Trip to Slovakia

16.8.19
From Budapest, our next journey was to Slovakia, a landlocked country in Central Europe which used to be a part of Czechoslovakia. It was a 2-hour long drive to Bratislava, the capital and largest city of the nation.

Since dusk was falling rapidly by the time we had arrived, we did not have much time to visit any monuments, so we enjoyed the pool facilities at the hotel and grabbed dinner from a nearby restaurant.


17.8.19
Waking up early in the morning, we went to a nearby cafe for breakfast.

Outside the cafe

The first place we visited that morning was the Bratislava Castle. It was built in the 9th century and  has been modified many times, this 4 towered castle sits perched on a hill overlooking the Danube River.

The Bratislava Castle

View from the castle


From the castle, we went to the Old Town Hall which is a complex of buildings from the 14th century in the old town of Bratislava.

Old Town Hall


We walked around the old town which is charming, walkable and full of quirky statues to surprise you around each corner. I really admired the nice mix of wide pedestrian streets as well as narrow, little cobbled lanes.

A narrow lane in the old city


While strolling around we also came across, the Michael's Gate which is the only city gate that has been preserved by the city.

Michael's Gate


From the old town, we went to the Presidential Palace, which as the name suggests is the residence of the Slovak President.

The Presidential Palace

Our next destination was the Devin Castle which was 10 kilometers away from the main city. The castle sits in ruins, however, we could wander along the medieval walls, climb up to a viewing point and also checked out an exhibition cave. The views from the top of the castle are pretty impressive. The castle sits at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, so we could see Austria across the river and in the distance, Hungary too. We also saw the ruins of the Iron Curtain that divided the Communist countries from the western countries after World War II.


The view from the castle




Remains of the Iron Curtain


Next, we went to the Blue Church, a church the is popular for being blue in color! This church (whose real name is the Church of St. Elizabeth) is designed in the art nouveau style with lots of decorations.

The Blue Church


18.8.19
Early morning today we left for Brno, a city in the Czech Republic.






Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

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