square, as well as the Old Town Hall.
Old Town Hall
Next to the Hlavne Namestie is the Old Town Hall building, which looks like nothing much from the outside. If you go inside, you will be able to see its central courtyard, which is not very big but quite nice and quiet. It houses the oldest museum in the capital.
This peculiar church is a bit far from the historic centre of Bratislava, but don't suffer, because in less than 10 minutes, you can reach this curious Art Nouveau structure, built in the first decade of the 20th century.
Grassalkovich Palace
The palace was restored in 1990 and has been the residence of the President of Slovakia since 1996. It is located on Hodžovo námestie square. In this rococo palace, the composer Joseph Haydn premiered some of his works. We were lucky and got to see the Changing of the Guard.
The building that now towers over the town is a reconstruction that was completed in 1968, as the original castle (built in the 15th century) was devastated by fire in 1811. The castle is now the Slovak National Museum.
And you, would you go to the capital of Slovakia?
See you soon!
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