Bratislava; The Forgotten City

Our next two stops were only brief, spending four days split between Bratislava and Vienna and, for such a short amount of time, the impression left from each city was lasting. As Anthony had already visited both places, he led the way as myself and Tom followed but, as we soon discovered, you'd have a hard time getting lost in Bratislava.

The capital itself is tiny and is scattered with beautifully quaint squares dotted around the Old Town, often occupied by mini concert stages, street performers, bizarre statues, market stalls and a variety of different cafes and restaurants. We took a leisurely stroll through the cobbled streets and ancient gates to Bratislava Castle, the centrepiece of the city, that offered spectacular views of the medieval town and the wide, powerful Danube that runs along parallel to it. The castle itself was very impressive, with four large and immaculately clean walls painted pure white, becoming almost blinding in the searing sunshine; with four raised turrets tipped with terracotta roofs on each corner of the city's iconic landmark. It is Slovakia's most recognisable structure and, although it's legend and history is half a millennium old, it stands today as a replica, reconstructed in the 1950's after a devastating fire two hundred years ago. We explored the building, wondered the expansive grounds and relaxed on the fortresses' defensive walls that presented the aforementioned views of the river; and of Novy Most (translated as New Bridge), an intriguing, bizarre and incredibly unique structure that spanned the Danube.

Bratislava Castle

It's a massive 'cable- stayed' bridge, and has two concrete columns rising on either side of the road, adjoined at the top by a UFO shaped, glass walled building that serves as a restaurant/ viewpoint. Despite it's curious design, there is little to admire about Novy Most. The bridge's construction began in controversy, requiring the demolition of the entire Jewish quarter adjacent to the castle. It's made from ugly, bland material in the Brutalist architectural style synonymous with communist Russia, and has rather unnerving resemblance to one of the deadly Martian ships from War of the Worlds! We crossed the concrete alien on its pedestrianised tier to the opposite side of the Danube to look around the less travelled riverbank, which was full of local families and tourists relaxing and enjoying the sunshine on the grassy open spaces and artificial beaches adjacent to the river front.

Novy Most

One of Bratislava's most attractive qualities is its leisurely and relaxing pace that it's inhabitants  seemed to adopt; emphasised, no doubt, by visiting so many crowded and popular tourist destinations already on our trip. One of the nicest spots in Bratislava was a long, open boulevard in the Old Town that ran one street parallel to the river. Completely pedestrianised, it was decorated with colourful flowers and rows of continuous trees either side of the wide, cobbled pathway. It was also host to an outdoor photographic exhibition that had captured commonplace moments of everyday life from Middle Eastern places (e.g. Israel, Lebanon & Jordan). The spectacular, blown up photo prints encompassed perfectly an expansive array of human emotion; from grieving mothers, pensive rabbis, off duty soldiers relaxing and the innocence of children playing football on make shift pitches. Moving along the path, and flanked by the trees like a guard of honour, we explored craft market stalls, massive 10ft pieces of unorthodox public art sculptures and, eventually, we conceded to the searing heat of the sun and retreated to a shade covered bench. It became even too hot to move, so we were content to idly people-watch, only for a local singing show to start performing on a raised, wooden pavilion not even 20ft away. As pleasant as it was unexpected, there was an eclectic mix of voices and songs, both in English and Slovak, and was accompanied by plenty of crowd entertainment with a genial family atmosphere. 

Boulevard 

Bratislava is a remarkable place by night, abundant with simplistic, old fashioned bars and restaurants with hearty food and great beer. One particular tavern we frequented the most was conveniently situated next door to our hostel, and gives an apt illustration of a typical Bratislavan pub. The place itself was dimly lit, with the yellow glare of the lights struggling to pierce the thick ploom of cigarette smoke, suspended in the air like a Dickensian mist. We stuck out like a highlighted sentence on black and white text and seemed to be the only ones without thick facial hair, tattoos, piercings or a cigarette in our mouths. We were like characters in a Tolkien novel, sitting on heavy, stained wooden furniture, consuming dark beer served in hefty glass tankards, and enjoying the buzz of friendly chatter, interrupted only by the latest toast and the resulting smashing together of glasses. Our company that night was large and amicable. We started with meeting two fellow travelling Brits from our hostel, Sarah & Grace, and befriended a group of pleasant Bratislavans soon after. A mini bar crawl inevitably ensued and set the tone for a great evening, with the exception of some particularly angry Slovak bar staff in one of the latter pubs! 

It is a place anonymous to most prior to visiting, and is constantly in the shadow of its affluent, prodigious next door neighbour, Vienna; but you soon discover it is more than just another place visited or convenient stopover. It is a fantastic place in its own right and provided some of the most unique and pleasant experiences on our trip so far.