bratislava, day one: sleepy moseying

On the morning of our first full day in Bratislava, we began walking towards the old city. We passed an outdoor market where a crowd of older women were lined up to buy sauerkraut from a wooden barrel — a delightfully old-fashioned tableau among the new high-rises and electronic billboards.

We got a good look at the Blue Church, which looked like some kind of gingerbread house, then walked along the Danube to the Slovakian National Gallery to see some of its exhibitions (including works by the locally-born artist Laco Teren, whose painting is pictured below). After some really fantastic gelato and a spinach pastry, we visited the small but grand St. Martin's Cathedral, then climbed the hill to see Bratislava Castle.

The castle had historical exhibitions in the old brick cellars, exposed Roman (and/or Celtic?) ruins in the basement, a never-ending series of steep staircases leading to the top of an old tower, and some hilariously empty palace rooms. The signage was almost non-existent, and we kept getting lost, coming to dead ends, and having to re-trace our steps for long distances, all of which added to the charm of the place.

We grabbed a couple more pastries on the way home (including a traditional poppyseed-filled doughy crescent) and stopped at the grocery store for some sandwich-makings.