Understand

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Characteristics
Bratislava (before 1919 known as Prešporok in Slovak(a transliteration of the original German name, Pozsony in Hungarian, and Pressburg in German and English) has a very pleasant medieval inner city with tiny, narrow winding streets, surrounded by the biggest concrete block house complex (called "panelak", with blocks of flats; see Prague chapter for information about panelaks) in Central Europe called Petržalka that stretches on endlessly. So far, this looks no different from Prague. But Bratislava is an exception. It's so close to Vienna, it could practically be a suburb. Move further east and there are plenty of rural places. Farms, vineyards, agricultural land and tiny villages are situated just about 50 kilometers to the east of Bratislava, just like in the case of Vienna or Prague.

Today, Bratislava and its surroundings form the second most prosperous region in Central and Eastern Europe, with a per capita GDP of around 108% of the EU-25 average (this is, expectedly, after Prague, which is the richest city in Central and Eastern Europe).

History
After being an independent country till the 9th century, Slovakia was part of Hungary from the 10th / 11th century onwards and part of Czechoslovakia from 1918 onwards, so that it was subject to the whims of foreign rulers most of the time - although, for example, one of the Czechoslovak presidents Gustav Husak was Slovak.

During World War II, Slovakia was a formally independent Nazi puppet state. The modern Slovakia arose in 1993. Between 1992 and 1998, the country's Prime Minister was the controversial official Vladimir Meciar, who did his country's image no favors.Finally Slovakia elected new officials, and that has made all the difference. The Slovaks are making an effort to be more international.

Bratislava was the capital (1536 - 1784), the coronation city(1563-1830) and the seat of the diet (1536 - 1848) of the Kingdom of Hungary for many years. During WWII it was the capital of Slovakia. Since 1968 it has been the capital of the federal state of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia and, since 1993, it has been the capital of independent Slovakia.

Although today, Bratislava's population are mostly Slovaks, from the 13th to the early 19th century, the majority ethnic group in the town were the Germans, who remained the largest ethnic group until the First World War. Hungarians formed the second largest group in the city, but after the First World War, many Germans and Hungarians left for Austria and Hungary respectively and the remaining Germans were expelled after the Second World War.

Eat

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Halušky (small, spaetzle-like dumplings with sheep's cheese), potent garlic soup (but perhaps not on a date) and Slovak white wine (due to its cooler climate, Slovakia's reds pale in comparison with some of Europe's other offerings). Schnitzels, goulashes and other typically Central European foods. Fresh vegetables are more common here thanks to the large amount of land given over to agriculture.

If you're low on cash and want to self-cater, there's a huge Tesco supermarket on Kamenné námestie...