Another work trip and my first time in Slovakia. Nitra is a one of the oldest cities in Slovakia and is about 90km from the capital Bratislava where I flew into. Bus transfer was about 90mins. I stayed in a hotel right on the river Nitra, a short walk from work HQ in the University of Agriculture and a longer but totally doable walk into the main town centre. Hotel was a little odd. There was a poster on the side that was a bit sleazy and made me think the place was a brothel! It was fine inside though. Even had a pool and sauna but the water was cold and I was prob the only one to use it. The weather was fairly hot most of the time I was there though so a cold dip was welcome! Breakfast was awful and most of the hotel staff didn’t have a word of English.

I had a nice lunch day one in Bearded Brothers on the river and had a walk around the city. Nitra Castle was fab with great views over the city and a fab cathedral/church with incredible architecture inside. Steep climb up to it though on a sunny, hot day. Had a lovely pizza in Stara Kotolna log cabin style pub just outside the city and then a nice beer and Asian dish at the Grand Sole Hotel on the last night.

Special mention to Nitra Calvary, an odd thing for an atheist like me to do as it’s a pretty religious hill with stations of the cross all the way up and crucifixes and a small church on top but I needed a good workout to cancel some of the food and I’m a sucker for a good 360 view. It was damn hard work to get up though but people older than me were jogging up it!