Well hello hello guys.
New city, new destination.
Where are we?
Bratislava, Slovakia (Slovensko).
We sure are.
Most people only come here on a day trip because this city is one hour away from Vienna.
Yeah.
However, we have booked ourselves in Bratislava for a full week.
So we've been enjoying this beautiful city and in this video we're going to show you
guys 10 things to do in Bratislava.
So let's get started.
Let's go.
Our first stop was Devin Castle (hrad Devín - Devínsky), which is located in Devin, a
borough of Bratislava.
This is the one attraction we visited that was a little further from the Old Town - a
30-minute bus ride to be precise - but it was worth it.
So guys we have arrived.
There we have Devin Castle up on a hill.
What do you think Sam?
It looks impressive we just have to climb up it now.
Oh yeah.
So we now have our tickets in hand.
It was 4 Euros per person.
Cash only.
Um, and yeah now we're walking up a hill towards the castle and they have lots of animals.
Look.
A Donkey friend.
Hey donkey.
Hello donkey.
Donkey says hi.
Who else?
There is lots of sheep up ahead.
And yeah, let's see who else we can meet.
Devin Castle is a ruined castle that sits on Slovak territory at the confluence of the
Danube and Morava rivers.
You can see Austria just across the river, and on a clear day, as far as Hungary.
And at the top of the castle it would appear there is a small exhibition.
Well hello hello there.
We are in between castle visits.
We just finished visiting Devin Castle.
Yeah.
Next up is Bratislava Castle (Bratislavský hrad) but first we need lunch.
What is the plan?
Well, we've worked up a ridiculous appetite doing all of that walking so we are just going
to try to find somewhere to eat nearby this new castle so we're just wandering around
and we're going to hopefully find a place really soon.
More Slovak Food.
Yes.
Let's go.
We ate at a restaurant called “Modra Hviezda” which is located at the base of Bratislava
Castle.
The back of the restaurant feels a bit like a cave, so it was super cozy, but most importantly,
the food was wonderful!
Oh my goodness a behemoth of a portion showed up at the table.
I was expecting you know like little pork medallions.
Something small.
And instead I have this giant pork chop covered in like crushed walnuts and it comes with
a honey mustard sauce (bravčová kotleta) and I also have roasted potatoes.
Oh, this is huge.
My goodness.
So good.
Let's try to dig in.
I think I'm going to like cut off a smaller piece so it is more manageable.
Oh my gosh I can't believe how thick that is.
And that is not even a small piece there.
You probably have to cut that again.
Yes.
Little bit of that.
Get it in the sauce.
Some walnuts.
Take it for a swim.
Mmmm.
Wow.
Pork and honey mustard.
Haha.
That is amazing.
Is it good?
This was listed under the traditional dishes section.
Yep.
So really happy to be trying this.
and this is your main.
Yeah, tell us a little bit about it.
So my traditional like Slovak main over here is basically it is rabbit leg (Králik na
Šampiňónoch).
Yep.
And then on this part this side I don't know if you can see we've got wild mushrooms.
Yeah.
In a wine sauce.
And then we have dumplings.
Mmmhmm.
Some potato dumplings.
Potato dumplings and these are thick and heavy.
They look like little pancakes.
Yeah, they do.
I'm going to grab a bit of that.
And Sam chose this just because he read red wine sauce and was like yeah.
Yeah.
Give me the wine sauce.
So I'm getting a little bit of that and a little bit of the dumpling so I've got a little
bit of everything going on.
Oh man.
I love that.
Alright, so dessert has arrived and once again it looks completely different from what I
was expecting.
We ordered poppy seed dumplings so I thought maybe with pierogi filled with poppy seed
but the dumplings it is like this wormy shape.
I would say.
And then you have poppy seed powder on top.
Yeah, you've got to really coat them.
Look at that.
I know.
They're like little worms.
That look so cool.
So let's try one.
Mmmm.
Is it good?
It kind of reminds me of gnocchi.
A little bit.
Yeah.
Is the poppy seed sweet?
Yeah.
That is like mixed in with sugar.
That is good.
And look it is starting to melt.
Oh.
Haha.
Get in there.
That is pretty nice.
Is it a hot dessert?
Yeah.
It is served warm.
What is this here?
It is just more noodles in there.
I've never had anything like this.
I know.
Me neither.
This is like the base for it like the dumpling you could use it for something savory or something
sweet.
It just depends on what you add on top really.
I have a feeling I'm going to have like black stuff all over my face afterwards.
You're doing alright.
I'm going to be speaking like this.
So time to wrap that up.
