Bratislava, Slovakia

On the flight over to Bratislava I got talking to a couple (Krisztina and Paddy aka Fazo), who split a cab with me to the main train station. From there we went for a quick beer while they waited on their train to Budapest. After parting ways Fazo gave me a general direction in which to walk, I got caught in a heavy rain shower. Soaked to the bone, walking around grey, dull, concrete, Communist high-rise flats and starting to sober up I started to get in a bit of a foul mood. Once the rain let up and I was able to check my map, I found my hostel. Tired from a long day I decided to stay around the hostel area, having a few drinks in a local bar, then returning to the hostel for a couple more, then heading to bed. As I climbed into bed, looked out the hostel window I saw Bratislava Castle, my mood picked up a bit. The next day I explored the old town, walked up to the castle, found out you can drink on the streets, walked across SNP Most (AKA The UFO Bridge), enjoyed a beer while walking along the Danube, visited a local brewery and tried all four of their beers, walked up to a war memorial, walked past the Slovak Radio Building, found “The Best Veggie Burger in Slovakia”, regretted eating “The Best Veggie Burger in Slovakia”, enjoyed a beer, walked through the old town at night with a nice beer, found a “Traditional” Slovakian Bar, had some more beer, walked back to my hostel and had some beers……essentially I drank a lot of beer. Bratislava is a cool little city. The people are friendly, the old town is beautiful, and the beer is good. On first impressions, the communist area is ugly and probably somewhere you’d want to avoid, but walking through it, the people are friendly and the area is clean and safe.