On My Own in Bratislava (Day #1 Slovakia)

Day 1 in Slovakia, day 2 traveling.  After my lovely night in Budapest, I moved onward to Bratislava.  Originally, I was planning on taking the 9:30 train; but after a late night of talking with some other travelers at the hostel, I changed plans and took the next train at 11:30 am.  This had me arriving in Bratislava around 2 pm.

The train station is fairly old, but with good English signs.  Except for the information point, where the lady informed me that I could buy a map at a store in the center and merely pointed toward the correct tram #93.  With this limited information and no map, I boarded a tram towards the historical city center.  Unfortunately, this meant I had no idea which stop to disembark at.

The Mirror Room

Like all good travelers, I found my way and began wandering through the old town center without a map or plan.  I stumbled into the seat of the Bratislava mayor, which is located in a former palace of the Catholic Church.  The sign was advertising a Japanese cultural exhibition, so I started to wander in.  Unfortunately, all the cultural activities were done for the day, but I could still wander through the palace exhibits.

Hanging out in the hallway.
I'm waaaaaaaay in the back!

The palace had a TON of mirrors, one of the rooms inside is infamous for its mirrors and aptly named “Mirror Room”.  The halls of the palace are still decorated with a number of impressive paintings.  I also enjoyed seeing St. Ladislav’s chapel, which was constructed a looooong time ago although the viewing was through a glass window from above the altar.  However, my favorite part of this palace were the gigantic mirrors on either side of the long hallway.  This led to some creative picture taking, and one of my favorite Detroit City Football Club pictures to date.

Showing some love for DCFC

After the palace, I wandered into the City History Museum.  Usually, I prefer museums about national history, but without a map I couldn’t be too picky.  As luck would have it, the museum focused mostly on the culture and history of Slovakia as a whole.  Slovakians were under the rule of the Austrian-Hungarian empire (which, if you’ve read my Hungarian blog, you know was dominated by the Austrians).  Later, it was merged with the Czech Republic to form Czechoslovakia.  Bratislava was merely a seat of local government until the Czechs and Slovaks separated to form independent countries.

The charter for the city seal
(in Latin)

The City History Museum focused a bit on the history of the building it’s located in, the old city hall.  But a good portion (maybe half) of the museum is devoted to Slovakian life over the years, but especially in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  There were examples of typical styles of clothing and the types of social activities that Slovaks loved, especially cycling.  One of my favorite exhibits contained a wedding dress and tuxedo from the early 1800s and included wedding items like invitations and announcements.  

An old reliquary 

The last part of the city museum that I enjoyed was climbing to the top of the city tower because a trip to a European city isn’t complete without climbing to a high point in the city to look down on the pretty rooftops! 

One of the surprising things in Slovakia was how much my intermediate level Polish skills helped me.  When I was lost, I was able to understand directions in Slovak from a passerby.  Things like “please shut the door” and “thank you” are different in Polish and Slovakian, but close enough that I understood what was being said. 

The cathedral from the Old City Tower

Around 7 pm, I headed back to the train station to collect my luggage and meet Fr. Libor.  My home parish in the U.S. is actually staffed by Slovakian priests and Fr. Libor was an associate pastor there for two years a while ago.  My mom and him became friends, and so when I was planning my semester break, she mentioned the possibility of him showing me around.  As luck would have it, Fr. Libor was visiting his family from his university studies in Italy.  So, we met up at the train station and he drove me to his family’s home in Leopodolv, a small town (4000ish people) in western Slovakia.

A view of the castle from the Old City Tower

Upon arrival, I was incredibly excited that his family lives in a house.  Aside from a few brief visits to family during Christmas in Lithuania, I haven’t been in a house since I left home in September.   The house is located kind of on the outskirts of the town, but it has a huge yard.  Fr. Libor’s parents tend a rather large garden filled with almond trees, cherry trees, apricot trees, peach trees, and tons of different vegetables.  They also have their own chickens and raise a pig starting in the spring until Christmas time.  All the meals his mom cooked used ingredients from their garden, which was one of the reasons it all tasted so good!

A night view of the Old City Tower