Slovakia - Bratislava

Last August we made a trip to Slovakia. We took a flight to Vienna, from where it is only about 45 minutes by car/train to reach the capital of Bratislava.

One of the main attractions of this town is the castle, perched on a hill and overlooking the town. Bratislava Castle. You can visit it for a low entrance fee (prices in Slovakia are in general on the low side, as in all the former East European countries) and it's certainly worth a tour. When we were there, the annual Crowning Procession was taking place. Bratislava is the place where many kings and emperors were crowned, and this is celebrated by a procession in traditional costume.

The procession left the castle grounds around noon and arrived at the market square in the Old Town some town later.

The Old Town is picturesque and has some beautiful old buildings, like the old Town Hall. You can easily spend some hours there, just walking around. Plenty of restaurants and bars to sit down and enjoy the local specialities. Hidden between the buildings and streets are little figurines, which are quite famous here. But you have to look well to spot them!

For those who love to visit churches, there's St. Michael's Cathedral and the Blue Church.

When staying in Bratislava, it is easy (and not expensive) to make a day trip to Vienna. Just take the hourly train in the central station and when arriving in Vienna, the underground to Stephansplatz. This brings you to the heart of the Austrian capital. Stephans Dom and the Graben.  We have been in Vienna before, but at that time the Dom was being renovated and you couldn't take a decent picture.

Another trip I can recommend is taking a boat trip on the Donau to Devin Castle (or rather the ruins of the castle). The boat brings you there, but you have to do some walking (up mountain) to reach the castle ruins. Not a hard walk though, most people can do it. Admission is nearly for free. Where the boats arrive and leave, there are also some small cafés and places where you can have something to eat (and you can do as well on the boat).

So, all in all, we enjoyed our time in Bratislava. The food was excellent and the best part was this trip didn't cost us a lot, as we were able to switch Hilton Honor points to have five free nights in the hotel. This Doubletree hotel was situated near the Ice Rink, and from there it was easy to take a tram into the town center.