Slovakia & Slovenia

A few weeks ago, Alex had to go to Graz, Austria for work. We decided to take advantage of that opportunity and fly out early for the weekend. Since hearing about Bratislava, Slovakia in a movie, Alex and I have wanted to visit. And ever since seeing a picture of Bled, Slovenia I’ve been begging Alex to go. So, that’s exactly where we found ourselves this week.

Bratislava: Alex and I flew into Vienna early Saturday morning then hopped on a train and an hour later we arrived in Bratislava. It definitely had that Eastern European feel to it. Old rundown buildings, foreign language, cheap prices and we loved it! We took a crazy bus ride then checked into our hotel. Once we got to the center, we found a little market where we got a glass of wine for 1€ each! Right then and there, we knew we were going to like Bratislava. We walked around the center finding it surprisingly charming. After hiking up to the castle we found a table outside to sit and enjoy the gorgeous day. Later we sampled the local cuisine at a restaurant then found “our” bar. It was called the KGB and it some of the cheapest prices we’ve seen.

Enjoying a beer outside

Views from the castle

The town

Demonstration in the center

Vienna: Alex and I headed back to Vienna to enjoy our Sunday there. We got back onto another crazy bus to get to the train station. They drive so fast! A group of friends got on and the bus driver took off so quickly that one of the guys fell over and spilled his drink everywhere (right where we had been standing the stop before)! Granted, he might have been a little drunk. After checking to make sure he was ok, the driver took off again towards the train station. We boarded the train to Vienna. This was our first time in Vienna so we walked all over the beautiful city. We tried a sausage and had an aperol spritz outside. We definitely wanted to try a Wiener schnitzel so we walked past the restaurant we wanted to eat at later that night and there was a line out the door. We knew we needed to get there early for dinner so we headed over around 4:30pm to try and beat the crowds. There was already a line! We decided the schnitzel must be worth it if people are already waiting that early. We waited only about 15 minutes for a table (we got to skip two groups of people because we were a party of 2). We both ordered their famous schnitzels plus one order of potato salad. The schnitzel was bigger than the plate! There was noooo way I was going to finish it. Alex finished his but it was basically to prove to himself he could. I tried as hard as I could but threw in the towel about 3/4 of the way in, all while watching the girl next to me finish her entire schnitzel, potato salad and a dessert. Europeans can eat! We waddled home in time to watch the packer game.

On our way back to Vienna

Finishing it but not happy about it

The biggest schnitzel ever!

Bled: The next couple of days were spent in Graz where Alex had a work conference. After it finished we couldn’t get a flight out that night so we opted for a flight out the next afternoon in Klagenfurt, Austria. Since Klagenfurt is so close to Bled (an hour drive) and I’ve been dying to go, we decided to spend the night there. We got into Bled around 6pm, just in time to enjoy the beautiful sunset. We then found a pub overlooking the castle for dinner. The next morning I made Alex get up early so we could beat the crowds to the Vintgar Gorge. It was gorgeous (see what I did there). We were the second people to arrive so we had the place virtually to ourselves. We spent about two hours there, enjoying the peaceful beauty of nature. We went back into town and I decided it would be a fun idea to rent our own rowboat instead of taking the one filled with people. Turns out, it was a good idea…for me. While my amazing husband (who seriously never complains) rowed us the 30 minutes to the island and back, I sat back and enjoyed the amazing scenery. I did try to help, but the oars were like too long or heavy or something for me to be able to properly row, you know. But in all seriousness, it was really fun and it was the most perfect fall day to be out on a boat. Once back to land, we rewarded ourselves with Bled’s famous cream cake. It was delicious! Eventually, we had to catch our flight so we headed to the airport; to the smallest airport we’ve ever been to. There were two flights going out. Two! We couldn’t even go through security until 30 minutes until our flight. But we made it back to Köln agreeing that we will be back to explore more of Slovenia some day.