During my study abroad in Vienna, I traveled to Slovakia three different times. Bratislava is only one hour away by bus from Vienna so traveling here was quite convenient. My first time to Slovakia was a day trip with a group of other exchange students that I had met through a scavenger hunt. We all went to Bratislava. Bratislava is a very cute and small city. However, there is not very much to do and everything is so expensive. The main attraction in Bratislava has to be the castle. Other popular attractions are this bronze sculpture of a man in a sewer, a silver statue  of a man with a top hat outside of Cafe Meyers, and the Church of St. Elisabeth which is an all blue church. (All pictured below).

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The second time that I went to Slovakia was also to Bratislava. This time, I went with my parents, as they were visiting me for Easter. This was another day trip. The first time that I went to Bratislava, I did not go inside the castle. When I went with my parents, we did go inside. My dad and I climbed all the way up to one of the towers and the view of Bratislava was amazing. We also went to Devín Castle which was only a short bus ride away from Bratislava city center. This was probably my favorite destination. These castle ruins were so interesting to see and the view from the castle ruins was quite nice. 

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The third time that I was in Slovakia was for the research project that I did about UNESCO Natural World Heritage Sites in Europe. I took a very long train ride from Vienna to Košice. I would be doing a visit to the The "Caves of Aggtelek Kart and Slovak Karst" which are several caves that span throughout Slovakia and Hungary. First, let me reflect upon the train ride. I began the train ride in an empty seat that I found. As they train continued to pick up more people, my cabin began to fill up. Soon, people were telling me that I was in their seat. I had no seat reservation but I still had a ticket. Everywhere I went, there were no seats. Even asking the train conductors did not work. They did not speak any English and seemed to care less about my situation. I ended up standing next to the bathroom for almost four hours. As soon as I arrived in Košice, I went to the train station desk to make a seat reservation for my return home. This was a great learning experience. From now on, I will always make a seat reservation so that I can sit and not stand during the train ride. My experience in Košice was very positive. The city is very beautiful and my Airbnb host was extremely nice. He actually drove me to the cave with his family since the public transportation to get there is a bit difficult. 

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The fourth time that I was in Slovakia was during my Spring Break Part 2 Trip as I was an exchange student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 2019. I was visiting some friends in Vienna during a trip I was taking and my friend Alyssa wanted to get to 10 countries during her semester abroad. I told her that I could show her around Bratislava since I have been there plenty of times. We went for about two hours and I took her around to the main attractions. 

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For more information about my research on the cave, use this link: 

https://andydonatelli2018magellan.blogspot.com/2018/05/caves-of-aggtelek-karst-and-slovak-karst.html

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Slovakia is a nice country but not one of my favorites. I do not know if I would go back, simply because I have been there three times already and there is not much else for me to see or do.