The bus to Bratislava was uneventful, just a short Flixbus. The bus stop was also not far from the Wild Elephants Hostel so it should have only been a short walk. On the way I got lunch, I bought some pastries from a stall. The town centre was like a maze and I found myself walking around in circles for about an hour to find the hostel. I eventually found it in a large public square, but it was not easy even for me.
The hostel was a strange one. As if someone had purchased a series of flats and joined them altogether, long corridors and strange rooms. I have found a few other hostels set up like this. I checked in and was told that the hostel would be serving dinner tonight. I walked into my dorm room, a very large room with few beds. It had a table in the middle and uneven floors that would make sounds with each step. I was sharing the room with two American guys who had travelled from Asia by train across Russia. If I remember correctly they had only spent 3 weeks travelling and had already travelled to Europe. Myself had been travelling way longer than them and had only just made it from England to Slovakia! At the time I hated the idea of travelling so fast but now I realise how interesting of a trip it must have been for them. I was also sharing the room with a 19 year old Dutch woman who was backpacking on her own.
I chill out for a few hours in one of the common rooms and then head out to look around the city centre. I don't remember anything catching my attention so I buy some beer and go back to the hostel for dinner. A few hostels organise social meals where either the hostel pays or guests chip in and everyone cooks something. I can't remember what everyone cooked but it was pretty boring and I wished I bought food else where. I spend a few hours in the common room drinking beer and talking to one of the workers about the band The Offspring, I had only just started to listen to them. I was also told how Bratislava was the setting for the horror film "Hostel", which I only vaguely remembered at the time. I then go to bed.
The next day I wake up and have hostel breakfast. I have the idea to do a large walk around the river and nearby hills. So I walk down and then along the Danube river, I walk passed an abandoned building that I have a quick venture into and carry on to the Vinárky area of the city and walk up very small steep roads. It had recently rained as all the plants and trees were still wet. After walking around for about 5 hours I head back to the hostel, have a shower and relax for a few hours with the Dutch woman. I do some quick research on cheap food and find a place called Funki Punki Creperie, although i'm not certain it was called that at the time. I invite her as well as the American guys out but the American guys were packing their bags. So me and the Dutch woman go out for food.
We walk around the old town to the restaurant/ cafe, sit on the bar and order crepes. She tells me about how she was depressed for a while back home. She did not know why and that she even had a boyfriend at the time. She was also very tall and seemingly self conscious about it. When we left the cafe we got a selfie together and she had to bend her knees to get in the same picture as me. I thought it was funny but she looked sad.
We head back to the hostel. I then try to find my next destination only to realise the whole area has a bank holiday tomorrow and all the hostel and hotels seem to be fully booked. I end up having to go to Vienna, a city I had planned on skipping.
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My Backpacking Memoirs
Non-FictionIn 2017 I embarked on a three month backpacking trip around Europe. Motivated by the many accounts of travel from within religion, I went to learn. But what I experienced was not what I was expecting. This was my first time leaving the UK since I wa...
