This past weekend Scott, his friend from Toronto and I went on a mini adventure to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Formerly part of Czechoslovakia we were expecting strong signs of communism and the deep recession. We prepared ourselves for the fact that it would not be super touristy and that it may not be that “pretty”. Allison had told me that no one spoke English and that we would likely have to fend for ourselves (which ended up to be very true). When we pulled up to the city on the train we got the shock we expected. Leading up to the train station there were many shacks (literally smaller than the average garden shed at home). By no means would these shacks be considered livable by Canadian standards. As we got closer to the inner part of the city the conditions improved – so we knew the city was at least walkable.
We decided to drop our backpacks off at our hostel. It was the craziest building you have ever seen. I can not even describe it so I will just leave a picture on the website. Obviously an artist was cut loose and went crazy. From there they directed us to the downtown core of the city.
Our 15 minute walk from the hotel to the downtown core made us all question what we planned on doing for 2 days. The streets were people-less and there was nothing to see – good or bad. But, eventually we made it to the downtown centre and the environment completely changed. It was amazing how apparent the boundaries were between old Bratislava and the areas that were developed during the communist era. The downtown was beautiful. The old buildings and cobblestone streets were quaint, and new trendy restaurants/bars had set up shop. I was quite surprised that such beauty would exist in Bratislava. On one side of the river there was the old city centre, but on the other side there were row upon row of ugly, identical communist apartments for as far as you could see. It was a truly unbelievable contrast.
After a traditional Slovakian lunch, our first stop was a beautiful, large medieval castle. It had been restored and inside there was a national museum. It had some really random collections and less sophisticated exhibits, but to be expected from a country that is just starting to develop a tourist industry. For the rest of the afternoon we decided to just wander around downtown.
Later that evening I went to one of the coolest drink spots I have been in and sat in on of the most amazing bathrooms I think I will ever sit in….all in Bratislava of all places! Haha Built on top of on of the main bridges there is a tower equivalent to that of the Calgary or CN tower. Originally we just planned to go up to the observation deck, but once we saw the interior we knew we had to spend some time there. It was decorated in an over the top modern design scheme, but so much so that it was beautiful. The drinks were all perfectly mixed and presented in a way that they looked like art. And then there was the bathroom; clearly a highlight of my visit. You went into your toilet room and from floor to ceiling it was glass. So, while sitting on the toilet you had a spectacular view of Bratislava at night. At first it felt weird to go the bathroom with a huge window in front of you, but then one realizes that you are many metres of the ground so there is no one to look in on you. Very cool!
On the way home to go to bed, the guy visiting from Toronto decided he needed to go into this high end casino to play some black jack and roulette. I watched the guys play black jack and then had a nice chat with their dealers because they both spoke some English and one had visited Vancouver. After a long time playing black jack the guys decided to switch gears to roulette. At that point I think there were pretty much even with what they started with. Then they asked me what number I thought they should play. I picked 9 out of the blue, and it just so happened that the wheel hit 9 and they increased their winnings exponentially. But, I have decided that roulette is the root of gambling addictions. There is no strategy, no thought, just straight up luck. It was terrible to watch two guys at the next table lose 250,000 Slovakian dollars within 2 minutes. CRAZY.
The next day we went to some really neat museums and churches. I knew I was traveling with boys when we did not stop at the historic chocolate café. In fact, I don’t think they even realized we passed it. Had I been traveling with girls, I think all of our chocoholic radar would have gone off. We could not do much else on Sunday, because literally the whole town was closed. Nothing was open. There we were on an adventure in Eastern Europe and we had to eat lunch at McDonald’s because it was honestly the ONLY thing opened. In E. Europe McDonald’s is the cool place to be seen and considered a high end meal – although decorated much nicer than at home …to me McDonald’s is McDonald’s. It was just part of the Bratislava experience.
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