Bratislava

 Today, we took a day trip to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. We had thought about a day trip to Salzburg or Budapest but both of these cities are 2.5 hours away. Bratislava is only 1 hour from Vienna (which makes them the closest European capitals) so we chose that and we are very glad we did.

It was an early start but a really smooth coach ride to Bratislava. Once we got there, our guide Ivan took us around the city and told us so much about the history of the city. It was really informative. Once we were finished with Ivan, we were free to enjoy the city at our own pace.

We started with coffee at the Konditorei Kormuth.  This is a coffee shop decorated in the style of the 18th century. It is beautiful. You get your tea or coffee in decorated china and the cakes are absolutely delicious.

Next, we headed up to UFO. This is a huge tower which straddles the Danube River. At the top, there is an observation deck and a restaurant (our guide steered us away from eating there because of the prices). The view from the top was spectacular.

After UFO, we had to go to Bratislava Castle which overlooks the whole city. As much as we  said we were done with steps, in order to get to the castle we had to walk up a lot more ****ing steps. It was worth it. The castle is currently used for government offices so the main purpose of our visit is to walk around the circumference of the castle and admire the view. It was hard work getting up there but it was worth it.

Our physical effort warmed us up for lunch. There are so many lovely restaurants around the old city of Bratislava. We had a lovely meal even if the wine pours were a bit measly!

Next stop was the Blue Church of Bratislava which is a very unusual church coloured inside and out in a baby blue. I would love to actually go to Mass in this church. It is really adorable. There was a lovely park near the church. We sat down and relaxed for ages in the lovely cool greenery next to a fountain listening to a group of older Slovakians who gathered in the park to chat on a Sunday afternoon.

We travelled back to Vienna by boat. It was a lovely trip along the Danube. We were watching the sun set in the west as we travelled which made me think about the Slovakian people during the Communist era. Did they look down the Danube watching the sun set and thinking about the Western world out there?