Country Hopping

After Budapest I caught a 3 hour bus to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava.

I planned to only spend one day in Bratislava, one day in Vienna before heading up to Krakow in Poland, so I had to get my act together as soon as I arrived.

I jumped off the bus and had a short walk to the hostel. Checking in I was loaded up with information about what to see and do in Bratislava after explaining I only had a short time there - the staff at Hostel Blues were fantastic!

I headed out on my own self-guided walking tour to check out the sights. Bratislava has an old town centre where no cars are permitted; the streets are lined with old buildings, tiled roads, boutique shops and cafes.. I thought it was really cool!

 I made it to the old town square..

before stopping by St Martin's Cathedral...

and heading up the hill to the Hrad Castle. 

The castle offered a great view of the Danube below and of the city and cathedral. However, I must admit most of the architecture in Bratislava is somewhat bland compared to Budapest and other cities in Eastern Europe. Flat façades on buildings, seemingly just lacking the passion and detail other cities' buildings seem to have.

I rounded up my tour checking out the Slovak National Threatre before heading off to grab a bite to eat from a restaurant recommended by the hostel.

I headed to a place originally named Slovak Pub, serving the must-try Slovakian dishes.

I ordered both a cabbage soup and their version of potato dumpings, pictured below. Both dishes were very very tasty - much better than what I'd eaten in Budapest! - and quite unlike anything I'd tried before.

I retired for the night, having an 8am bus to catch the next morning for my next stop, Vienna in Austria. 

The bus I booked online didn't show exactly where I was meant to catch it from. I asked at the hostel based on my ticket and she advised it was at the main train station. I caught a city bus there and asked around at the station if they knew where the bus might leave from. "Train station ... only train!" the woman replied...

I walked around trying to look for some indication for where the bus was going to stop. No luck. I managed to find wifi and googled it. I found out it was a good kilometre and a half from where I was, and the bus was coming in 15 minutes. I ended up having to run to make sure I didn't miss it. A bus marked with the right bus company stopped about where the map showed at 8:05. Wrong bus the driver said, other side of the road! I climbed as fast as I could the overpass bridge and ran down to the stop as a bus rocked up. It was my bus, made it, breathing a sigh of relief. 

On my last night in Budapest I mistakenly slept with my contacts in and managed to get an eye infection - red sore eye, blurred vision, sensitivity to light... My eye's were sore in Bratislava but it was overcast so not too bad getting around. My day in Vienna my eyes were more sore and the sun was out - I couldn't see a thing without pain.

Unfortunately I ended up spending the entire day in bed in Vienna - having my eyes closed was the most comfortable way to be! 

I did enjoy Bratislava and it is only an hour from Vienna - I will go back to both and spend a little more time in the future, some time!