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Prague, Czech Republic

We started out our morning with a guided walking tour of Prague. This was the official start of our Ama Waterways cruise. We had an excellent guide and went to the Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, and Old Town Square. These were all areas we had walked around on our own, but it was nice to go back with someone who could talk about it all. While on the castle grounds we had hoped to go in the St Vitus’s Cathedral, but it turned out that today was a local holiday, St Wenceslas Day, so there was a special morning mass in the cathedral. We did walk the Castle grounds and from there walked down parts of the Royal Mile. We crossed the Charles Bridge and went to the town square. After that, the day was on our own.

Paul and I decided to go back to the castle so that we could go in to St Vitus’s Cathedral. It was reopened to the public by then so we got to enjoy its many stained glass windows. This is a huge Gothic cathedral within the castle grounds. It has mosaics on one portion of the outside and has the expected gargoyles all around. The original church on this site was founded in 930, with the Gothic building started in 1344, although a church has been there since 1060. (Officially, the cathedral construction was “finished” in 1929.) While most of the cathedral is Gothic style, the main tower was finished later in a Renaissance style. Around the edges of the cathedral are many chapels dedicated to different saints. The most beautiful is the chapel to Saint (King) Wenceslas. The walls are covered with paintings depicting his life. There are multiple royal tombs in the cathedral as well. The stained glass windows are beautiful and ornate, including a large rose window.

While at the castle, we also went into the Basilica of St George and the old royal palace. The castle is considered to be the largest ancient castle in the world (apparently according to Guinness). The castle dates back to 870 and the Basilica of St George dates back to the 10th century. Like most European castles, new portions were built and rebuilt over the centuries. During WWII the castle was the headquarters of Reinhard Heydrich, whose assassination I mentioned in yesterday’s blog. The castle has it’s own guards and they do a changing of the guard ceremony daily. Just outside the main palace gate are street vendors and areas to eat. The castle is up on a hill and gives a great view of the city of Prague.

When we were walking up to the castle, a large number of motorcycles with banners went by. The procession was followed by a police car. It turned out to be part of the anti-nuclear protest that we had seen in Wenceslas Square yesterday. No riot police this time and when we arrived at the castle they were there but it was all quiet overall.

The Charles Bridge was started in 1357 and finished in the early 1400s. It crosses the Vltava River, which flows through Prague, connecting the castle/Lesser Quarter with the Old Town. The bridge is composed of 16 stone arches and is lined with statues and has a tower at each end. On the bridge are many artists and craftsmen in booths with nearby street performers. The bridge is often crowded with tourists as it is a well known landmark and the main way to get to and from different historical areas of Prague.

From the castle, we walked back down to the river to an area where we had seen people feeding swans and then walked back to the hotel. It may not sound like much, but we managed to walk more than 9 miles today. Lunch was more street vendor food and dinner was pizza, no Czech dinner tonight.

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