{"id":17,"date":"2020-09-14T08:02:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T08:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/?p=17"},"modified":"2020-09-28T11:33:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T11:33:40","slug":"the-72-hour-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/2020\/09\/14\/the-72-hour-city\/","title":{"rendered":"The 72 Hour City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Slovakia is sometimes forgotten as a tourist destination.&nbsp; For nearly 1000 years it did not have much control over its own destiny.&nbsp; Even during the period of the First Slovak Republic 1939 \u2013 1945 it was a client state of Nazi Germany.&nbsp; Around the year 1000 it became part of the Kingdom of Hungary and today over 9% of the population state their mother tongue is Hungarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, stands on the banks of the Danube and as such borders both Hungary and Vienna.&nbsp; Bratislava markets itself as a 72 hour city as that\u2019s the average length of time tourists spend in the city.&nbsp; In those 72 hours there are plenty to keep you occupied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Bratislava Castle - Slovakia\" class=\"wp-image-18\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920-1200x799.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bratislava-3641286_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Bratislava Castle &#8211; Slovakia<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to its geographical position and history a good starting point is Bratislava castle. Not only does it house the Museum of History but affords tremendous views across the city.&nbsp; Down in the town, the Michael\u2019s Gate which is the only preserved gate of the city fortification system dates back to the 14<sup>th<\/sup> century gives you a great view back across the Old Town and the castle.&nbsp; The tower at the gate houses the Museum of Arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bratislava houses the largest war memorial in Central Europe. It rises over 50 metres and dominates the city skyline.&nbsp; It is the burial ground of 6845 soldiers of the Soviet army who died during the liberation of Bratislava in World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"St Elizabeth\u2019s Church (The Blue Church) - Bratislava - Slovakia\" class=\"wp-image-19\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hungary-2793078_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>St Elizabeth\u2019s Church (The Blue Church) &#8211; Bratislava &#8211; Slovakia<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>On a religious note, don\u2019t miss out on a visit the 15<sup>th<\/sup> Century St Marin\u2019s Cathedral, the Art Nouveau style St Elizabeth\u2019s Church, also known as the blue church and cubist style synagogue built between 1923 and 1926.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will be spoilt for choice with a wide range of restaurants, cafes and bars and for those of you with a sweet tooth, patisseries something they do so well in Central Europe. Whilst in the city look out for the amazing sculptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"Sculpture - Bratislava - Slovakia\" class=\"wp-image-20\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sculpture-1007990_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Sculpture &#8211; Bratislava &#8211; Slovakia<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Slovakia is sometimes forgotten as a tourist destination.&nbsp; For nearly 1000 years it did not have much control over its own destiny.&nbsp; Even during the period of the First Slovak Republic 1939 \u2013 1945 it was a client state of Nazi Germany.&nbsp; Around the year 1000 it became part of the Kingdom of Hungary and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,14,22],"tags":[28,26,27,24,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39,"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grippedbytravel.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}