I made it to the hostel about 20 minutes later where to my relief and gratitude I was told my bed was free so I could check right in. So by 6:30 I was in my boxers and tank top and drifted off.
I woke up a few hours later to the sounds of rain, and leisurely got myself ready for what I had already pegged as a day off from serious exploration. After a consult with the front desk I went to a local restaurant down the street, indulging in a local brew and some Wiener schnitzel. I then made my way back to the hostel for the traveler's reality of laundry, which took up the majority of my afternoon.
That evening I signed up for a cooking class run by the hostel, where I met some fellow traveling companions and learned how to make a local favorite; cottage cheese dumplings. Honestly the food wasn't something I'll be making obsessively back at home, but it was tasty enough. Afterwards a lovely little Malaysian girl and I walked through town and took a hike up the the fortress, where we took some photos of the view at sunset.
Distance to the world's major cities. NY was the closest I could get to home.
Ice cream shop decorations.
View of the "new" city from old town.
Not much sunset because of the trees and building blocking the way.
We made our way out that evening to some local bars, meeting a couple Ukranian fellows who informed me in no uncertain terms that their home country isn't worth the trouble to visit, in their unsolicited opinion.
(Whatever, I still plan to go someday).
The next morning I opted for the free walking tour, where I wandered around with Dylan, an eerie doppelgänger of a friend from high school, and learned about Slovak history.
One of two statues in Brarislava that everyone poses by.
I don't know what's going on here but it made me laugh.
This reminds me of The Origin of Love.
Women watching their men leave for war.
The blue church. Aptly named.
Did you know that after the movies "Hostel" and "Eurotrip" came out tourism in the country dropped by something like 30%?
Way to go, Hollywood.
For the record, neither of those movies were filmed in Slovakia. At all. "Hostel" was filed in Hungary, and it's a terrible excuse for a movie that a college friend made me watch years ago. I will never ever ever get some of those images out of my head, but honestly I didn't even put together that it was supposed to depict Slovakia until the tour guide mentioned it. And boy, were the Slovaks pissed off about their country's representation in those movies.
Apparently they invited the director of "Hostel" to visit Bratislava, in the hopes that he might issue some sort of statement to the effect of "sorry my movie sucked but this place really isn't so terrible, my bad." Unfortunately it never materialized.
For the record, Slovakia is awesome, and to not visit based on the representation of a b-rate movie is pretty lame.
After the tour I went to a local place recommended by the tour guide, where I tried a couple local favorites; garlic soup and potato dumplings with local sheep cheese and bacon.
Oh holy hell.
It was great. I could literally feel my arteries clogging, but it was worth any resulting health conditions.
My last day in Bratislava I wandered aimlessly, having a burger for lunch and polishing off the afternoon with a couple cocktails from the most hipster bar/coffeehouse in Slovakia. The drink of choice was something called a "Basil Honey," combining vodka, fresh basil, lime juice, and honey in a martini glass. It was one of the best drinks I've ever had and I'll admit I went for two, even when I probably could have stopped after one. But I'm on vacation, right? (As a side note, when can I stop pulling the "I'm on vacation" card?)
I spent a quiet evening in the hostel, where I made the aquaintance of a guy from Mexico who was clearly questioning my sanity when I told him how long I'd been traveling (this is becoming more common the longer I go). For the record, no, I am not "running away" from anything. I didn't get a nasty divorce, or suffer a devastating loss. I just want to travel. Just because I take the path less traveled (literally) doesn't mean I have some harrowing backstory.
Sorry, that question just rankles me. He meant well, and was perfectly nice, but seriously folks, it's a cheeky question.
It's a big world out there and frankly I think we'd all be a bit better off if we saw more of it.
Which brings us to Slovenia, one of my favorite countries to date. From Bratislava I took a bus to Budapest for round two, then the charming eight hour train journey (I swear I could have walked there faster) to Lubljiana. But, next time.
Thanks as always for reading my random ramblings!
~Swan
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