New Year Escape 2018 – Day Five

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

Our last day in Bratislava 😭

After the village pub tour on day four, Mr Foodie had booked another tour with Authentic Slovakia, this time their Post-Communist Bratislava excursion.  It would be 4 hours long, so sustenance was needed!

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

Breakfast

After a quick check-out from the Ibis Centrum hotel, we wandered to Gorila.sk Urban Space for some food and caffeine…to slowly waken up!

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

Suitably hipster with various teas and coffees on offer.  I ordered lavender tea and smashed avocado toast with a flat white and hummus toast for the Mister. All very healthy!
Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

Being half-bookshop and half-coffee shop, this was a great wee find. All too soon (and without time to try their cakes! 😭) we were off to meet our guide for the Post-Communist Tour right outside.

Post-Communist Tour

Our trusty transport for the morning was an original 1970’s śkoda!  Do you know what Skoda means? It means ‘damage’! What a name for a car brand! 😂

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

We ‘snuggled’ into our cosy vehicle (once we mastered the unusual seatbelt!) and headed off on our four-hour tour.

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

It was certainly a fun way to see the city.  I can verify the suspension was good (bouncing amongst the potholes!) and for the age of the car, it could move fast!

We visited the upside-down pyramid, the Radio and Television Slovakia building.

Slovakia radio building Bratislava

The monument and military cemetery Slavín.
Slavin Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape
There are great views over Bratislava and toward the rest of Slovakia from up here.

Slavin Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

We also stopped off for a budget glass of wine in Tržnica Market. This is actually just one of many places to have a drink within the market.

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape
Mmm 30 cent wine!

After a few hours of history and sightseeing, our final stop was a beer amongst the blocks in Petržalka, the largest communist housing project in Eastern Europe.

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

The Meteor is one of only two space-themed pubs remaining from the days when the vast scheme was built. Bonus fact: the crisps called “Slovakia” are actually made in the Czech Republic/Czechia!

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

Thumbs up to Authentic Slovakia tours for the trip.  Not only did we get a tour of Communist Bratislava in a Škoda, we also got to chat with our guide about life living in Bratislava during communism and since.


Lunch

By this point we had worked up a hunger.  Our Authentic Slovakia guide dropped us off at Dunajský Pivovar, which is the only brew-pub we’ve ever encountered that is on a boat!

Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

A couple of beers and some beef broth with liver dumplings soon brought us back to life.  The brewery would be perfect for the summer.  It was cosy inside, but looking out onto the Danube river in summer would be 👌

Sightseeing

One place we hadn’t visited was the blue church, mainly due to us being too lazy to walk to the other end of town 😂.  We crossed the Old Bridge and wandered towards the church stumbling across two cats, who looked like one of our cats, ‘Fred’. Luckily we have started carrying cat treats around with us (cat sucker alert) so we shared some treats, some chat and chin scritches.
Bratislava Slovakia new Year Escape

the Blue church or the Church of St Elizabeth, to give it its full name, is a beautiful wedding-cake like church. Unfortunately, although the main door was open, the doors behind weren’t. Still, it’s worth a visit to admire the architecture outside.

New Year Bratislava Blue Church

By this point we were needing a beer 🍺, which is not like us 😂 As always, Mr Foodie was on a mission to update his Untappd tally so we went into Výčap u Ernőho.

New Year Bratislava pub brewery
Tanks of beer and not too bad as well. 🍻

Our first trip to Bratislava was just after the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted almost 8 years ago.  Due to the ban on flying, we lost a day’s holiday so ended up with just half a day of seeing Bratislava.  The one thing I loved about our last visit was the hotel, Hotel Kyjev.  A glorious time warp of a hotel. Hotel kyjev Bratislava

The building itself, a local landmark because of its height, is still standing but unfortunately, the hotel has closed and there are plans to demolish the building. Here’s a photo of the 1st floor from when it was open.  Hotel Kyjev is worth a post on its own!
Hotel kyjev Bratislava

Dinner time

We had passed by Pán Kornút and were intrigued by the pastry coronets.  Wandering back to the hotel we decided to stop and look at the menu this time…uh oh those magic words…Mac & Cheese! 🧀 (there so needs to be a mac n cheese emoji!)

New year holiday Bratislava Mac n cheese coronet

Mr Foodie picked scrambled egg which came with the obligatory Eastern European addition of pork.

Basically, these are croissants filled with savoury goodies.  Both where munched quickly.  Fluffy and buttery bread with a tasty, comforting filling. I’m glad we don’t have these at home as I fear how often I’d be visiting!

Sadly, it was time to pick up our cases and say Zbohom to Bratislava.   We’ll see you again I’m sure!

 

Emma

Emma

Hello!

I am Emma and with my husband Mark write Foodie Explorers, which is a food and travel website.

I am a member of the Guild of Food Writers and British Guild of Travel Writers.

We have a wide range of judging experience covering products, hotels and have judged, for example, for Great Taste Awards and Scottish Baker of the Year.

Along the way Mark gained WSET Level 2 in Wine and I have WSET Level 2 in Spirits as well as picking up an award with The Scotsman Food and Drink Awards.    

Usually I can be found sleeping beside a cat.

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