How much you getting paid to babysit that beer?

That right there is just about the best line I've heard on this trip so far. It was said by a English guy to an American when we were out drinking in Bratislava.

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, but it's only a small city with a population of about half a mil. Some of you might know from such movies as Eurotrip and Hostel. The latter apparently reduced their backpacking numbers by 70% in the following year. You'll be happy to know I made it out in one piece though.

It also had a few protests which ended up playing a big part in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of Communism in the area, including a few that are often attributed to happening in Prague. Anyway, enough on the history lesson, you can look it up on Wikipedia if you're interested.

On my first day here I did a free walking tour which is where I learnt all of the above stuff. The guide took us to all the major sights and explained their significance. It was on this walking tour that I met an American guy who I hung out with for the rest of the day.

He was a pretty interesting guy. One of his hobbies back home in San Diego is Pirate Sailing. Which is basically a thing he started with a few mates which has now grown to like 500. They get a bunch of sailboats and then they go out with water cannons and raid each other for beer and weapons. Sounds like a blast.

We went and had lunch at a restaurant which was recommended by the walking tour guide which was quite cheap and had traditional Slovak food. One was a garlic soup inside a circular loaf of bread which is very similar to a dish my Grandma makes. The main course was Halušky which was basically cheese, bacon and potato, but it was damn good.

Then we went up to the castle, walked around a bit and then headed back down to a brewery also recommended by the tour guide. I ended up going back to his hostel where the owners were cooking dinner and charging 2 euros for it, so I decided to get in on that, and then they also took us on a pub crawl. It was during this pub crawl that the line at the beginning of this post was said. So far that's been the best hostel I haven't stayed at.

The next day I just walked around the town getting some photos of stuff I didn't get time for during the walking tour. And that night I went out for some dinner and drinks with some guys from my own hostel this time. I took them to the same brewery I went to before. It has really good beer.