Bratislava, Slovakia

Update: Went to Esztergom and Visegrad for our birthday weekends -- pretty amazing area of Hungary. Those cities are part of what is called the "Danube Bend," which is where the Danube enters Hungary from Slovakia and turns towards Budapest. 

Esztergom has the 18th largest basilica in the world and Visegrad has a castle up on a huge hill. Both overlook the Danube and both are surrounded by mountains. Great views, even though the weather was crappy for us. 

The weeks leading up to our excursion were sunny and 50's and 60's. On Thursday when we left, the weather turned cold and snowy and, as it turns out, we were lucky to even make it there because most of Budapest and western Hungary were snowed in. But, we made it and had a great weekend! 

Also, I planned a surprise birthday party for Melissa for this weekend...but then she found out yesterday. A month of planning out the window! 

Oh well, it will still be fun -- I bet we have palinka!!

On to the blog...

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or...

Hmmm, maybe we should order some wodka?

and...

http://www.hark.com/clips/vjdgvrwmpy-come-on-its-czechoslovakia

Not to belabor the point, but we really hadn't done much travelling while in Hungary. By this time last year we had been to Budapest a few times, Vienna, and then Rome. We had spent the rest of the time in our two hometowns (Sarkad and Gyula), which was fun, but the travel bug was starting to hit us. That had a lot to do with being intimidated by trying to travel -- but by March we were over that and, after Rome, immediately set our sights on our "Spring Break" trip. 

And so it was that two weeks after Rome we were on our way to the old Czechoslovakia (now, Slovakia and the Czech Republic). Now, we took the train to B'slava but we could've taken a bus or (what we really wanted to do) a boat. The boat route goes through the Danube Bend (see above), B'slava, and then to Vienna. However it is A) expensive and B) not running until May. So, a train it was. 

B'slava is a small capital city compared to others we have seen, and not a particularly special one. Side note -- Slovakia was once part of Hungary (what's new? It seems like everywhere we go used to be part of Hungary!) and the two nations DO NOT get along. But what B'slava lacks in size and charm it tries to make up for in...let's say quirkiness?!

One of many odd things to be found in B'slava

Bratislava is not very big so the train (our first international train trip -- woohoo! But, Rita did have to help us buy our train tix) dropped us off just on the outskirts of the city center and we had to walk by the B'slava "White House" on our way to (getting lost for a little bit and then finally) finding our hostel.

B'slava White House - ok, not called the White House but it's their version of it.

B'slava guards -- we did see some VIP leaving the complex with some type of pomp and circumstance, so maybe the B'slava Prez? We're just gonna go with that anyway!

I guess it might've been better if we had done these blogs right after each trip but...it's kind of fun for us to look back and think about how nervous and intimidated we were with traveling. For us, this trip was  when we really started to realize that being a little lost is all part of the fun and to just relax and enjoy it.

And so, we did -- and eventually made it to our hostel. We were only in B'slava for a day and a half...and that was plenty. We liked B'slava ok -- it has a beautiful city center like all Euro capitals -- but it's just very small. It was kind of nice though, because, unlike Rome and Budapest, we didn't have to rush around and see "this" and "that" all day. We saw everything worth seeing in about half a day and then just got to meander around for the next day.

Michael's Gate -- the gateway to B'slava Old Town (center)

And then inside the main sqaure

Generally, inside the city center, most streets are walking streets with cafes and restaurants spilling out.
Plus, the Euro Cup (soccer) was going on -- so it was pretty lively.

Here are a bunch of pictures from in and around B'slava...

I mentioned it was quirky -- not much to B'slava but they have a lot of neat/odd statues and stuff lying around...
Also, it took me a good 15 minutes or so to convince Meliss that this was not one of those "live statue" people that are everywhere. This would continue at each statue.

Yes, it's dark but the B'slavan government had to put the sign up because people kept tripping over this....

Famous lips? This was just on the street and we happened to stop to look at our map and saw it. Then, Meliss kissed them all for good luck. Weird-o. (didn't happen--Melissa)

This was a real guy -- kind of a hobo type who (according to the story), after the love of his life died, just wandered around the streets of B'slava handing out flowers to pretty girls. After his death, they erected this statue.

