There are, to be sure, some striking relics of the city’s era of Communist Big Weird Buildings to ogle — architectural eruptions that regularly draw visitors with fancier cameras than mine. The essential tour includes the massive inverted pyramid called Slovensky Rozhlas, built to house Slovak Radio; the menacing 1970s extension of the Slovak National Gallery; and Namestie Slobody, or Freedom Square. But for maximum atmospheric challenge, my walking partner and I limited our itinerary to the panelaks of Petrzalka, the bridge that got us there and whatever ground we covered to walk between the two. We piled onto a tram that appeared to be going in the right direction, and jumped off as we approached the bridge.

We could have easily spent an hour just gawping, and a solid 10 minutes learning the various names for the span: Most SNP, i.e., the Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising (as the bureaucrats call it); Novy Most, i.e., New Bridge (as the people call it); or the UFO Bridge, as new visitors are bound to call it, a natural nickname given the flying saucer-shaped folly at the top of the pylon that anchors the Petrzalka end of the asymmetrical structure. These days, for a fee, an elevator takes tourists to an observation deck under the jurisdiction of a fancy restaurant called UFO.

Exhibiting a mad declaration of totalitarian will over common sense, with a bonus jab of contempt thrown in, the masterminds who made this bridge wrecked a good chunk of the city’s historically important Old Town, managing to tear up nearly all of the Jewish quarter, to impose a major roadway. In a fit of what goes around comes around, the bridge’s three designers were on the outs with the regime by the time the structure officially opened in August 1972, and their names were left off the dedication plaque.

Image The Most SNP (New Bridge) houses a UFO-shaped viewing platform and restaurant. Credit... Andreas Meichsner for The New York Times

We left the embankment of everything old and walked along the lower level of the New Bridge, safe for pedestrians and bicyclists, while cars passed by on the upper level. The panelaks of Bratislava are just beyond, a mile or two over; we could see them, spread like a rash. And when we set foot on the embankment of everything new, we headed in the direction of the housing mirage ahead of us.

But first, we walked through a homage to new capitalism — past the sprawling Aupark shopping center, and through the shiny high-rise corporate complex called Digital Park. Global enterprises including Bayer, Shell and Lenovo call the campus their Bratislava home. Sleek cafes beckon at ground level. A big neon sign advertises Digital Golf. Young businessmen in jackets stood around outside, smoking. Bratislavan women checked their smartphones. We walked on. We cut into side streets. We passed receptacles for dog droppings. We reached the panelak perimeter. We strolled around courtyards.