After a late arrival, we settled into our hotel. While perfectly adequate, it was a step down from our prior accommodations. In Bratislava, we basically stayed in a tiny castle. In Budapest, it was a B&B, but clearly a local-owned one. In Dublin, we stayed in a chain hotel. Anyway, we weren’t there for the hotel room, so it was fine enough.

We started the day with Dublin Castle. I don’t think we were here when we came to Dublin nearly 18 years ago. In fact, I only recall seeing Trinity College’s library and the Book of Kells when we came previously. Sadly, this is another one of those places where you can only see some parts on a guided tour, so we stuck with the palace parts which we could self-tour. Dublin Castle is a working palace, and while the president doesn’t live here, official events are still held here when other global dignitaries visit.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral was next. In Dublin, we found that most sights included audio guides (either hand-held or as a phone app). These were not things we experienced in Budapest or Bratislava. While I do like to learn about what I’m looking at, I am not convinced that the audio guide is my favorite. Sometimes the written visual placard is less intrusive.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral had one really interesting trait that I had never thought would be possible – it identifies as both Anglican and Catholic. How that can be, I simply don’t quite understand. At least historically, those two religions have fought and been the cause of so many lives lost, that to think of them both sharing a cathedral is shocking. I suppose modern Ireland is in a different place, but their religious-fueled battles are not so ancient (when we were in Belfast 18 years ago, there was a car bombing).

We stopped for a fancy lunch (we were hungry, so we picked the first thing we saw, otherwise, we all get cranky and then nobody can make a decision). This was the self-proclaimed 6th best steakhouse in the world. Luke and Anna-Sophia certainly seemed to enjoy their meat. I was blown away by the fact that they had a vegan Wellington on the menu. Europe is light years ahead of the US when it comes to vegetarian food. Every restaurant has options (plural), and they are clearly marked on the menu. In the US, I typically have one option, and it is either the veggie burger (typically, mushy and salty), or the grain/rice/stir-fry bowl (typically uninspired). Going out to eat in the US is not always that exciting for a vegetarian, but in Europe, it feels like they really try.

After lunch, we went to the Christ Church Cathedral.

This also had an audio guide, but I liked it better because it gave a short (<1 minute) explanation of an object/sight, and then there were options to hear more about different aspects of it. This experience was more of a choose-your-own-adventure type.

As with our experience in St. Matthias Church in Budapest, this church gave visitors a variety of angles from which to explore. Here, the church has a large crypt with artifacts (including a Magna Carta from the 13th century and a mummified cat), as well as a stunning interior.

We spent the afternoon exploring Dublin’s quaint little streets and shops, then went back to the hotel to rest a bit. Luke and I had a Guinness at the hotel bar, and we marveled at how they poured it. There are these funny-shaped cans that go into what almost looks like a beer pat mixed with a press. The press pierces the can, and the beer slowly pours out into the glass. When it is about 80% full, it pauses to allow the beer to settle (as Guinness is designed to be poured), and then the bartender completes the pour after the beer has had it’s 2-minute rest. It was a pretty cool way to have a properly-poured Guinness without a true nitrogen tap system.

On Sunday morning, we went over to the Guinness Storehouse. Anna-Sophia was not initially excited about touring a beer factory, but she did agree afterwards that the museum was really well done and was interesting both in content and from a multi-media presentation perspective. Of course, we had to have our pints in the Gravity Bar overlooking the city and peruse the shop for Guinness merchandise before heading home.

All in all, this was a great trip. We don’t travel in Europe too often lately. As much as the countries are all different, it can feel a bit repetitive after being to man of Europe’s major cities, but Bratislava and Budapest offered really different perspectives than Rome or Paris. In hindsight, I slightly wish I had done them in a different order. I’d do Dublin first, because it is the most like other major European cities. Then I’d do Bratislava, which was adorable and easy, and then I’d end in Budapest. Or Budapest and then Bratislava, but with Dublin still first. Still, it was a really nice mix of cities, with a little bit of everything.

