July 2015

Some of you may have seen this city's depiction in the movie Eurotrip. Let me just say something right away. It isn't like that. Not at all. In fact, compared to the other capitals I've seen, it is actually a pretty quiet and quaint city with just about 400,000 people. As a result, it can actually be a perfect place to take a bit of a rest if you happen to be doing a long backpacking trip within Europe. This was pretty much the situation for Blake and I when we arrived from Poland.

As a city, Bratislava has a pretty nice, well maintained old town with red cobblestone streets and picturesque little buildings. It is smaller than that of other cities like Prague or Budapest, and it is far less crowded, leaving you time to take in and appreciate the architecture without obnoxious British or American bachelor parties running around. And best of all, it all leads down to the Danube River.

I have seen this river in other cities before, but But Bratislava, in my opinion, had the nicest views of them all, because unlike the other cities like Budapest and Vienna, there is much less development along the riverbank, so you get a bit of an escape from the surrounding urban landscape. But there is one awesome exception, however, and that is a huge castle up on a hill. It's a nice site to see in the day, but if you go at night (as seen above) it lights up like a shining beacon which is pretty incredible to see.