That was not a cheap meal.
It was 42 Euros but oh it was good.
It was just like gourmet food.
With bellies full, we began the slow climb towards Bratislava Castle.
Built in the 9th century and modified over the centuries many times over, this 4-towered
castle sits perched on a hill overlooking the Danube River.
It’s a beautiful walk to reach the castle, and while we personally preferred the ruins
of Devin Castle a bit more, Bratislava Castle is still a cool spot to visit; you get nice
views over the Old Town (Staré Mesto), plus you have the Slovak National Museum and the
Baroque Gardens on the north side of the palace.
The following day, we set out to explore the Old Town (Staré Mesto), but first, we stopped
at a cafe for a decadent breakfast.
We're at Mondieu.
Yeah, apparently this is one of the best places to have breakfast here in Bratislava.
And cakes.
And cakes as well.
Yeah, they have a great looking cake display.
Um, yeah they basically have a very I would say very diverse menu.
Pancakes, French Toast, Omelets.
Alright, so the drinks are here and we both got the cafe latte macchiato with chocolate.
Look at this thing of beauty.
Look at those layers in there.
Oh my goodness.
I know it is so big.
And they've got these cute little sugar packs.
It is so big.
Look at this.
Urgh.
Actually I don't even know if we need sugar so I'm going to try it first.
I have a feeling we won't.
Especially me.
You may still want some of it.
Oh!
Oh my gosh that is so thick.
It almost looks like a milkshake.
Wow.
It kind of is.
Is it?
It is like a warm latte milkshake.
Like it is so frothy and rich.
Like the glass is coated in melted milk chocolate basically.
Oh man.
It is amazing.
Wow.
breakfast is here and it looks amazing.
I ordered the scrambled eggs with parmesan and baby spinach.
And it is one of those meals that I'm just going to have to eat super quickly before
it gets cold because it is actually quite quite chilly outside.
Mmmm.
Oh.
Parmesan mixed in with scrambled eggs.
Good idea?
That was a very good idea indeed.
When I saw this on the menu it just looked so colorful and good.
My napkin is blowing off.
So I am getting.
I'm basically getting two pieces of toast.
Yep.
One of them has like I guess it would be an original hummus.
Yeah.
And this over here is uh beetroot hummus with pomegranate sprinkled on top.
So this is definitely not your average Slovak breakfast at all.
Yeah but I'm going to try some and I want to make sure I get some of the pomegranate
seeds.
Alright.
Oh my gosh that is good.
Yeah?
Woah.
And since this place specializes in chocolates, cakes and baked goods Sam could not resist
getting a slice of cheesecake.
The fruit cheesecake just looked too good and it is like time for a bit of confession
time.
It is actually 12:05 right now.
This is about as late of a breakfast as you can possibly have.
Because at what time did little prince wake up?
I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning last night.
So anyways, he woke-up at like 9:30.
Eating chocolate and wine so never a good idea.
Not a great idea.
I had trouble going to sleep.
Anyways let's try this.
Cheesecake.
Mmmm.
Wow.
He's rolling it around in his tongue.
Yeah.
That was a good decision to get this.
So it came to 18 Euros total.
And I thought that was a really good deal because we ended up basically getting three
food items, two breakfast mains plus cheesecake and we got like the two most premium types
of coffees on the menu.
Really fancy.
Oh yeah.
They were the most expensive on the menu and it was well worth it.
So yeah, this was just a wonderful place to go.
I'd highly recommend coming here.
You could come for breakfast, you could also come in the middle of the afternoon for a
really nice snack as well.
Bratislava’s Old Town (Staré Mesto) is very compact, so it’s easy to explore on
foot and cover most of the sights in one day.
We went on our own do-it-yourself tour finding all sorts of interesting statues and hitting
up a few major landmarks along the way.
So next up we're going to visit Saint Martin's Cathedral (Katedrála svätého Martina) and
we've been seeing it from the exterior.
Like every single day.
Yeah, every single day and last night I saw it from the UFO.
Like way up there.
Right the bridge.
So I had a really good perspective of it.
And finally we're actually going to go in.
Go in.
No success.
Oh ho ho.
It is our last day in the city, we left this to the very last moment and now we can't go
in because there is a wedding going on.
Oh my gosh.
Well, so I guess we'll never know what the interior of the church looks like.
Well I think congratulations to the bride and groom.
Congratulations I suppose.
Whoever they are.
And we are now going to visit the Blue Church (Modrý kostolík).
I don't know if it looks more like a wedding cake or a gingerbread house but it is all
painted blue and it looks like it covered in frosting so let's go in.
