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before visiting bratislava, slovakiai had no idea what to expect. i hadn’t really read anything or looked at photos and i can tell you that from the time i got off the bus and i'd walked less than five minutesinto the centre of town, while frank freaking sinatra music played in the streets, i knew this was going to be good. i had a wonderful experience from top to bottom and i hope you’ll believe me when i tell youthat this charming capital city is well worth visiting. it’s a short one hour bus ride from vienna, austria

so it makes a wonderful day trip or if you can spend more time,like i did, you’re in for a treat. if you’re interested in videos about where i stayedor where i ate i will link those videos as well. this video is all about what to do in bratislava and if you haven’t already subscribed to my channelthen make sure you do for more lots more travel videos. it’s hard to know where to startbut i’m going to start with the snp bridge or ufo bridge as locals call itbecause it’s probably the first thing you’ll notice. snp stands for slovak national uprisingbut it’s pretty obvious where the ufo name comes from. it spans the danube river and it'sthe longest single pylon suspension bridge in the world.

at the top of the pylon, that looks like a flying saucer,is a restaurant with 360 degree views. i heard that during the communist eracitizens weren’t allowed up there because they’d be able to see how closethe austrian border is and officials were afraid they would try to escapeso only foreign visitors were permitted. either way, everyone is now welcome at the top. and unfortunately the construction of the bridge meantthat a significant area of the old town was torn down, including virtually the entire jewish quarter. there’s now a memorial to that areaand the synagogue that used to stand there. one of the most historically significantbuildings in the whole city

narrowly escaped making way for the bridge:st. martin’s cathedral. it’s extremely close to the access ramp for the bridge and its actually deteriorating due to its close proximityfrom all the vibrations caused by traffic. the cathedral was the site of coronations for leadersof the habsburg empire for hundreds of years. it has a huge crown at the topto symbolize its importance. the crown looks small when you look upbut it’s actually over 1.5 metres tall and sits on an even bigger golden pillow. if you stop looking up for a momentand look down at the ground you might see some gold crown markings on the street.

these mark out the route of the coronation processionthat was taken by hungarian royalty between 1563 and 1830, including the only woman, maria theresa. yes, the maria theresa was crowned at st. martin’s. inside the church, i especially enjoyedseeing an 11th century cemetery which is visible beneath a glass floor and the immaculately carved wood figures. the best view of the cathedralis from bratislava castle which sits on a high hill. the hill has been populated since the stone ageand the first known inhabitants were the celts.

you walk up a series of staircases to get to the top and it’s totally worth it for the great view of the city, including st. martin’s cathedral,the ufo bridge, and the danube river. the stark white colour of the castlereally pops against the hill and the sky. with four towers it reminds meof what a child might draw if you asked them to imagine a fairy tale castle. i think it’s the best spot in bratislava to see the sunset and the light at magic hour is particularly gorgeous. when you’re walking backdown the hill toward the old town

don’t miss the faã§ade of an old pharmacythat has signage in three different languages. for a lot of its history, bratislavawas a multi-lingual town where residents commonly spoke slovak,hungarian, and german. walk towards michael’s gate which isthe only surviving gate to the old city. there used to be four and they werethe only way in and out of during medieval times when the whole city was surrounded by fortified walls. michael’s gate was built in the 13th centuryand in the 17th century they added a moat complete with a draw bridge that went up and down. if you look closely you can still see the holeswhere the pulleys for the draw bridge used to go.

there’s now a footbridge over the former moat and it’s become a place where peopleleave locks to symbolize their love. however, there is no water under the bridge anymore which means that you could technicallyrun down and find the key to unlock the lock. this has led to people joking that while paris,for example, might be for lovers, bratislava is more a place for loverswho might change their mind. the gate is now a place to find buskers playing musicand other people strolling through. when you walk through the gate,make sure to hold your breath and not speak or word has it you’ll be cursed with bad luck.

the good news is that bratislava is full of statuesyou can touch to balance out any bad luck. more on that later! when you walk through the gateyou’ll stumble upon executioner alley marked by a scary looking bust of an executioner. this narrow little street was home to the officialresidence of the town executioner back in the day. because the city only had one, his house had to beidentifiable by anyone requiring his killing services. word is that this alley is always a little darkerthan any other city street and you can understand why. ironically, the residence is now a massage centre if you’re feeling more relax-y than murder-y.

remember the good luck i promised earlier? it’s found only a short distance away at a sculpture that looks like a manstanding in a gutter staring at an intersection. it’s called ‘the watcher’ but there’s debateabout what he’s actually watching for. he was installed in the 1990salong with other sculptures when the city was trying to liven upsome of the communist era architecture. it’s considered good luck to touch his headand it's a really popular photo opp now. there’s also a ‘man at work’ road sign to mark the spot which was added after the worker lost his headdue to more than one vehicle not seeing him in the road.

if you still need more luck head over to the statueof hans christian andersen and rub his finger. he visited bratislava and loved itand it even inspired some of his writing. he’s surrounded by charactersfrom some of his most beloved stories like the steadfast tin soldierand the emperor’s new clothes. a short walk away, and worth every step,is the church of st. elizabeth of hungary or, as it’s better known, the blue church. one look tells you why. everything from the faã§ade to the mosaic tiles to the roof is blue.

in total there are 50 shades of bluewith white accents sprinkled on like icing sugar. inside the art nouveau building even the pews are blue. this church is a supersuper popular spot to get married and it takes years and years to get a booking. walking out of the church,the first thing you see across the street is a gloomy communist era wreck of a buildingthat used to be a hospital. it stands in stark contrastto the wedding cake-like church. there’s a joke about how newlywedsexit the church at the start of marriage and the decrepit shell of a buildingrepresents how the end of marriage looks.

so dark! it doesn’t deter couples though. there is still a long wait. it looks like changes are happeningat the old hospital anyway so people will have to come up with a new joke. of course if you’re not into admiring the architectureor laughing at the jokes you can always juststart a snowball fight like these guys. a little further afield from the city centre,but still an easy walk, is the slovak radio building. it’s an excellent example of brutalist architecturefrom the communist era

and it’s been namedone of the ugliest buildings in the world. that said, you’ll probably either love this buildingor hate it but i found it fascinating. i walked all around to see it from different angles. it’s an inverted pyramid whichmaximizes the office space inside and the core is insulated to allowstudio recordings without any interference. whether you find it ugly or not, i highly doubt you’ll forget seeing this unique building. if you’re visiting bratislava and you’re short on time i highly recommend doing a walking tour. we did one that stands outas one of the best walking tours we’ve ever done

so i’m going to link that specific companyin the description box below. especially if you’re coming infrom vienna for the day it’s a great way to see the city and learn a lot quickly. although i hope with this video i’ve convinced youto consider spending more time in bratislava because it really is a lovely place. thank you so much for watching! if you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up and don’t forget to subscribe for more travel videos.

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