And the paparazzi...

Here's a picture of me taking a picture of the guy taking a picture of me.

And now, Meliss taking a picture of me, taking a picture of the guy, taking a picture of me.
You get the idea

One of those things that tells you how far away, and in what direction, other cities we have been in are.

Hey, we were just there two weeks ago

Wien is Vienna -- Paris is, well...Paris.

We say we have been to New York -- but only because we flew through there on the way to Budapest

And Prague (although we do like PrAHA! better) our next stop after B'slava

And for some reason, Lewis Carrol

The narrowest building in Slovakia (maybe Europe)

And some graffiti -- but awesome graffiti.

Outside of all the oddball stuff just hanging around the streets of B'slava, there were just a lot of small side streets to walk down...

B'slava and Prague (our next stop on this trip) both had their Easter Markets up and running during our trip. We were a little disappointed in the B'slava market.

B'slava Easter Market -- Boooo!

From the other side

Well, that's creepy as shit.

Easter straw teepee?

Lots of hand-decorated eggs

Ok, we get it. Enough already.

And Easter whips...sooooo, in B'slava it is tradition for guys to chase girls around and whip them with these  sticks. As I told Meliss, "I don't want to whip you...I HAVE TO!"
Side note: In Hungary, the men chase the women around and spray them with water and perfume -- probably should whip them a few times for good measure too, you know, just in case.

Meliss refused to let me get one as a souvenir -- buzzkill.

But, is there a nice church, castle and or bridge in B'slava, you ask? Why yes, yes there is/are.

Nice church in B'slava center

Nice bridge across the Danube

It's known as the UFO bridge -- but Meliss called it the Hamburgler.

And a nice castle

We walked up to the castle on our 2nd day to check things out and...it felt like being at a hotel....not the neatest castle, but some good pics.

Entrance

Oilerman and the Hamburgler 

Oilerman and the Slovakian flag

Me -- B'slava castle

Overview of B'slava from castle

Nice church from earlier

B'slava castle

Again, all of these (castle, bridge, church) are within a few minutes walking distance of each other so we were done fairly quickly with B'slava. That left us a lot of time to eat and drink!

According to our "Europe on a Shoestring" guidebook (thanks Michelle!) this was the place to eat.

I'd really like some sheep cheese...but regular or smoked? Ah, if I had a nickel for everytime...

This place was kind of neat, even though it was touristy. Each room was decorated in a theme from Slovakian history.

Us in Slovakia

Zlaty Bazant translates to Golden Pheasant --  I think. We can get this beer in our pizza place in Gyula and we like it. 

And now I know why!

We ate here both nights

Scorched sausage with potatoes, mustard and peppers

Not sure what any of this was -- but it was all good (for me -- a third good for Melissa)
It's bacon, sour cream, sauerkraut, dumplings and cheese curds with pasta...we think 

Oh, and as we were walking around the streets of B'slava, we came across this toy store...

But, this is what caught our eye...

Made us laugh

With nothing better to do, we popped in for a second and saw some possible souvenirs (that we didn't buy but totally thought about buying).

Assorted music box thingies

Awesome!

Honestly, all of that took about 6 hours-- spread over a day and a half. The rest of the time we just walked around aimlessly. During that time, here are some other pictures we took...

Streets of B'slava

From our hostel -- looked like the Serving Tray lady -- it wasn't.

US Embassy

Again

These folks had to walk around the square trying to give people free samples of something or other, but terrible outfits.

We were able to facetime my mom and dad from this cafe -- a family from Denmark sitting next to us heard us talking and we talked to them for about an hour or so. They were very nice and on a day trip from Vienna.

Better than a Trabant, Melissa thinks 

So, that's Bratislava -- it worked out perfect as a stop off on our trip to Prague. We got to cut a 7 hour train ride to Prague in half(ish) -- we got up early the next day to catch a bus to Prague and...well, we'll save that for the next blog.