The Blue Church (Modrý kostolík) is located on Bezručova Street, which is about a 10-15
minute walk from the Old Town.
It’s designed in the art nouveau style, and though the church closed when we visited,
we were still able to peek through the gates.
And much like the Eiffel Tower when it was first built, locals in Bratislava like to
say that the best view of their city is from the UFO Bridge because you can’t see the
UFO bridge.
But whether it’s architecturally compatible or not, we can’t deny that you get some
amazing views of Bratislava, especially if you visit as the sun goes down.
You can either pay 7 Euros and 40 cents to visit the observation deck, or go to the UFO
Bar for sunset drinks.
And while you’re down by the Danube, you can either enjoy a stroll along the river,
or go on a sightseeing cruise.
Now for one more restaurant meal that we really enjoyed in the city, allow us to introduce
you to Prašná bašta.
This is another cozy restaurant located at basement level and we had another wonderful
meal to share with you guys.
So here we go.
My main is here and I went for a traditional Slovak dish.
I can't pronounce the name (Bryndzové Halušky) it is a little too complicated for me but
basically it is a potato gnocchi made with Slovak sheep's cheese and it also has some
bacon on top.
This looks really nice.
Big chunks of bacon on top.
Oh yeah.
Look at that.
They are not skimping out.
Uh uh.
Not at all.
At all.
Mmmm.
That is really good.
Is it?
It is a bit of a salty cheese.
So it gives it a bit of seasoning and the bacon is nice and crispy.
So yeah if you like strong flavored cheese this is quite good.
Sam ordered himself some kind of stuffed potato zucchini pancake.
It looks so good.
I've just got to show you guys how big this is.
My hand for comparison.
Like this is big.
It is massive.
So do you want to tell us what is in there.
So inside we have pork and beef tenderloin in a paprika sauce.
Oh la lah.
And you were going to tell us about outer layer.
Yes, so the pancake I already mentioned is made with potato and zucchini.
Yeah.
Oh.
It has a bit of a darker color.
Oh, this looks good.
Kind of already it reminds me of the consistency of like a porkolt style goulash.
Oh my gosh this is going to be good I bet.
Oooh.
Wow.
What do you think?
It is just the dish I was looking for.
Oh my gosh that is good.
That meat is so tender and like rich like the paprika sauce is really flavorful and
it sort of like a rich gravy sauce.
But what I really like about this too is the pancake compliments it perfectly because there
is obviously a lot of zucchini put in there.
It gives it a little bit of extra juiciness.
Okay which is so cool.
So that was 35 Euros.
That included two glasses of wine.
One appetizer.
Two mains and a dessert to share.
So yeah, it wasn't a cheap meal but we knew that going in.
We wanted something that was really good quality and we sure got that here.
Portions were generous too and just everything was delicious.
There wasn't anything that we ordered that we didn't love.
It is hockey night in Slovakia (Slovensko) so we're going to catch a tram and we're going
to go to a professional KHL game (HC Slovan Bratislava - Hokejový klub Slovan Bratislava).
That is the Kontinental Hockey League.
What is KHL?
It is basically like a Russian and European league.
Alright.
And it is probably the second best league in the whole world behind the NHL so it is
going to be really good hockey and I'm pumped to go watch a game.
It is time for Sam's special speech about hockey.
Yes.
I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite Slovak players of all time.
Uh huh.
In fact, he may be one of the greatest ever.
Marian Hossa.
He's just retiring this year and he played for the Chicago Blackhawks my favorite team.
Your favorite team.
My favorite team.
Oh my gosh.
And had he not joined the team I don't think they would have won those 3 Stanley Cups that
have recently.
He was that good of a player.
And he's one of only 2 players from Slovakia (Slovensko) that have broken a 1000 points
in the NHL and in my opinion he's the best player ever from this country.
So a big shoutout to him.
Hope he has a good retirement.
Lastly, transportation in Bratislava is super cheap and affordable.
They sell timed tickets, so you pay based on how long you’re travelling for.
The cheapest tickets were for a 15-minute ride at 70 cents and went up from there.
And that’s a wrap for our trip to Bratislava.
While we can see the appeal of doing this as a day trip from Vienna, we loved having
the extra time to really enjoy the city, try out some great restaurants, and make it to
some of the further attractions like Devin Castle.
If you have a few days to spare, this is a great little capital to visit.
Now you guys know the drill; if there are any other things to do in Bratislava that
we may have missed, feel free to share your suggestions with fellow travellers in the
comments below.
Wishing you happy travels and until next time!