ARCHITECTURE + AIRBORNE European Travels: BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA

After our trip to Budapest, we headed to Bratislava, Slovakia. The train ride was comfortable and it only took a few hours, so it was a nice ride. We arrived later in the day and walked from the train station to our hotel [Ibis Bratislava Centrum]. The hotel was in the perfect location and it was a quick walk to the castle and the downtown.

We woke up early the next morning to see some sights that we knew would not be on our tour. We headed towards the Slovenský Rozhlas radio broadcasting building. It is an inverted pyramid and is quite interesting to look at. It was built during the socialist years, before Czechoslovakia split up. We walked around the area and found a few other sights to see and then headed to our tour meeting point. We used Be Free tours and they did a great job. The girl that we had told us a lot of local stories and traditions which was great [apparently, an Easter tradition is for the men to throw ice water on a girl that they like! They also get to hit their crushes with sticks. Very romantic]. She also said that due to the movie "Hostel" their tourism dropped 75%!! Bratislava is nothing like it is portrayed in the movie, and I think that she said that most was not even filmed in Slovakia.

Outside of a school. The parking area was filled with this writing

A park. Not very welcoming, but people walk there dogs there.

The tour lasted several hours and we were able to grab lunch at a recommended spot. The food was delicious, but I do love all potato based foods.

We were able to do some exploring of our own and after a long day, found a few nice places to sit and relax. The city is small but beautiful. It is filled with cobblestone streets and quaint areas to relax. It is a mix of old, new and communist style architecture, which leads to something new at every turn.