Backpacking through Eastern Europe, I was able to knock quite a few countries off of my bucket-list. Many of them I fell in love with wholeheartedly and I knew then and there I would want to return one day. Other places, not so much. Yup, you guessed it, Bratislava, Slovakia was on that list of places I really don’t want to go back to.
When I was in Austria, I knew I wanted to squeeze in some time to go to Slovakia, since it was so close by. I spent the day wandering around Bratislava, which turned out to be the least memorable city I’ve ever been to. Completely irritated by lunch time, I decided to see if there were any places of interest left to me on the map. Squeezed in the bottom section of sights and activities was listed a place Devin Castle with a crazy address in Slovakian and a bus number.
I like castles and I like adventures. What did I have to lose?
So I asked around until I found out where that bus left from and hung around freezing my ass off til it came. No one spoke any English, and after a lot of pointing and shouting in my god-awful German, the bus driver and local old ladies realized where I wanted to go.
Hopping off the bus in the middle of nowhere, I began to climb a lush green hill towards the ruin of a great castle. With no one around, it felt like I stepped back in time to another age.
The sky was a perfect crisp blue as I explored the great keep. Historic Devin Castle was bathed in a golden yellow light as the sun set over the Danube river and surrounding fields, illuminating it forever in my memory as a peaceful, perfect afternoon jaunt in eastern Europe.
I guess Slovakia wasn’t so bad after all.
Have you ever been to Slovakia or Devin Castle? Has a country ever let you down or become “forgettable” on your travels?
About the author
I am from Slovakia as well and I agree that we have much better places than Bratislava which are worth to see. It´s a pitty that most tourists visit just only capital and make an opinion.
I don´t like Bratislava so much, but I love our nature and many of smaller cities 🙂
Hi! Well, I am Slovak…aaaand…I shouldn´t say that, but you´re right, Bratislava is a really boring place, I don´t like it at all 😀 It´s a pity that many tourists visit only this city in my country. Of course, it´s near Viena, a good one-day trip, but then they tend to think that if the capital is so boring, the rest of the country must be even worse. But trust me, it´s not truth. You should give it a second chance. You´ve mentioned you´re a countryside girl, so I strongly recommend you to visit Hight Tatras mountains, Košice city (even smaller than Bratislava, but definitely more charming), Domica cave, and Banská Štiavnica region. In general, if you want to spend some time in chaming quiet places, to have some peace and quiet in a beautiful nature, Slovakia is a good option. If you will think about coming here, you can let me know, I can give you some tips&tricks (´cos I know how difficult is to find all necessary information about Slovakia in English).
I really like your blog, currently I´m planning my trip to Spain and your articles help me a lot to decide where to go and what not to miss.
Take care and have a good time on your journeys! 🙂
I suggest to do a little research next time when you head to Slovakia. There are a lot of cities and places MORE interesting than Bratislava. You’ve probably picked the worst one and also number one city to visit for most travellers (have no idea why).
If I had to guess I’d say it’s because Bratislava is an easy day trip for Vienna, that’s why I went – I wasn’t planning a trip around Slovakia, it was a spur of the moment decision AND thus get off your high horse – next time you can plan my trip for me, deal?
I was in Bratislava this past spring. Really only went there because it was cheaper to fly out of than Vienna. The city center was pretty cute, but other than that…blah. Although, I did eat my first bagel in 6 months in Bratislava, so that was exciting.
bahahaha. Yeah so many people fly in and out of there instead of Vienna. BAGELS!! That was def. on my top list of things I miss while living in Spain!!! Bagels bagels bagels!