While not intentional, I planned a real whopper of a day. First up, the Great Synagogue. This is the largest synagogue in Europe, and the 2nd largest in the world after NYC. It’s truly a miracle that it survived WWII and life behind the Iron Curtain.

In the courtyard, over 2200 victims of WWII are buried in 24 mass graves. All of these victims were given proper Jewish funerals, many of whom had originally been hastily buried and then later exhumed.

Sadly, 2200 is a tiny fraction of those who died. The greater Budapest area saw over 400,000 people murdered, sent to labor/concentration camps, or dead from starvation, disease, or lack of clean drinking water. A tasteful Tree of Life memorial honors many of the other victims whose bodies were never identified.

On the synagogue grounds, there was also a really informative gallery about the Budapest ghetto. After a depressing tour, we went inside the temple. What a sight! I can see why this is sometimes called the Jewish Cathedral.

Other uplifting sights in the Jewish quarter included a monument to Carl Lutz, a Swiss official who helped countless Jews get false papers and who prevented the destruction of the ghetto, and street markers signaling the edge of the former Budapest ghetto.

We stopped for a quick lunch (excellent semi-fast food falafel), and then meandered our way over to the House of Terror museum. This building was used by fascists in WWII and the Arrow Cross and other communist officials for detaining, torturing, and executing opposition members.

It was an interesting multi-media museum, although it jumped from the 1950s to 1991 in a somewhat jarring manner. There’s apparently some controversy around its portrayal of Hungary as a helpless pawn in the games played by Nazi fascists and Soviet-backed communists that I wasn’t aware of before (I can see their point, based off the tone of the material in the museum). Still, it was informative and did a good job of making visitors feel uncomfortable, which war crime themed museums should certainly do.

With heavy hearts, we turned our sights on more uplifting evening activities, starting with a walk along Andrássy út, a gorgeous boulevard on the UNESCO world heritage list. Each building had a different architectural style, and it was a beautiful walk.

At the end of the boulevard, visitors enter Heroes’ Square. This marks the start of City Park, a vast green space with all manner of interesting buildings (including a castle!), an ice skating rink, and a massive hot bath facility.

The Széchenyi baths have over a dozen tubs. Most are in the ideal 38 degree Celsius range. The water was truly lovely, but the clientele here runs a lot younger and so the vibe wasn’t quite our scene (on weekend nights, they bring in DJs and turn the place into a water-based club for events called sparties).

After much debate, we ended up at a Lebanese restaurant for dinner. A very nice Lebanese restaurant. It was absolutely delicious, and still under $100 including a bottle of very nice Hungarian wine.

Tomorrow’s docket is substantially less morbid, thankfully. Nevertheless, we had a really wonderful day on what’s been a consistently wonderful trip!

Bratislava was vastly more enjoyable than any of us expected. On our way to the train station, the city seemed to beckon me to stay or plan a return trip soon by presenting me with what might be the single greatest thing I’ve ever seen: a cheese vending machine!

Despite the temptation to stay, Budapest was calling and so we found our way to the train station. The train was 10 minutes late, which was apparently a big deal based on the frequency of announcements about it (the T has to be at least 100% slower than normal for anybody to make an announcement). We boarded, settled in for the 2.5 hour ride, and then my companions all fell asleep.

After dropping off our bags in what turned out to be another A-level accommodation (reminds me of the place I always stay at in Barcelona), we headed out to the suburbs to see Momento Park. This is an outdoor museum filled with propaganda and memorials from Hungary’s communist past. I knew Luke would love this place, and I was right.

One shortfall of the US educational system: I do not know my communist figureheads. Lenin, Stalin, Engels…sure, but who led the Communist party in Hungary? In Slovakia? Not a clue. Well, at least until today. I still may not know their names, but I got to see them in 20 foot-tall bronze sculpture format.

After mastering the bus and subway systems to make it back to town, we made our way over to the Gellért neighborhood. Since we hadn’t had lunch, we stopped at a bakery. OH MY GOSH!!!!! I read that bakeries were good here, but this was so much better than good. Makes the Italian pastries in my neighborhood seem pretty trashy. I will dream of that fresh cheese danish forever.

