Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and has been inhabited
basically forever. Ok, I might be
exaggerating, but it has been inhabited since 5000 BC. The medieval city centre is really nice. There is a castle (1649) and tight, winding
streets with a few nice public squares.
My dad and I got “Mexican” bagels for lunch (they had jalapeños and
cheese and guacamole and frankly, I’ve nearly forgotten what real Mexican food
is, so I thought it was good) and my mom got a descriptively named “chicken
bagel.”
At 3pm, after having some ice cream, we met Peter in his
1974 Skoda car. The first thing I
learned was that the seatbelt in the front seat is just for show. Comforting.
Luckily, traffic in Bratislava was less scary than that in Sofia. Gradually, we settled in to our Post
Socialist Bratislava Tour. First, we saw
the first block style apartment building built in Bratislava. Unfortunately, it was the first of
many. Peter also gave us some drinks
and snacks that were popular during socialism.
I really liked the cookie/wafer thing.
It was good. 
Then we went to a market that, when it was built, was the
height of modernity. Now, it is largely
empty, but still is still a good place to buy vegetables. From there, we went through a pedestrian
underpass that the government hired graffiti artists to decorate when Bratislava
hosted some sort of hockey championship (turns out Slovaks really love hockey. Who knew?).
We also saw a building that was made of marble donated by Fidel
Castro.
Then we went up a hill, to see a church that had a cave
behind it modeled after the one in Lourdes, France. The walls around it are covered in “thank you”
plaques for Mary (obviously a Catholic church). On from there to the- you guessed it-
memorial to Russian soldiers that died liberating Slovakia during WWII. It was a nice memorial surrounded by mass
graves of soldiers. On the walls of the
memorial it has the dates that several Slovakian cities were liberated. Most of them were liberated near the very end
of the war. Near the memorial is where
the ambassadors of England, the US, and China all live. They have pretty nice houses. 
Onward, to Hotel Borik.
This hotel is owned by the government and is now only used for official state
visitors. No one else can stay there,
which is a little weird. From the parking
lot is a great view of the Danube and the city.
We then drove back down into the city and across the UFO bridge to visit
a WWII era bunker and WWI cemetery.
We visited the cemetery first. It is very well kept by a group of
volunteers, which is really great.
Apparently it was in disrepair (and part of it was destroyed by the
Nazis to build the adjacent bunker), but a man decided to restore it and has
diligently kept it looking nice for about 5 years now.
After that, we went to the bunker. The bunker was built to defend against the Nazis in WWII and
is one of several in the area (it is bunker 8, we could also see bunkers 7 and
9). AFter the Nazis invaded, the bunkers were then used by them. The bunker museum is also run by
volunteers. One man, in particular,
really dedicates time and money to the project.
He shops for WWII era items to put in the museum and even found several
authentic uniforms from soldiers at the time that he lets visitors try on. I wore a Slovak uniform with a fuzzy hat and my
dad went for the Gestapo leather coat, which weighed close to 20 pounds (not exaggerating). We learned about the history of the bunker
and the Nazis in Slovakia. Apparently
there was a statue in Bratislava with a lion that Hitler saw and said, “The
lion has to go.” So it went, because,
you know, he was Hitler.
From there, Peter took us to see the attempt at giving
Bratislava a subway. One station was
sort of completed and now it is a long dark concrete tunnel that has some
amazing acoustics. He also took us to
see an old thread factory. It was once a
huge complex that made most of the thread in Europe, but now most of the
buildings have been torn down.
Finally, Peter dropped us off back at the train station. We signed his guestbook and then immediately
bought water. It was a hot day. I actually ended up buying another bottle
about 15 minutes later before our train back to Vienna.
The tour we took with Peter was really great. It wasn’t something most people would
probably pick, but it was really fun and interesting to see. They also have castle tours and hiking
trips. So, if you’re going to Slovakia,
check them out!
