Brat Packing

Saturday 9th April

As a child there was nothing more exciting than waking up in the middle of the night, jumping in the car half asleep and heading off on holidays. As an adult the experience is somewhat different. First of all, you have to wake yourself up. This morning I set alarms on my phone, tablet and Fitbit. I had complete confidence in my technological sidekicks but apparently Rory didn’t because he felt the need to wake me up every five minutes to ask what time it was. My eight year old self could hardly wait for the long drive to begin, even if it meant being sandwiched between two siblings who never fully appreciated the term “personal space”. Fast forward eighteen years and I wasn’t just as keen to jump in the car next to Rory but the promise of a McDonalds breakfast lured me out of bed and in no time we were on our way to Stansted.

We breezed through security, boarded the flight, fell asleep in uncomfortable positions and finally arrived in Bratislava. Despite being world travellers (sort of) we didn’t fancy navigating the Slovakian transport system so we headed straight for the Taxi rank and ten minutes later we checked in to our hotel. Location wise you couldn’t do much better. We’re in the heart of the Old Town and the room’s not too shabby either! 

After a quick outfit change we were on our way to the first stop of the day; Trinitarian Church. What can I tell you about the church? Absolutely nothing. Full disclosure, I don’t know anything about Bratislava or its many churches. I do know that there’s an Old Town and a Castle so we walked through that old town in search of the castle. 

We came across St Martin’s Cathedral which was absolutely massive and definitely worth a visit. After a few detours (that’s me politely saying that Rory got us lost) we made it to the Castle and spent a few hours walking around. We even climbed to the top of the castle. I would have sang "I'm the King of the castle" and all that but by the time we'd  scaled the many stairs I could hardly breathe never mind sing! In terms of history the castle has plenty and while I was really enjoying having a nosey, I won’t lie, I didn’t delve much deeper in to Slovakian history than looking at a few things and thinking “that’s cool”. 

We continued our Slovakian adventure by setting off in search of the Church of St Elizabeth, or as its more commonly know, the Blue Church. Before we found this dazzling blue beauty, we came across the Slovak National Theatre and the Slovak Philharmonic, both impressive buildings that compliment the cobbled streets of Bratislava. Eventually we found the Blue Church, which was, very blue. Unfortunately we couldn’t go outside as there was a wedding taking place but it was still a sight to see.

We had managed to fit quite a lot in to our first day in the city and with my McDonalds breakfast seeming like a distant memory we set off in search of some food. We were tempted by “Slovak Pub” but decided against it and instead went to Prasna Basta, a traditional restaurant located in a cellar just a few meters away from our hotel. Naturally I ordered a steak and once again Europe lived up to the hype – I don’t care what any American Cowboy says, the steaks in Europe are the best in the world. Cooked to perfection, nice and pink with an amazing sauce and sides it was well worth the 18euro Rory paid. You can’t put a price on happiness but if you’re going to try a steak is definitely the way to guarantee mine! In fact, this put me in such a good mood that I didn’t even mind when Rory broke the toilet. There’s nothing quite as luxurious as flushing your toilet with a bucket of tap water each and every time.

Our first day in Bratislava has been busy and despite not knowing anything about the place, it has exceeded my expectations. It’s not as quaint as Salzburg and there are certainly parts of the town that are in dire need of some TLC but I think that adds to its charm. Where else can you see beautiful historic buildings sandwiched between Soviet style apartment blocks? Sure the grafitti can be a bit of an eyesore but there’s something quite beautiful about the shabby old buildings and their peeling paint.