June 21, 2021
I’m heading over to Bratislava today, which is just a quick train ride. Regiojet left me at bus station Nivy which isn’t the main station and is way closer to the old town. I trekked through the old town to find my hostel.
Wild Elephants Hostel is THE REAL DEAL. This hostel is the picture your parents have in their head when you tell them you’re traveling Eastern Europe alone for three months. I recommend staying at their sister hostel (Urban Elephants) and coming over to meet people because it’s hot and smelly here (read that in the most loving tone). This hostel has the shittiest WiFi ever, so I worked on a park bench in the square outside. There’s not many toilets and the one in our room (a room with 18 beds) was perpetually clogged. The hostel even tried to force me to work for them by telling me I was working the night shift, which made me question whether this was part of the deal staying there. On the bright side, they have a kitchen and community dinners.
I’m still in work mode and this hostel is definitely not going to be a good place to work, so I need to find somewhere comfortable ASAP. After some research, I try out Foxford Café in Martinus Bookstore.
Let me tell you, this café was my actual savior. They have lots of seating, a clean bathroom, air conditioning, and delicious food and drinks. They even had unsweetened matcha (which could have been stronger but I’m not complaining). They had a delicious pumpkin hummus which was healthy and cheap.
After getting as much work done as possible, I stopped at Los Mexicales for dinner. They had really good tacos al pastor, but they were expensive for their size. They’re located right under the hostel and have good WiFi, so I definitely recommend stopping there if you’re looking for something different form typical Slovakian food.
June 22, 2021
Today I’m heading back to my safe haven, Foxford Café, to get work done. I spend most of the day there and then stop at Lidl on the way home to get breakfast supplies. I also decided I deserved a treat so I went to Starbucks. The worker was very confused when I asked for a strawberry acai without strawberries, but she made it right.
For dinner I head to 17’s Bar because I’m in the mood for pizza and beer and I still have work to do. The pizza was decent and cheap, and they’ve got lots of beers on tap. I was also able to get work done at a 2-top in the back. They had WiFi and a nearby outlet!
June 23, 2021
Like in Zadar, I’m noticing that a lot of the stuff here has gone out of business. I’ve tried to find an alternative to Foxford Café but it’s not working out.
Today I have some time to explore, so I head to the market. It’s back near bus station Nivy. They only take cash and don’t have coins, so be prepared. I saw a cannoli stand which I couldn’t help but stop at. They were really delicious but 3 Euro each. I guess it’s expected that a market like this would be more expensive.
Next, I do a self-designed walking tour of all the sites I’ve read about online. This includes St. Elizabeth’s Church, Town Hall, Michael’s Gate, Grassalkovich Palace, Primate’s Palace, Hviezdoslavov Square, Maximillian Fountain, the Synagogue, Slovak National Theater, and Cumil Statue.
To round out my Slovakian education, I stop at a traditional restaurant called Koliba Komzik for dinner and order pierogis and Kofola. The piergois were delicious and had cheese and onions on top which was a nice touch. Kofola is honestly not bad, but I’ll still be sticking to regular Coca Cola. I’m glad I tried this because even if it seems silly, it’s cool to know the history of the drink (Kofola is the communist version of Coca Cola).
June 24, 2021
Again, I have some time to explore so I head to some sites that are a bit further away including Slavin, the Castle, and the Cathedral. I head to Los Mexicales again because I can’t help but take advantage of tasty Mexican food.
It’s my last night here and there’s a pub crawl, so even though I’m a bit intimidated since I’v really only been at the hostel to sleep and haven’t met anyone, I force myself to head up to the attic (which is Wild Elephants’s version of a frat basement). I start meeting people and before I know it I’ve met everyone in our group.
I‘m not sure of the name of the first bar we went to, but I believe after spending about an hour at the hostel we went to a bar that they called “Starters.” They had one or two beers on draft so we all got the light one, and when we finished we headed out to Goblins.
Goblins marks the start of my obsession with cellar bars. There’s something so cool about the feel in these bars with cold cement walls. This bar is a foreigner bar, so everyone inside was from all over the world. I made friends with the manager and convinced him to play Mr. Brightside, and to my surprise one of the Spanish volunteers also loved the song so we danced to it while everyone just stared. Another thing about cellar bars (and all Eastern European bars), is to bring your foosball game, because there will always be a table.
Check Out My Guide to Bratislava ⧉
My Google Maps Guides have all the important locations I mention in my blogs, and you can open them right in Google Maps to make it easy to plan your own trip!