Before heading to the thermal baths, we climbed up a hill that was much steeper than I had hoped/planned to see the Citadel and the Liberty Statue (aka Freedom Statue). After climbing nearly 500 feet up, we get to the top to find a sign explaining that the sights are closed for renovation. As Luke noted, that sign would’ve been a whole lot more helpful at the bottom of the hill than at the top!

After the climb up that hill, we were ready to hit Gellért Baths, a spa/pool/thermal bath complex. It’s absolutely stunning, and the water was at the perfect 36-40 degree Celsius range to relieve all stress and sore muscles.

We spent 90 minutes enjoying all of the tubs and pools. After changing, we crossed the Liberty Bridge and headed back toward our side of town for dinner.

Dinner was at a traditional Hungarian restaurant. Kiddo had duck breast and Luke had a garlic-marinated and grilled pork cutlet. I was desperate for veggies so I got a salad (without meat, which seemed to baffle the server).

We ended the night with something called a chimney cake. It’s a yeasty, raised dough (like a doughnut) that’s cut into strips and then baked around a cylindrical mold over charcoal. It’s coated in butter and sugar so it gets a caramelized crust, then it’s rolled in a topping while it’s still warm. Amazing!

We have had our fair share of thrilling experiences and been to our fair share of somewhat dangerous locations over the years. Great White Shark cage diving in South Africa, a face-to-face encounter with a wild hyena in Botswana, exploring Medellin and Nairobi…all things others might see in a guide book and skip. Yet of all the experiences that may result in my demise, I believe the red-eye flight is the most dangerous/miserable.

We left Boston at 6:00pm. We landed in Dublin at 11:45pm Boston time. That math just doesn’t add up if you try to include sleep in the equation. We checked in to our flight to Bratislava, then kiddo and I slept on the airport floor for 80 minutes. I am too old to sleep on the floor, but MUCH too old for 80 minutes to count as a night’s sleep. I tried sleeping on the flight to Bratislava, too, but the man next to me woke me a few times, first to help him open the bottle of vodka he brought on board, and again when we were landing because he was so incredibly drunk that he couldn’t understand how to buckle his seatbelt.

Anyway, we got a taxi, dragged our exhausted husks up to our penthouse room, and barely said goodnight before enjoying the best 3-hour nap in the history of humankind.

This hotel is stunning. Hotel Arcadia. It’s quite old, with ancient Roman artifacts regularly turning up on the property, and architectural and decorative elements from the Renaissance, Austro-Hungarian, and Habsburg eras. Like most places we go, finding a room for 3 was tricky so we ended up at one of the nicest hotels in the city (yet reasonably priced!). No complaints! It’s comfortable, spacious, and has a cool multi-century history.

After our life-saving nap, we went out for coffee, a walk, and dinner. Bratislava calls itself the “biggest little city” and I can see why. It’s got a tiny footprint, but packs a lot into that space. And Old Town is so gorgeous. So gorgeous that I was recreating the scene from Despicable Me where Agnes grabs the stuffed unicorn and squeals “It’s so fluffy” as she struggles to contain her joy, except I swapped fluffy for adorable.

We took a walk through Old Town (so cute!!!) and then over the UFO bridge. It’s sad that 2/3 of Old Town and the Jewish quarter were destroyed in the 60s and 70s to make way for this bridge, but at least there are nice views from it.

We stopped for dinner at a place near the hotel and sampled Slovakian wine (not bad, but I would suggest the rose over the red). Although my guide book says nobody speaks English, we’ve had no trouble finding English-speakers (of course, we are in Old Town which is the main tourist center). Our server at dinner was asking where we are from and why we chose Bratislava, which makes me think American tourists are not that common (wouldn’t surprise me, since most American tourists prefer more mainstream destinations). He was friendly and spoke excellent English, so we are giving a five-star review for our first evening here.

After what I expect will be an amazing night’s sleep, we will hit all the sights tomorrow!