Bratislava… or Bust
On arrival to Vienna I ended up renting a car due to the logistics of having a lot of gear and navigating train platforms and stairs with that much stuff sounded overwhelming. We had a purely luggage logistics night in St. Polten to drop off some gear at the hockey rink for storage and then heading back to go to Bratislava.
Selena was asked to play on a PIP (Premier Ice Prospects) team to compete at the World Select Invitational tournament. The 18U female event being in Bratislava. While she had two teammates from Team Colorado the rest of the players were from all over the US (MN, WI, DE, MA) with the inclusion of one player from Slovakia, one from Czech and one from Poland.
I was a tag along since I didn’t sign up for the official guest status but got a room in the same hotel and watched all the games with the parents. Hotel location could not have been better. Not quite in the old town but on the river next to a mall and a myriad of restaurants with patios overlooking the water. The arena was right in town and even though there was a cheap Uber alternative called Bolt, most of the time I used the Bolt electric scooters which only took 10 minutes unless I tried to navigate without the aid of my phone which turned it into a 15-20 minute sojourn.
The tournament consisted of teams from Slovakia, Hungary, Czech, the PIP team, and another team from north America with a mix of Canadians and American players. I have to say it was pretty cool to watch Selena skate in her first truly international tournament. Their team did well but came up short in the finals to the home Slovakian National squad who had the top U18 player in the world playing for them.
City of Bratislava was an amazing first stop for our Europe experience with tasty food, cheap beer, and endless historic sites to see. I will save the true touristing for a non-hockey trip but definitely got a flavor for the capital and will be back. The highlight of the dining for Selena was the Slovakian national dish: Bryndzové halušky which consisted of small dumplings with fresh sheep’s cheese and bacon lardons. Almost like a different take on carbonara! I may or many not have had roasted duck at every meal…
I found a restaurant that became our hot spot to go for cocktails with an incredible view of the city as well. The restaurant was on the top level of an apartment and called Sky Bar and Restaurant. Sunset looking over the city here was outstanding as well as there cocktail list which combine the artwork of the proprietor with inventiveness of their mixologists.
