Bratislava II

We walk through the port key that is St Michael’s gate and step back in time. The cobbled narrow streets, laneways and castle on the hill remind me of Diagon Alley, except souvenir shops replace owl, broomstick and wand suppliers.

The Old Town of Bratislava is a magical place, the peeling paint and boarded up windows of the back streets, the eery lights from the castle on top of the hill, metal men crawling out from street manhole covers, restaurants and cafes serving every type of food from Argentinian steak to Slovakian Bryndzove halusky. And just like Diagon Alley there are plenty of sweet shops and Leaky Cauldron type drinking establishments.

It is hard not to fall in love with the Old Town which is surprisingly quiet compared to the streets of Prague and Vienna.

We are staying just behind St Michael’s gate we have a view of the castle from our kitchen window, in the evening with our windows open we hear music, singing and celebrations on the street below.

Like every place we have visited so far it will be sad to leave, but on we go, following the Donau downstream to Budapest.