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Published: February 19th 2007
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The morning of the 6th Suzy and I ventured out to go to visit Vienna's neighboring city Bratislava, Slovakia. We had decided that it would be the perfect day trip based on it close proximity to Vienna, 45 minutes, as well as short train ride.
Upon arrival at what seemed to be a completely empty and abandoned train station we were a bit dumbfounded, not being able to open any of the doors into the station. We sat and pondered and watched the group of Spaniards pull everyone of the door handles to know avail, but soon enough we saw a tiny arrow pointing to the left/end of the building and entered the train customs area. After a couple quick glances and two stamp thuds we were through the gates and into the main station, now wondering what the next move was. We shadowed the Spaniards to the info booth and bought two return tickets to city center and went outside to find the tram stop. The tram arrived a few minutes later and we hopped on the rickety lump of steal and sped off.
Five stops and10 minutes later we exited the tram on Suche myto and we
were what looked like a major shopping street complete with a McKebab stand. This must be the city center. We walked around still shadowing our fellow Spaniard tourists and in a few minutes we found ourselves in Old Town. Passed through Michael’s Gate.. A gothic 14th Century tower and started walking towards the Castle. The Castle sits atop a hill and you can pretty much see it from the center. Since it was rebuilt in the 1960's (after burning down in the early 1800's), the architecture wasn’t all that impressive. It did have some great views of the city and the Danube and the icing on the cake was the UFO shaped restaurant on top of a bridge in the middle of the city. We had read about this and still have no idea what would possess someone to build a restaurant on top of a bridge..but it made for some cool pictures.
We walked around the castle and even paid to get in and see the museum.. Aside from some interesting coin collections the rest wasn’t all that impressive. We headed back towards the tourist office to get some info on visiting a castle we had read about
that was outside of the town.
We took a bus number 29 from the main bus station and in less than 15 minutes we were there. (We were told it would take close to 40 mins.. But whatever). We knew the Devin Castle was closed for the winter but we figured it was still worth checking it out since it looked so beautiful from all the pictures we had seen and it did not disappoint. The Devin Castle sits on a cliff overlooking the Morava and Danube rivers and even through its ruins its easy to see it’s stature and significance. Devin is more of a fortress than a castle and it dates back to the 6th Century. Napoleon’s army distroyed in 1809. It was reconstructed and now its on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. We walked to the front door of the castle and started hopelessly through the doors, the old gentleman guarding the castle ignored our puppy dog eyes and we succumbed to the fact that we were not getting inside that castle. We walked around and saw a hill we can climb on.. Pretending not to see the small sign saying no pedestrians we started our hike
up the hill behind the castle. We figured we can at least get high enough to take some pictures of Devin and the Danube.
Well..we did and had an great view of the Danube and the fortress. When we were ready to hike back.. We decided to take an alternate route which was covered with trees and bushes... we saw a 3ft fence and figured if we jump across it and head down we should be down at the main park. We walked towards a path..what we saw next was not exactly the main road... a well manicured lawns and beautiful walkways.. We both looked at each other and said.. “I think we just broke into the Castle”....ehh...yup we did.. I think we just committed a Slovak crime..I figured since we were here might as well check out the vicinities.. But David was a little more concerned (because of the barking dogs in the distance, and knowing how speedy Suzy is) and wanted to get the hell out of there before getting caught. Since there was no other way out we had to backtrack our steps and jump the fence again.. Come to think of it there is a
reason they had a fence here.. Maybe that should have been a clue that we were breaking into a place.
After getting back to the bus stop without being stopped by any Slovak authorities... we were in the clear. Whewww...I would have hated to make that call to our parents.. “eh.. We sort of broke into a Castle and now we are being held in a Slovak jail., please help.”
By the time we got back into town it was dark and we headed to a pub for a well earned drink. We decided to take the late train back to Vienna and did some bar hopping. One of the places we went into was this shady underground bar with noone there except the bartender and his buddy who was engulfed in a video game. I took a sip of my beer and I though I put it back on the table.. Well I must have missed the table and the full glass of beer shattered on the floor.. Liquid and glass everywhere.. I was in shock and wasn’t really sure what happened and the look on David’s face was “OH SHIT”.. But to both of our surprise
Inside the Castle
trying to find our way out the bartender or his buddy did not flinch or even bother to look at our direction.. Eh..either this happens everyday or that video game is really interesting... after paying or tab we got the hell out of there. Checked out couple of more bars and off to Vienna.
Bratislava is a very charming city. It is not the tourist mecca Prague or Budapest are.. But it definitely has all the essentials to compete with the big boys.
1. A Before Christ History
2. The footprint of the Romans and Mr. Frenchie himself
3. Palaces & Fortresses
4. Mozart was there
5. Lots of crazy bronze statues
6. The Danube
and one thing no other city has... THE UFO RESTAURANT ON TOP OF A BRIDGE!!!
Hang in there dear Bratislava, your time will come!
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