Bratislava!
 

That place has been getting so much bad publicity in American movies lately.. I'm gonna be in that area this summer and thought it might be a worth while trip. Any thoughts of Bratislava or other recommendations in Slovakia or surrounding? :afro:

From what I have seen Bratislava must rock. A nickel can get you a hotel!

--Joey

Bratislava was great when we stayed there, but reminded me of a lot like Hungary (for obvious reasons!). Everything was really cheap.
Space Virgin used to live there so i am sure she will be able to give you some good tips!

No no, I didn't LIVE there, I STAYED there for about a week. I did, however, have my own apartment. ;) (It pays to know a guy who works in the office of the Minister of the Interior)

I didn't realize it was getting a lot of bad publicity these days... I'd only heard about one shitty teenage horror movie that featured Bratislava (hostel? I think? or something?). What other movies are slamming that poor city?!

Anyway, it's a nice place to go. Check it out, and visit Hrad Devin while you're at it. :)

Bratislava and "surrounding" ? The country is so small, you can reach the other end within a 3-hour train ride !

How long do you intend on staying ? I spent a week in Slovakia, in Bratislava and in the eastern part. If you enjoy hiking or gorgeous sceneries, go to Tatranska Lomnica or Stary Smolovec for a hike in the High Tatras; there's also a cable car for the laziers. :p To get there, use the train between Bratislava and Poprad, then transfer to your final destination.

Also, I've been to Kezmaroc, but I would only recommend it to those whose interests lie in watching people live, there isn't much to do and the bus schedules aren't very convenient. If you rent a car though, it would be worth riding the area, with its pretty villages and castles.

In Bratislava, I was lodging at a woman's apartment, who had spotted me walking with my backpack and offered a room. The place was dirty, but it was one of the best experience on the human level, so I don't regret staying. Her story is sad, very sad : Her son is heavily handicaped; she has been beaten up by her ex-husband and left him; both her parents died when she was a teen; her brother was interned for mental problems... The woman had no income beside renting her own room (she slept in the hallway when she had visitors!) and had to pay for her son's care center. She was dreaming of going to the USA, in the South, because she's fascinated by cowboys ! We talked about her life and Slovakia during the communism era, which taught me about the culture. Plus, every morning, she gave me a piece of cake with coke for breakfast ! She tought I'd like that. I did, but mostly for the anecdote...

We enjoyed our brief stay in bratislava. We stayed at the Spirit Hostel, which was not the cleanest ever, but extremely colourful and it really stood out in it's rather demure neighbourhood. We had the apartment on the top two levels with the weathervane mobile thing that they show in the adverts. Our kids were ecstatic, it was like living in a Dr. Suess book. We didn't sample any of the more exotic "medicinal" teas that were on offer, but they looked intriguing. It's allegedly a health/wellness centre as well, though we didn't investigate that aspect of their business.

Getting around Bratislava was very easy, the bus drivers are even friendly and helpful, which is not necessarily the case in other parts of eastern Europe. It's fascinating to take a moment up at the castle to look over the old city, and then look across the river at the "modern worker's paradise" of the Soviet era. Quite a contrast in vision.

I didn't get to see much because I picked up a bug in Salzburg and spent our first day there sick as a dog, blearily watching the Olympics. It was awful, because all they showed that day was boxing. I felt rather the same as they did, at the end of the day, I'd imagine.

Have a great time, and ignore whatever ignorant publicity you've seen.

:tumbleweed:

SV you've never seen Eurotrip? lol I can recite the entire thing!!!

:cheers:

I haven't been myself, but my friend says this: "When you're in Bratislava, you have to look around at everything. There's lots of beautiful old buildings, lots of trendy little cafes, and all that stuff, but there's also a lot of little weird things. One building (she) saw had this really intriguing facade with little swirls and plant designs on it, but when you looked really closely, you could see human faces, mostly mouths and noses, sticking out from random parts of other designs." So I guess it helps to keep an eye peeled for the weird stuff.