Slovakia and Bratislava

Departing from Budapest, a short train ride and we had arrived in Bratislava. We quickly found out that there wasn’t a great deal to see in Bratislava. The top three tourist attractions are different activities with Slovakian strippers, so it seems that Bratislava is selling itself to tourists as a buck’s night destination. Our hostel was really cool - it was horror-themed, with a blood-stained bath, a headless woman on the menus, and mannequins locked behind bars. The old town is quite nice, although we have seen so many beautiful narrow alleywayed, cobblestoned towns that the charm was lost on us. They do seem to be a specialty of Eastern Europe, in which all the towns have a more charming, old-town feel. While in Bratislava, we checked out nearby Devin Castle, which has some of the coolest towers on the castle walls that I have seen. The castle has been built atop a cliff, so it totters on top of the cliff, looming over the bars below. After our second night in Bratislava and a visit to the world’s largest pub (and probably the world’s emptiest pub), we headed to Vienna.

I found it hard to work out Vienna – it seems to be mostly about classical music and dances, although credit to them for also inventing the Sacher Torte.
I got us a bit lost in Vienna, taking Milfergasse instead of Milferstrasse, two main roads that head in perpendicular directions. Milfergasse lead us to a seedy section of town in which every second building was a strip joint. Milferstrasse, as it turned out, was a lot more interesting, with lots of boutique shops. Vienna sells a lot of gentleman’s clothes – coats, vests, and fob watches, and evening dresses for women.