Our First Day Exploring Bratislava

I was awake this morning at 3:30 am and then struggled to get back to sleep after that. Maybe I was missing the sauna-like heat and pub noise of the Brno apartment?

There’s a lot to see here in this city, so we started the morning with a good 7.3 km walk. First stop was the Presidential Palace, which had a really nice fountain in front of it. The palace had Secret Service–type agents positioned inside the gates and two armed guards. The guards performed a small marching routine, tapping their weapons on the ground and switching sides every so often. That must help them avoid both boredom and the pain of standing still for so long.

Behind the palace there is a large garden open to the public. It too had a fountain, along with flower beds, a few sculptures, and some really nice large trees.

Next on our tour list was Freedom Square, a park next door with a very large central fountain modelled on a flower. The fountain is called the Fountain of Union, which was only recently reopened after significant redevelopment.

From the square we continued our walk, stopping for a geocache find, before heading up to the “Slavín” memorial on the hill. There were lots of steps involved in getting up there, but the temperature here is only in the low to mid-20s, which made it easier. The memorial is dedicated to the Soviet soldiers and a few civilians who died liberating Bratislava from Germany in 1945. A total of 6,845 people are buried here. Most are in three mass graves, but a few hundred have individual headstones. There is also a large wall with the names of individuals engraved on it. The monument itself is a 42 m tall obelisk topped with a 12.5 m statue of a soldier. From here there were good views over parts of the city and towards the castle.

We descended the hill through a wealthy-looking neighbourhood and eventually arrived back at the palace, this time from a different direction. We took a short detour to the edge of the Old Town to see Michael’s Gate and Tower. It’s the only remaining city gate, first built around 1300 and reconstructed in 1758.

Our last stop on the way back to home base was a bakery, where we picked up a couple of pastries for morning tea: a cinnamon scroll and a very tart boysenberry pastry. Very yummy!

At lunchtime we went to have another go at tracking down the Tesco supermarket. This time we found it straightaway, though not in the building where Google Maps showed it, but next door. It has a much better range of products than Lidl.

We had a fairly typical afternoon of not doing much. The apartment has a full oven, so we cooked roast potatoes, carrots, and parsnips for dinner to go with sausages. Probably should have added some broccoli, but at least it was different. Not really worthy of a photo though — not enough colour. 😉