Stopping By Slovakia
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2012
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60
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Trip End
Jun 05, 2012
Bratislava, Bratislavský, Slovakia
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
If you pay attention, you actually will notice when you cross the border into Slovakia as the street names turn from German to Slovak. As the fields and woods pass by, the city of Bratislava appears out of nowhere. The bus station is about 15 minutes from the old city, and on our way, my new friend from Brazil and I randomly met another girl from Brazil who had just arrived in Bratislava. The world is just that small because they actually have a friend in common! Sounds familiar, as I had the same thing happen in Venice =) We ended up spending a great afternoon together exploring the city.
First order of business after finding her hostel, LUNCH! And what a lunch, by no means gourmet, we went to the Slovak Pub and had potato dumplings. Unlike Asian dumplings, you can eat hundreds of Slovak dumplings because they are really small! With a Slovak goat cheese sauce, this was super delicious, and if you don't eat meat, you can get it without meat. Basic, but good. Also tried the Slovak version of cola, it's a bit gingery with another taste, not quite cherry, but I can't quite decide what it is. We then wandered into the Old City where it's extremely clean and not crowded with tourists at all. We took some fun photos with the statues, I would suggest looking for these statues if you're ever here. I'm not sure what the story is behind the statues as the shop owner I asked said they're just statues. More fun for us than the locals.
Up to the castle we went. Unfortunately it was closed due to reconstruction, but we had great views of the city. Catching a glimpse of the UFO shaped revolving restaurant over the new bridge and the line of apartment buildings that are super geometric across the river. We ended up seeing quite a bit without realizing it such as Roland's Fountain, Michael's Gate and Laurin's Gate.
Near the end of our day, we came across groups of people with free hugs signs, written in Slovak of course =) After figuring it out, it was hugs all around. Time ended too fast as we said goodbye to our new friend (but we will see her later in Budapest) and Bratislava, and boarded a bus back to Vienna.
