The day after Christmas, Dy and I gave in to the temptations of (1) willing grandparent agreeing to provide child care (2) a cheap train fare and a 1 hour train trip and (3) the desire to scratch off another country on our scratch-off map of the world, and we took a train from Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia, for the day. It was fantastic to explore this beautiful capital city with no real itinerary, just spending some quality us time. We had heard about Bratislava from a few friends, and they all loved it. We quickly came to see why.
The view out the window of the 1 hour train ride from Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia. Go clean energy!
One of the major landmarks in this city is the beautiful Church of St. Elisabeth, a Hungarian Secessionist Catholic Church (according to Wikipedia). It is a beautiful shade of robin-egg blue, with amazing tile work. Very cool. We couldn’t tour inside as mass was in session.
After checking out the Church of St. Elisabeth, we wandered through the old medieval section of town. December 26th is a public holiday in Slovakia, so many things, including the tourist information center, were closed. Nevertheless, we found no shortage of beautiful sights. Before we made it into the medieval section, which was open to foot traffic only, the rest of the city was like any other modern city, light rail system, busses, and cool art that Dy loved.
Chicago has the bean, New York has the bull on Wall Street, Bratislava has the watcher.
We didn’t make it up to the castle on the hill, but the light on it sure looked nice.
I loved the beautiful colors that many of the buildings were painted. It was so nice to explore the city at the slower on-foot pace.
Bad kids get left behind in Vienna while mom and dad go explore a new country. Just kidding!
One of the friends we made at the apartments we lived at while in training in DC is now assigned here, US Embassy Bratislava. We didn’t get to meet up with them, they were busy dealing with the government shutdown.
We found another hole in the wall to eat at, starting with a powerful garlic soup. I think we both had garlic on our breaths for another week. So good though.
We tried the national dish, Bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings like gnocchi, with sheep cheese and bacon sauce. Delicious!
We enjoyed a crisp but sunny walk along the Danube River. So clean!!
UFO shaped and themed tourist restaurant. We passed.
4 churches, 1 photo.
The day was a little cold. We found a shop that sold melted hot chocolate. Not hot-chocolate, the drink. Thick, gooey, delicious melted chocolate, available with a variety of toppings. We’ll take one with fresh strawberries and one with espresso and vanilla ice cream, please!
All in all, a lovely day! So glad we get to spend our lives together.