Bratislava Day One

Today was time to check out of the hotel and catch a train to Bratislava.

I ventured out early to get some breakfast from a nearly bakery, we packed our bags, and headed out. We wheeled our suitcases around past the synagogue to avoid the steps, and the army were still keeping it under guard as they had been for our entire stay.

Catching the underground was easy and we arrived at the train station with about 30 minutes before departure. Our train departure was not on the board so we didn't know what platform to find, so Helen went and asked someone. We found the platform and only had a short wait.

Considering this is a short, regional train service, the train was very clean and modern with fee WiFi that worked well. The trip was over before we knew it!

Arriving at Bratislava was a bit of a change of gear to say the least. No automated ticket machines, we had to queue to buy tickets for public transport.

The subway and lifts we used were not very nice either. We had to take a long walk to our nearest bus, which was full so getting on with suitcases was a mission,

The city at large is very plain, lots of social housing in large buildings, and not much in the way of shopping. Well at least this was first impressions.

Our bus stop was right outside the Presidential Palace, a very well presented building, and we walked one block along its wall to our hotel.

The hotel room was also very nice and included free mini bar, including beer!

I found online that there are local markets nearby, the description was that of a thriving markets, so we walked to a bus and rode there. What we found was the run down remains of a formerly thriving markets. The building was apparently architecturally designed and built in 1989 and it appears it has had no maintenance since. Most shops were closed and what few vendors were open looked pretty sad.

We passed on that and instead caught a tram back towards the Old Town.

Once off the tram we walked down a long set of steps that we vowed we would avoid walking back up again. We wandered until we we found a nice looking restaurant, and went inside for lunch. By now it was nearing 2pm and we were hungry. Thankfully the food and service were amazing, the premises warm, and we took our time leaving.

Next we wandered towards the town square. Surprise, more Christmas Markets! Although these were quite different than what we had seen in Prague and Vienna. Different food on offer, although mulled wine is very popular here too.

Helen bought herself a new wool hat with furry pompom.

Although we had eaten, we noticed a charming cafe that did coffee and cake. We decided to walk the circuit around Old Town to shake down lunch first, before having desserts.

This cafe was an institution, incredibly fancy, and had a minimum spend per person that equated to coffee and cake. Their prices were such that it's all most people can likely afford anyway!

We had hot chocolate which was incredibly rich, was almost melted chocolate in a mug, super thick. The cakes were lovely. I nearly died when we got the bill, I think we've now surpassed the previous high price of hot chocolate and cake in Piazza San Marco in Venice many years ago!

By now it was around 4:30pm, cold and dark. It seems to get darker sooner here in winter than in New Zealand, which surprises me.

We walked all the way down to the river (avoiding the steps I mentioned earlier) and caught a tram that took us back up to our Hotel.

I spent the rest of the evening catching up on blogs that brings us up to date now.