Hi everyone! It's a Wednesday which means it's time for a new blog post. Today I will be recapping our trip to Slovakia! After arriving in Budapest on Thursday, July 28th, Dan and I took the next few days to explore and sight see in our new beautiful home. Our work training was set to start on Thursday, August 4th so we had some time to do so. On that Monday, August 1st, we planned a very last minute getaway to Bratislava, Slovakia. One of our biggest goals for this school year is to do as much possible around Europe as we can. We had heard how close Bratislava is to Budapest and once we looked into it, it seemed like the perfect first opportunity to travel out of Hungary.
With that being said, after less than a week of when we first arrived to Hungary, we left for a quick one night trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. We found our tickets on RegioJet which is a travel company with trains and busses that usually is on the cheaper end. We assumed that we bought train tickets so we showed up to the station we were leaving from an hour early. Good thing we showed up early because it took us almost every minute of that hour to find our departure point! After asking 5+ workers and running around the Kelenfold Station, we found our BUS (it ended up being not a train) with only 5 minutes left before departure. We were hot and sweaty but so happy that we made it on the bus! We left around 11am and the total travel time was just over two hours.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the journey there but the bus ride was very comfortable with cool AC and plenty of space. Once we arrived in Bratislava, we had an hour or so before we could check into our AirBnB. The station we arrived at was a short walk away from the Old Town area we were staying in and wanted to spend most of our time in. We walked over in that direction making a stop at the Blue Church which was absolutely stunning.
After taking in the beauty of the Blue Church, we found a restaurant with traditional Slovakian food. Dan ordered the typical Slovak national food consisting of sheep cheese gnocchi with bacon. I ordered the same sans bacon. It was delicious and made me think of my mom who is a big fan of both goat cheese and gnocchi so I'm sure she would love this traditional dish!
After finishing our lunch, it was time to check into our AirBnB which was about a 5 minute walk from the restaurant located very centrally in the Old Town of Bratislava. Our AirBnB was absolutely lovely! It was very affordable, very spacious, nicely decorated, and felt very safe. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures again but I will link it here. It was the perfect stay for the two of us.
After checking in and leaving our backpacks behind, we set out to do some exploring. We walked around the Old Town streets and town squares. It felt like stepped right into a storybook. I loved the grand, historic buildings, cafes, souvenir shops, and tons of gelato shops.
Next, we made our way to the Presidential Palace.
Afterwards, we walked to the Bratislava Castle. This was one of the top attractions we wanted to see in Bratislava. It was gorgeous and had plenty of grounds for us to explore.
Once we were done at the castle, we stopped at a cafe for some coffee. After the cafe, we went back to the AirBnB to freshen up before heading out for dinner.
Later in the night, we came across the beautiful St. Martin's Cathedral.
Another attraction we planned to go to is the UFO Tower which is a flying saucer-shaped tower that offers a panoramic view of the city. We went after sunset for a view of the city at night and it did not disappoint. I would highly recommend this experience unless you are afraid of heights...
On our way back, we stopped at a bar for some drinks and found our friend in the manhole again!
The following morning, we walked to the World War II memorial and cemetery of almost 7,000 Soviet soldiers who fell while liberating the city in April 1945.
After spending sometime at the monument, we walked to the bus station to wait for our 1pm departure. Overall, our experience in Bratislava, Slovakia was amazing and I'm so happy we went. For those thinking of visiting, consider the sights I mentioned in this blog post. We were very pleased with everything we saw and thought a one night stay was a perfect amount of time. Thank you so much for reading this post! I hope you have a fantastic rest of your week.
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