When I had originally booked a place to stay in Slovakia, I figured 6 days in the capital would be sufficient to get a feel for the city. Not even a week into the whole trip however, more than one person advised that 6 days would be far too long, so I cut it down to 2 days. So when I left Prague, which I LOVED, I was a little worried that Bratislava would be disappointing. But before even setting foot in the country, I had the surprise of my life: Adam and Becky, two awesome people that I know from university, were on the same train as me from Prague! At this point, they were about 3 weeks into a month-long trip that started in Paris. They were just in town for one night so we of course made plans to meet for drinks later on.
It seems that everytime I check in to a new place, my first 2 questions are "What is the wifi password?" and "Where's the nearest grocery store?" After covering the basics, I set off to find the Bratislava castle (starting to be a prominent trend in most of the European cities I've visted so far).
I met Becky and Adam at their hostel that evening, and we were soon joined by a group from Ireland that included a Ron Weasley doppelganger. Sadly, in all our excitement, we didn't get a photo with or of him. We then went out to find a Slovakian pub and sampled some Slovakian culture. The next best discovery of the day was that Becky and Adam's next destination was Budapest, which was mine too! We planned to meet up a few days later and go to Hungary's famous hot spring baths.
The next day I explored the town partially on my own, then also tagged along with Luis from Colombia, who I met at my hostel, on a free tour of Bratislava that he had found. These are always really great because the tour guides give a very animated overview of the history of the country without sounding like a textbook.
Although not known to be a 'pretty' city, probably because of its small size, I found it to be really interesting to explore. It has all kinds of quirks, like a statue coming out of a hole in the ground, and a pale blue church.
For dinner that night I wanted to try something traditionally Slovak. I had read about a dish called bryndzové halušky, which consists of small potato dumplings that are similar to gnocchi, in a sauce of sheep cheese, then topped with bacon. The restaurant attached to my hostel had this on their menu, and so I had to try it out:
It might not look all that appetizing but it was incredible. I would go back to Slovakia just for this.
Later that evening, a group of friends that were staying in my room invited me out with them. 4 of them, Chelsey, Lee, Sarah and Abby, were from the US, and Marsi was from Greece. They are all living in Budapest and were just doing a week-long trip together (or maybe just weekend, I forget). Anyway, they gave me loads of suggestions for things to see in Budapest, so it looks like I'll have plenty to do, and hopefully some more company!
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