Vienna & Bratislava – Kilometres Yet Poles Apart

Separated in purely geographical terms by a mere 80 kilometres if travelling by road (perhaps around 55 kilometres “as the crow flies”) the 2 great European capital cities of Vienna and Bratislava offer the visitor 2 equally exciting and worthwhile tastes of European life that are perhaps to be considered “unashamedly” different to each other.  As a British backpacker taking the opportunity to spend a couple of days in each of these cities (divided by a brief yet exhilarating trip via a high speed boat along the river Danube - that I guarantee will surely beat any bus or train journey) I could not help but feel that somehow this was almost an unofficial “watershed” point between Eastern and Western Europe.

     The lasting memory of Austria’s capital Vienna for me was the sheer grandeur architectural styling of its “museum quarter” – during the day time a site to behold in itself from the area’s exterior, even if you were not to explore the many cultural and historical treasures that lay within the Modern Art or Leopold museum interiors. At night the museum quarter becomes a trendy place for local students to hang out and for backpackers to enjoy a local wheat beer in glamorous surroundings.

     Slovakia’s capital Bratislava while different in many ways to Vienne was none the less exciting to visit. The great attraction of the city is undoubtedly its old town area – for me one of the best (although not the largest) in Central and Eastern Europe. Packed with relaxed bars and restaurants all offering great drinks and food at extremely affordable prices, a visit to Bratislava’s Old Town is one that should not be overshadowed by more famous Old Town centres in Europe. Bratislava too holds an excellent castle –a must for any visitor – which towers on a hill above the Danube. Aside from offering a good visitor experience in itself, scaling the hill to reach the castle will provide an awesome view of the city.

Backpacking Bratislava: Exploring the Capital's Castle

Although my trip to Bratislava was very brief (I only stopped over for 1 night in a hostel there and the following evening I was back on the inter rail) when on my backpacking trip through eastern Europe, it was certainly quite eventful. I arrived there in just a very rapid 1 hour long shuttle boat journey from Prague - a fantastic way to get to Bratislava if the weather is clear - in the late afternoon and checked in to our lodgings before hitting the old town to enjoy some very reasonable priced mojitos and a rather nice meal in the pretty old side of the city (rather than the rather grubby industrial side of town on the other side of the river Danube).
I have to say Bratislava's old town is somewhat underrated for some reason - and is certainly as beautiful as anywhere else we went in eastern Europe and as you would aspect is comparable to Prague but on a somewhat smaller scale! The city seems to have a bad reputation for some reason but this half of town is well worth checking out.

If you have some time during the day time, by far the best landmark to visit in the city of Bratislava is its impressive castle which towers on a large hill high over the city. I will warn you now, in the heat of summer in Slovakia, walking up this hill certainly can be quite exhausting - even for a reasonably fit 24 year old as I quickly discovered! If you are going to walk up the hill to enjoy the fantastic views over Bratislava, make sure you take some water for the journey as the hill is pretty steep! It is believed that the original history of the castle can be traced back as far as the iron age where evidence has been found of an early settlement in the area. The site has later apparently been occupied by Romans, Germanic tribes as well as by empirical Slovaks and as such has been built and reconstructed on several occasions - most recently in 1953 to restore the brilliant structure that stands their today.