Bratislava

I first visited Bratislava in 2014 with a good friend of mine, Lorinda, when we spent a couple weeks between Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna. I remember arriving in Bratislava and it feeling like a fresh breath of air after having spent a week in Budapest, which was amazing, but not filled with the most outwardly joyful people. We enjoyed a few days in Bratislava last week to get a quick taste of Slovakia… We enjoyed walking around the city which feels very livable. Here are some sights from our time there:

(L): Michael’s Gate, the only surviving medieval gate (built in 1300)

(R) “Man at Work” statue

The striped building on the right is Hotel Kyjev, a communist-era hotel that has been closed for years. It’s set to be demolished but in the meantime is displaying stripy street art for a street art fair created by 17 mountain climbers and a bunch of cans of spray paint.

Bratislava Castle:

(R): a bridge with many names:
– 1972-1989 — “Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising”
– 1989-2012 — “New Bridge” (although it was the second oldest in Bratislava during that time…now the oldest, because Old Bridge, after being rebuilt, is now the newest)
– 2012-present — “Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising” in 2012 the bridge was renamed its original name in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of its opening and the 68th anniversary of the uprising (a resistance movement in 1944 against German troops)
– Most people call it the UFO Bridge