The second station of our travel to Central Europe was Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Time is 1 hour back from Turkey in Slovakia. We arrived at Bratislava after about 3 hours travel by train from Budapest Keleti Railway Station (ticket was 4320 Forints). Currency is Euro (EUR). 1 Euro was equal to approximately 2.5 Turkish Liras. Turkish citizens who have regular passports need a Schengen visa to enter Slovakia.
Bratislava is a small city that you can travel in 1 day if you have chance to travel Central Europe. It was only 50 km away from Vienna, and we planned our travel as going to Vienna in the morning and coming back to Bratislava in the evening. Round-trip train ticket to Vienna (Bratislava Petrzalka – Wien südbahnhof (ostbahn)) was 11 Euros and it was valid for 1 month.
1. day – 25.07.2011
First day, we could arrived at Bratislava from Budapest in the afternoon. We could only have trip after 17:00. The weather was colder than Budapest and it was rainy. We went to the hotel (Hotel Viktor) from Bratislava Central Railway Station (Bratislava Hlavná Stanica) by bus (15 min – 0.5 Euros). After leaving our luggage to the hotel, we went to Aupark Shopping Centre and we bought coat and shoes. Prices are more affordable when compared to other European countries.
After then, we crossed over Old Bridge (Stary Most) and we went to Grassalkovich Palace (Grasalkovicov Palác), Michael’s Gate (Michalská Brána) and Old Town Square (Stará Radnica).
We took photos of churches until going to Old Town Square: Blue Church (Kostol Svätej Alzbety), St. Ladislava Church (Kostol Svätého Ladislava), St. Elizabeth Church (Kostol Alzbetínok), Church of Merciful Brothers (Kostol Milosrdní Bratia), Holy Trinity Church (Kostol sv. Jána z Mathy).
You can see statues in a lot of streets of Bratislava. One of them is Napoleon statue in Old Town Square.
Primate’s Palace (Primaciálny Palác) was one of the remarkable buildings in Old Town Square.
2. day – 27.07.2011
It was about 19:00 when we came back from Vienna. We would like to see Bratislava Castle (Bratislavský Hrad) and we went to castle from Central Railway Station.
National Council of the Slovak Republic (Národná rada Slovenskej Republiky) takes place behind the castle.
View of bridges (Apollo Most, Stary Most, Novy Most) and Bratislava were wonderful from Bratislava Castle. New Bridge was different with its flying saucer shaped restaurant on the top.
