It is one of the most common traps for anyone writing a blog: I’ve been to a place so I must write about it. As if the act of merely being somewhere is a story worthy of telling to the world. Let’s face it; sometimes we visit a place and while it may be nice and we might have a lovely time, nothing happens that provides us with a reason to write about it.

Our recent day in Bratislava is a great example of this. The small capital of Slovakia is pleasant enough to stroll around for a day. And stroll we did. We found the much-photographed public statues:

We crossed the bridge over the Danube and took a few pictures of the UFO Tower. The €6.50 for the lift to the restaurant and viewpoint at the top didn’t strike me as good way to spend our money so we moved on.

We wandered up to the castle area. Most of the buildings were shut but they did look very impressive from the outside.

The Christmas market was in full swing and made for a lively festive atmosphere, although the cold December rain didn’t encourage us to linger after our evening meal.

And the colourful houses on both sides of the cobbled streets in the old town make for a very enjoyable wander with a camera, providing plenty of photo opportunities.

I’d happily recommend an overnight stop in Bratislava and there are probably enough places to visit nearby to make it a good base for a weekend break. Prices are reasonable: for under £70 we stayed in an excellent 4 star hotel (Art Hotel William) with one of the best hotel breakfasts I’ve enjoyed, while the bus fare from the airport into the city was €0.90.

But what would I write about it? Nothing newsworthy happened to us while we were there. We didn’t strike up a deep and meaningful conversation with a local person. Neither did we get stranded on a deserted motorway or have to negotiate our way out of a hostage situation. Even our 2.5 hour train journey to Budapest the next day (€14.50) was uneventful.

In short we spent a pleasant but very ordinary 24 hours as tourists in a European city. Nothing less, nothing more. On reflection I don’t think I’ll bother with a Bratislava post after all.

Bratislava: very nice but nothing to write home about is a post from: 501 Places