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
It’s funny because I stayed in Bratislava for 4 days back in 2013 with a friend (we both really wanted to visit for a while), and even though we went in February when it was freezing cold, we loved it. We did the opposite of what most people did and went to Vienna on a day trip and found that really disappointing. We much preferred Bratislava and I’d definitely go back again.
Many years ago I traveled to Slovakia.
I liked Presov/East/ and we took the train from Kosice to the West- Vsetin/CZ/
somewhere through the mountains.
The young lady at the train station in Kosice-
the speaker announcing the departures- had a divine voice !
Than – the most spectacular scenery !
A Fantastic blue sky crossing the country from East to West!
I love the mountains !
Bratislava was a nice city with friendly people.
When you travel you want to discover something different
and not judge but to try to understand local people and their ambiance.
I would like to go back to Slovakia one day.
Be happy everywhere !
So I went through your destinations and I was like billion times sure you won’t have any posts about Slovakia. Nobody does! And then I saw it and my heart jumped. Seriously, my favorite blogger has been to my country. No way! But, unfortunately, you did what most people do – checked out the capital, found out that is the most boring European capital and left completely disappointed. Well, I have promised myself that one day, when my blog and SM audience is big enough, I will show people that Slovakia is more than Bratislava. Bratislava sucks big time and it just gives my country the crappiest reputation! The rest of the country is magical! I know you are a NZ fan and I have been there and to be honest, Queenstown reminded me of Slovakia – the north part. High Tatras are beautiful mountains and they have so much to offer! Unfortunately the tourism is Slovakia is a dirty business and it is not promoted the way it should be! One day, when we are friends (haha) I will take to the most beautiful places and you will forget about crappy Bratislava and will fall in love with this tiny Easter European country.
Danka