When I turned up in Bratislava

I have noticed in the past few days that I have had a few blog views from Slovakia. So this got me thinking of the time when I was in Bratislava on holidays in 2014. In June that year I was desperate for a trip abroad as I hadn't been abroad in three years. So I had a look at some flights and eventually settled on Prague for the end of that coming August, Prague beating off the appeal of being burnt in Morocco. A week and half is what I booked and then the brainwave hit me, why not spend a day or two in Bratislava. Two countries in the one trip. I booked the train which came in at a handy €30 return between the two capital cities.
The train ride was four hours and I had booked it for Sunday August 31st. The scenery as the train passed through the Czech countryside was lovely. Some nice valleys in between hills and then flat land as we got into Bratislava. Destination Bratislava was reached just shy of four o'clock and it was off to the hostel to drop the bags.
I had planned the trip to Bratislava around a game of football of course. The football was that night and it was going to be quiet an experience. The game in question was Slovan Bratislava v FK Dukla Banská Bystrica.

I walked from the hostel to the ground which was about 30 minutes. The ground itself, the stadion Pasienky is in an area where most of the sports venues in the city are located. You have the Ice hockey arena nearby and the sports halls. Also around the corner is the old Tehelné Pole stadium which is where the Slovak national side formally played (Ireland got a 2-2 draw there in 2007) and it's where Artmedia Bratislava played their champions league games in 2005-06. Sadly it was in the demolition stage and there wasn't much left of it when I was there.
As for the Stadion Pasienky well it was a bowl shaped ground with a running track which isn't great but hey it's all part of the charm. Weather wise it was cloudy but dry (that was to change the follow day).

The game kicked off at seven so I was around the ground in plenty of time so got my ticket which was a cool €7 and the programme was another €2 so not bad. Spent a bit of time just wandering around the ground taking it all in and it was quiet to be honest.
The attendance would be around 1300 which comparing to Ireland is about the same. However the ground can hold just under 14000 so there was very much an empty feeling around the place.

The game started with the Slovan ultras located diagonally across from the section I was in. I did try to get a ticket over that end but the ticketman's lack of English prevented it. What was striking was that there was no away fans. Dukla Banská Bystrica took the lead early on and there was no one in the stands cheering. The only cheers were from the bench obviously enough. That lead was short lived however as Slovan levelled up barely three minutes later when Seydou Soumah scored. The game was mostly Slovan attacking and that persistence paid off on the half hour when they took the lead through Samuel Štefánik. Dukla didn't really threaten that much afterwards. Then came half-time so time for some food. Hot-dog was grand and it was time for the second half. Nothing of particular note happened except that Slovan extended their lead later on in the half through Juraj Halenár. Dukla were defeated and Slovan got the expected win.

When leaving the ground I asked one of the stewards who did speak English was there any Dukla fans. Nope, which was a shame as I'm sure they would've went mad in the away section early on. Speaking of away sections it couldn't be more noticeable really. The seats in the stadium are colored sky blue but the away section is colored red and yellow so just in case any away fans do go there it's not too difficult to find it.

I made my way back to the hostel, where I was to meet fellow travelling people from all over. I got talking to two lads from Switzerland who had just arrived from a train journey going the length of Switzerland and Austria. We also got talking to an Australian guy who was working his way through Europe which was an interesting thought. Overall the beers were needed as a four hour train ride and a game took me to ten o'clock.

The following day it rained and it poured. I figured since it was my only full day in the city I had to brave it and got out early enough just after nine. I walked everywhere and saw pretty much everything from the nice city center to the UFO bridge to the castle on the hill overlooking the city. It was quiet a nice city and one that I would visit again but hopefully without the soaking.

I did manag to stumble across the site of Artmedia Bratislava's old ground, the Štadión Petržalka. It was demolished two years before my visit but still it was another old ground gone. Artmedia didn't play any of their big European games at this site but it was from the photos I have seen a nice little ground. 

Before my trip down to Bratislava I did a bit of looking into football in the city and was shocked that only one side from the capital was in the top division. The other two sides Artmedia and Inter were in the lower leagues and weren't playing in the city the weekend I was there. 

Bratislava was quiet a nice city and the people were friendly and helpful. It is a city I would recommend as it isn't a very large city so most things are in walking distance. So one day I shall return.