Bratislava: Chapter 3 ~ Bratislavský hrad (the Castle of Bratislava)

Hey my dear people! Yeah, these chapters started good, two in a row, and now it is almost a month since I posted them. Which essentially means I've been busy discovering the city, starting my classes (and trying to figure out the no-system system of the faculty), we even went for a wine festival near Bratislava, I shall write about it soon. But yeah ... I am enjoying Bratislava, the old town is simply a perfection, and I enjoy living on my own. :) 

Oh, I went to Ljubljana for the convention, it was GREAT. Got tons of compliments on my costume and make up as well, and I was really happy about that. :) And it was really good to see all my friends and family. Now I am not planning on going back to Slovenia until the end of my semester here, unless something urgent happens, and I am planning to travel around Slovakia a bit more, so I plan to make lots of chapters of it. :) Plus, I added the Slovak word of the chapter in the end of the posts, because I think the language is really fun and beautiful and I greatly enjoy learning it. :) I will add the Slovene word in the translation as well, just so you will see that not ALL words are the same in Slovak and Slovene. ;)

Chapter 3 will be about the Castle of Bratislava. It is very nicely visible if you come to Bratislava via Nový most, which, if I'm not mistaken, will happen if you take the highway to the city. The white building on the hill gives me an even stronger impression of Old Town being a bigger version of old town in Ljubljana (where we also have a white castle, but it is very small comparing to the one in Bratislava). Since old part of Ljubljana is one of my favourite places ever, let alone in Ljubljana, I certainly do not mind the bigger version of it. 

This is is written at the entrance to the castle, if you are interested in a bit of history:

The Bratislava Castle has been inhabited since the late Stone Age. Its first written record dates back to the year 907 AD. The Crown Tower, located in the southwest of the Palace, was built in 13th century and it is standing till today. During the reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437) the castle underwent a radical Gothic reconstruction. After 1526, the castle became the seat of Hungarian monarchs. Under the reign of Maria Teresa (1740-1780) the castle was transformed into a luxurious Baroque residence. In 1811, the castle was burnt down and its reconstruction was only undertaken in 1953. The Bratislava Castle is currently administered by the Chancellery of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and houses the Museum of History of the Slovak National Museum.

Of course you can walk up the hill to Bratislavský hrad, it is a rather short walk right from the Old Town and you can enjoy the view while you are walking up. On the path  (we took the one going from Obchodna, then Kapucinska and up the road) you can find lots of cafes, bars and restaurants, so if you're feeling like taking a break, you will have plenty of stops. :) 

The castle itself is gorgeous from outside. The surroundings are beautiful and the castle is quite magnificent (even if I prefer the old type of castles, ala Spiš castle), not to mention the view you have on Donau and the rest of Bratislava. But the insides disappointed me a bit. I do not know, perhaps they are still reconstructing the rooms, nothing was written explicitly. And although the museum and the gallery were very nice, I found the bare walls of the castle somewhat disappointing. But the first floor with golden arches and ceilings is fantastic. So yeah ... all in all I do recommend the visit. :) I paid 2,5€ with my student discount for the entrance.

 The stairs to the castle. Hey, if Frodo and Sam could walk up the freaking Cirith Ungol ...!

The view from the tower. You cannot open the windows there, so there might be a reflection from the glass here and there on the pictures.

And the ceiling inside the castle, love this!

I did not take a lot of pictures in museum and gallery, because my camera cannot work under the conditions of normal lightning in closed spaces. Ah. No matter, go see them for yourselves. :)

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Slovak word of the chapter: čučoriedka [means blueberry (borovnica)]. The cutest word I have heard in my life. 
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Thank you for reading and commenting!