A Day in Bratislava, Slovakia


On my first Monday in Vienna, I went with a group to get my official visa from the Austrian Consulate! It’s located in Bratislava, Slovakia. Who knows why it’s in another country?

We left the dorms at a whomping 6:00 am to take an hour train out to Bratislava. Eww. (For the time, not Bratislava.) I was so groggy I hardly remember the journey there and half the morning.
It was actually really sad giving away all those pieces of paper to receive my visa, which is a really strange thing to say. I had spent months collecting everything though and had guarded that pile of paper with my life on the flight over. And now, I was watching it slide under a window at the consulate. I felt like I had lost something important the whole day, and it wasn’t because my passport had stayed at the consulate office for hours to get the visa.















Bratislava was beautiful. We walked around the city all morning, visiting the local castle-on-a-hill, Bratislava Castle (or Bratislavský Hrad in Slovak), and eating a very unnecessarily expensive lunch thanks to our guide, who had his meal already paid for (not cool, man). The view from the castle and the old city streets made up for everything though. That, and the 1 Euro ice cream stands that peppered the streets. I got the watermelon flavor and it was absolutely delicious

The city’s Historic Center was one of the best parts of the journey out, aside from being legally recognized by Austria, of course. All of the buildings looked old and quaint on the cobblestone roads. Some were even draped with vines. There are narrow alleys and steep hills and stairways with graffiti and art all along them. Old, tall trees and mossy walls are covered in leafy green vines.



















By the end of the day, I was exhausted. And once we were safely back in Vienna, I realized I had left my nice pen at the consulate. What a day.

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