When we hear the word Bratislava, the first thing that might come to our minds is the movie Hostel. All the gore and crime that will make you shiver. The tourists in the movie were lured to a place in the outskirts of Bratislava. Several citizens of Slovakia protested for this and accused the movie of driving away tourists. Of course it was a work of fiction and we found the city as friendly as any other cities that we visited on our trip.

The country of Slovakia is almost in the middle of Europe. And as we know, the east and the west didn’t really get along and the guys in the middle got caught in this. That’s the case with Slovakia. It has big forests and the local tribes used to reside here thousands of years ago. Nearly 2000 years ago, the river Danube was at its lowest depth at the city of Bratislava. People could even cross it by walk. There was no such place till 100 kms in either direction. This made it the hub of trading activity and the city flourished. Around 3rd century the Romans did their expansion to north of Europe and they occupied Bratislava. They did not go further north and made this place as their northern frontier. They had a hard time dealing with the people in the forest as they were attacking the army through Gurrilla warfare. In the end they had to burn down the entire forest to stop the menace.

Around 9th century the Bavarian nation started and Slovakia became a part of it. Since then Czech republic and Slovakia have been close. After that around 16th century they came under seize from Ottoman empire followed by the Austria-Hungarian empire which continued till 1918. In 1918 the disintegration of the empire happened and several nations were formed. Slovakia decided to go with Czech republic and the nation of Czechoslovakia was born. From 1918 lot of infrastructure development work happened to revive the new nation. 

World war 2 was a very troubling period for Czechoslovakia. The leader of the Slovak side came to an understanding with Nazis to avoid war. They also surrendered their Jews. Those of them who survived the holocaust came back to their houses to see them being occupied by government sympathisers and were turned away. The Czech part on the other hand resisted Germany and came under Nazi occupation. After the war the president of Slovak part who signed the treaty was executed in public by the Czech ruler and they came under one leadership. This sparked the conflict between the two nations and ultimately they split in 1991 from Slovakia with Bratislava as its capital. This is the only capital city in the world which is so close to two neighbouring countries: Hungary and Austria. 

Now let us look at few things to do while you are here and also touch up on a bit of history connecting them to the brief history of the country mentioned above.

• City Hall: This is at the city square. Napoleon bombarded the city when his army was crossing Bratislava. The building was destroyed and it was rebuilt from the debris. There is also a cannonball stuck on the wall from that period. There is also a white line marking the level of water that flooded the city in its worst natural disaster around 300 years ago.

• Man at work: This is the shortest statute in the city (or may be in the world). This bronze statue has many interpretations of what it signifies (man taking rest from work, man working inside, man trying to look up the skirt of ladies,..). Let’s just call him man at work. 

• Hviezdoslavovo Namesti Square: Pablo Hviezdoslav was a great Slovak nationalist and poet. His statue is also present at the square. He propagated their language and culture. When they became a country in 1918 they realised that they only had 10% native Slovak people. So the campaign for national revival was received very well. Another very respected personality of this country is Maria Theresa. She was the only female ruler of this region and she ruled during the 18th century. She made Bratislava the centre of her eastern kingdom and she was ruling from Vienna. She felt no need of an old city wall inside the city and broke it down. The stones from the wall were used to build the floor of the square in front of this statue.

• Opera House: This is in front of the statue. This was one of the oldest theatres of the city. When infrastructure development was at its peak after 1918, there was a train running daily from the front of Opera House to the Opera House in Vienna. Carlton hotel is also next to it. This is the most luxurious hotel of the city and very old as well. Many famous personalities like Mozart and Einstein have stayed here.

• Lucullus ice cream: While you are taking the walking tours during the day you might want to get some ice cream from this very famous shop in the city. It was really good and located in the corner of the park in front of the Opera house.
• St. Martin’s Cathedral: The surrounding area of the cathedral looked very different few decades ago. There used to be a big synagogue in front of it. During the communist regime that started after the 2nd world war they decided to build a bridge here. There was not much support for the Jews and hence it was destroyed. The catholics protested so the church was spared. It is very beautiful from inside. This is the largest in Bratislava and made from donations. The city wall in front of it are the remains from 15th century.

• The story of the willow tree: This region was following pagan religion till 9th century when the missionaries arrived. Some of the pagan practices are still remembered here. One of them is the tradition of beating women with willow tree branches and pouring cold water over them. Willow tree has amazing power of life and a branch can grow anywhere with little water. So beating women with the branches is supposed to transfer the power of fertility. Obviously you can be jailed if you follow this word by word. But every Easter Monday during spring, which signifies beginning of new life, young boys make groups and celebrate this with women they like. They use warm water and the beating is symbolic. Our guide did that every year.

• Castle: The land under the castle has been occupied by humans since thousands of years. It was mainly built during the 11th century during the great Moravian empire.The castle underwent renovation few years back and provides a good view of the city. 

• Michael’s gate: This is the oldest surviving relic of the city and dates from 1300s. This was a favourite gate of Maria Theresa as it acted as a strong defence layer from that direction. Using boiling oil, stones and arrows the soldiers used to defend the city. 

• Cathedral of St John: This was the building where the treaty between Slovak president and the Nazis was signed. The intersection in front of it also provides a very good opportunity to take photos of trams with city in the background.

• Fransiscan Monastery: This is a small little church in the old town area. We were just crossing it and thought of going inside. It’s very beautiful and very calm. We ended up sitting there for 15 minutes.

• TV Tower: This is located at the top of a hill. There is a revolving restaurant here and from that you can see downtown Vienna. We didn’t go there but this could be a good option if you have time for it.

Accommodation: It’s best to stay right next to the city centre. We got a nice studio apartment at the heart of the centre for 50 euros. It became very convenient to join the walking tours as well as to go for late night/early morning photography.

Food: Of course a trip is incomplete without nice dinner in local restaurants. There are a lot to choose from at the city centre. Our guide suggested us to go to Flag Ship which is slightly out of the old town but served great local food. We went there the last day but missed it as it was closed. We ended up having something in old town and it was delicious.

Quick tips:

• The tours are usually very long so do wear sports shoes.
• Many restaurants close their kitchens at 10 PM. So do check it in advance.