Bratislava – April 2019

Today was ones last full day in Bratislava and indeed for this trip. As mentioned yesterday, the sole aim of today was to explore the UFO Tower which stands proud over a dual carriageway.

N.B. I thought I would mention that a car has just drove straight down the tramway outside the hotel window…whoopsie!

After a short walk across the River Danube, we reached the base of this majestic structure which, at the time of writing, consisted of a wooden shell with a porta cabin alongside. What was more concerning was the fact that a big step was present to enter, however, we later discovered that a wooden ramp had been constructed around the side. The temporary walkway to the elevator from said porta cabin can only be described as an entrance to a rather strange rollercoaster; walls and ceiling painted entirely black with a rather concerning whirring noise emanating from the end (the elevator!).

Once inside the ‘UFO’, you are presented with stunning panoramic views of the city including the famous Castle. If you are lucky enough to experience the restaurant also, don’t expect large servings of food, it’s one of those posh places where you are required to sample the tiniest portion and then pay a bomb for it…

There seemed to be an upstairs section, however, one isn’t quite sure if it’s accessible as we didn’t venture that far.

Tomorrow, we head over the Austrian border to fly back to the UK from Vienna. For the next adventure, one will be exploring Vilnius in Lithuania followed by Minsk in Belarus. However, before that, simply appreciate the view from ones hotel room…

The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava is a city not necessarily on the conventional tourists bucket list, especially if you are a wheelchair user but you may be surprised by this place! If one thinks of a quaint city that is a cross between Czech and Austrian styled architecture, that’s Bratislava.

Today we ventured into its historical centre, the majority of streets have been revamped from conventional cobbles (unlike Prague) to a very smooth surface whilst maintaining it’s authentic appearance thus making for a smooth roll…

As one only has 2 days here before heading back to the UK, we enlisted the help of a very handy city map marking out the location of the major sights such as St Michael’s Gate and the Man At Work statue…

The city centre itself is quite walkable meaning that one can see the majority of the sights in a matter of hours (it took us around 3 and a half hours including a half hour stop!).

For the next few days, one is staying in the Ibis Hotel. Situated on the slopes of Bratislava Castle, it is pretty much what an Ibis stands for. The only downside is that the accessible rooms contain a bath rather than a shower.

The plan for tomorrow was to trek up to Bratislava Castle, however with Superbunny out of action and the slope up being near vertical, think we will give that a miss! Instead, a well needed chill morning is the plan with a meal up the UFO Tower (essentially a UFO atop of a road bridge) to round off the trip!