Sep 29-30, 2022. Slovakia. Why was I there when I had just been in Bulgaria? Looking at a map they aren’t close to each other. Slovakia happened to be one of the European countries I had not visited previously. This is not why I flew from Bulgaria though. Back in November 2021, I’d booked multiple tours with Intrepid Travel. One happened to be in Uzbekistan. Since I knew I had to be in Uzbekistan by early October, I started looked at flights over the summer to see where I should fly from. The cheapest and only direct flight I could find from Europe was from Riga, Latvia. Now since I decided to travel to Albania, it was a bit of a struggle to find reasonable transportation to Latvia. Sofia, Bulgaria has multiple budget airlines. So it made sense to fly from Sofia. However, there weren’t any direct flights to Riga. The cheapest flight transferred in Bratislava/Vienna. Bratislava is about 60 km downstream on the Danube River from Vienna. I have fond memories of Vienna (first solo trip back in January 2014). Truthfully, the cost savings were probably only around $50, but I’d wanted to visit Slovakia anyways.

My flight from Sofia arrived at 0730 so I had almost 2 days to explore in Bratislava. I started my time off with a brisk walk in the rain from the station to my hostel before grabbing a delicious breakfast. Smoked salmon and avocado on focaccia plus a latte? Yes, please! 🙂 I joined the free walking tour at 10am and spent the next 3 hours learning about Slovakia.

Back when I was studying in Madrid, I’d heard about Bratislava as a cheap place to go party. Popular among bachelor parties. While I did spot a few clubs and bars, Bratislava has so much more to offer than just that. As with most cities, I started off with a walking tour. We visited the castle and old town. Bratislava was a royal city back when it was part of the kingdom of Hungary. The cathedral is where new royals were coronated. The tour guide was very proud to share that Bratislava survived sieges from both the Ottomans in the 1600s and Napoleon in the 1800s. Vienna fell to Napoleon’s armies.

Slovakia has experienced a lot in the past one hundred years. I’m just going to focus on what happened to the Jewish community since it contrasts with Sofia. Sofia saved most of its Jewish population while Bratislava fell to the will of the nazis. Most Jews were killed in concentration camps. This is horrific but somehow it gets even worse. A synagogue used to sit right next to the cathedral. A lively Jewish quarter surrounded it. In the communist era, this area was destroyed to build a freeway. They torn down the synagogue, after murdering most of the Jews, to build a freeway.

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Now there is a memorial next to the freeway acknowledging the atrocities that’s occurred. It’s harsh and dark looking- like the events that occurred. How can humanity be so good at times yet awful in others?

The guide brought up Ukraine next. Slovakia borders Ukraine to the east and both are Slavic peoples. Her words “He is killing my cousins” have stuck in my brain. We are all humans. How dare someone decide to destroy lives over a border line? Wars have been fought over boundaries for millennia and somehow it still happens. Being close to Ukraine really sets into perspective how wrong it is.

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Going from praying for Ukraine to eating felt abrupt. Why do I get to live such a nice and easy life when others are flighting for their lives? I continued that discussion with a fellow tourist as we sampled the local cuisine. Bryndzove Halusky and black currant wine. The next day I enjoyed beetroot pierogi stuffed with potatoes and cheese.

Travel is such a good teacher. It forces you to face issues and brings you in contact with people you wouldn’t meet at home. Thank you Bratislava for being so much more than just a party city. It felt right that my 50th country had such depth to it.