I should have learned my lesson about taking travel advice from my colleagues when they told me not to go to Dresden because it's ugly (wrong) and there's nothing to see or do (also wrong).
Bratislava is also on their hit list. They say it's not worth visiting because it's small and decrepit and there's nothing to do except sit by the river and drink cheap beer. And I made the mistake of listening to them. Again.
Bratislava is the closest capital city to Vienna - just 90 minutes by train - and one of the four national capitals that the Danube flows through. It has less than a third of the population of Vienna, so I suppose you could say it's small (though it's still 60% larger than Buffalo). Maybe it's a little decrepit around the edges, like all the cities I have seen in Eastern Europe. But the kind of decrepit that looks like it belongs in a painting, not the kind that makes you regret being 9 years overdue for your tetanus booster.
And boring? Nothing to do but sit around and drink beer? Let me present you with photographic evidence of just how boring Bratislava is. Please observe:
The back entrance to St. Martin's Cathedral and one of the most deliciously crumbled walls I have ever seen. Like a fine apple crumble, that wall is. Works of Van Gogh are painted onto the boarded-up windows.
Bratislava is also on their hit list. They say it's not worth visiting because it's small and decrepit and there's nothing to do except sit by the river and drink cheap beer. And I made the mistake of listening to them. Again.
Bratislava is the closest capital city to Vienna - just 90 minutes by train - and one of the four national capitals that the Danube flows through. It has less than a third of the population of Vienna, so I suppose you could say it's small (though it's still 60% larger than Buffalo). Maybe it's a little decrepit around the edges, like all the cities I have seen in Eastern Europe. But the kind of decrepit that looks like it belongs in a painting, not the kind that makes you regret being 9 years overdue for your tetanus booster.
And boring? Nothing to do but sit around and drink beer? Let me present you with photographic evidence of just how boring Bratislava is. Please observe:
The back entrance to St. Martin's Cathedral and one of the most deliciously crumbled walls I have ever seen. Like a fine apple crumble, that wall is. Works of Van Gogh are painted onto the boarded-up windows.
I happened to visit the day of their artisan festival, which meant that the long, pedestrian-only street was lined with potters, woodworkers, and blacksmiths selling their wares. Partway along, there was a big stage area where various groups were performing traditional music and dance. Later, I found the weavers and stitchers in a courtyard behind the Old Town Hall.
I bought myself a little pottery bell tower from one of the stalls. White walls with a rust-coloured roof, just like the the towers at Bratislava castle. I walked up to the castle later in the day, taking the route over the Medieval city walls. My personal belief is that no city with a castle (or even a pile of rubble that used to be a castle) can be boring. This is what my colleagues who grew up in castle country do not understand. Until I finally came face-to-face with one at the age of 17, castles, like elves, dragons, recess, and bubbling cauldrons, existed only in fairy tales for me.
Back on the main pedestrian street, I saw something I don't believe I've ever seen before: a free open-air library. I also came upon a reading area with little cushions and shelves full of children's books in the park, beside a playground.
In late afternoon, I paid a visit to the ice cream shop before heading up to the station to catch my train home. The ticket lady spoke to me in English, since I don't speak Slovak and she didn't speak German (the first language I tried - I thought that was interesting).
Next time, I will hike up to the ruins of Hrad Devín, because where there are ruins, I must go. Then maybe I'll ask my spoiled-rotten colleagues to write out a list of other nearby locations that they recommend I avoid, so that I can lap them all up, one by one.