Prague: Karlův most a Pražský hrad a Katedrála svatého Víta

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We started off our day with a stop in a the café across the street and had coffee and cake for breakfast, and then made our way to the river. It was a pretty hot day already, so we meandered across the Karlův most(Charles Bridge), which turns out to be a nice pedestrian-only bridge with great view of the river and the castle. We dodged gawking tourists, buskers, and hawkers, stopping occasionally to get a selfie or a photo of the castle, and got to the other side, and it turned out there was both a Starbucks and a tram ticket machine, so we stopped for iced lattes (did I mention it was a hot day?) and bought some tram tickets.

After a while, we decided to head on up to the castle (Pražský hrad) so we grabbed the next tram and continued the day's adventure. The tram was convenient and fun, if a bit crowded, but it is Prague in the summertime. We finally made it to the top, got across the street and into what I'm going to call the antecastle, because it's not actually in the castle, but there is a lot to see before you actually get to "in the castle". We took a detour through an archway into a garden which afforded a nice view of the cathedral from a distance, and then wended our way down to the "Pentatonix Photo Spot" where they took their Prague Castle photograph. It had a bunch of people, so we just looked and passed on by. We finally made it to the causeway leading to the entrance proper, and stopped and took a photo of the guards (you _have_ to take a photo of the guards) and then we brazenly disregarded the signs and walked through the center arch entrance which was for cars and not pedestrians.

The castle is big, and there is a lot to it, and the entrance fees are complex and varied. So, I let Cheryl figure all that out. We opted for the "see most everything" ticket (circuit B), which included the cathedral, the old palace, Bazilika Sv. Jiří (St. George Basilica) and the Golden Lane.

Once we had our tickets, we started with the cathedral, which is big. Damn big. Seriously big. It was super crowded inside, but we explored all of it. I took at least a hundred thousand pictures (well, a lot, anyway), but most of them are just not interesting out of context, sadly. I don't know of a good way to photograph this cathedral in a manner which would give the viewer any kind of idea of the just general bigness of this place, so I'm just going to have to say this: go there, go there in person, see it, and you'll understand.

I did get a photo of Alfons Mucha's contribution to the stained glass windows because it was just a fantastic contrast to the rest of the (quite traditional) windows. Alfons Mucha was a big deal; if you recall, we saw an art gallery dedicated to his work yesterday, and we are yet to see his Slav Epic. Anyway, his stained glass window was really nice; maybe the photo will give you an idea, but still, Go There. 😊

Occasionally, I am wandering around a place, just taking it all in, and I find something extremely mundane that speaks to me in some manner. This time, it was inside the cathedral, just a vase of flowers, sitting there unassuming, just providing some color, I guess. I never did figure out what the flowers were for (if, indeed, they were "for" anything), but I did spend a while photographing them. I'm pretty happy with the single frame that came out exactly like I wanted it to.

After the cathedral, we were outside and it was hot again, so we took a breather and had some water, and then headed to the old palace, which was cool, but I don't remember too much about it, mostly because my head was back in the cathedral. There was a gigantic hall in which it was apparently possible to hold jousts, and there were some exhibits of crown jewels and the like. There was also a highly-recommended-by-Rick-Steves bathroom (well, he actually recommended the view out the window), so we went and checked that out and got a few pictures. I'm pretty sure we were in a room where they defenestrated people (threw them out the window; Fenster means "window" in German, probably a related word in Latin, too lazy to look it up right now).

After more breather and hydration, we went to St. George's Basilica, which is a very old building indeed, founded in AD 920. No, I'm not missing a digit there; the year of our Lord Nine Hundred and Twenty. For some reason, I did not get any pictures, but I highly recommend not passing this building over just because the cathedral is so cool, because the the 10th century construction is still evident in places.

It was almost closing time, so we popped into the St. Vitus Treasury exhibition, which was a separate entrance fee. Now, by this time, I had done just about all the standing and looking as I was going to do, so I did not examine each and every relic in detail, but I did get a good idea of what the church considered "treasure". I don't know much about relics, but apparently, they are a Big Deal, especially if they are associated with Christ. There were a _lot_ of relics here, all behind glass and inaccessible to anything but the eyes. There was a bunch of other stuff, too, like vestments and so forth.

We finished up at the treasury, and slowly made our way back out of the castle proper, stopping again at the Pentatonix Prague Photo Vantage Point, which, happily, was deserted, so we took a selfie (which is on Facebook somewhere), and then went and waited for the tram, which took us back down into old town, where we ended up at a Brasilian restaurant and had many much meat from sliced from skewers by friendly waiters, and also consumed several caipirinhas apiece and generally had a good time. And then we headed back to the pension for cooling off and blogging and, eventually, bedtime.

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Photos

View from Karlův most
We walked across the Charles Bridge.

Mucha Stained Glass
Alfons Mucha got to design one of the stained glass windows in the cathedral.

Found Still Life
These flowers were just sitting there in the cathedral and they caught my eye.

Katedrála svatého Víta
Imposing view outside the entrance. I know I use the word "imposing" a lot, but there it is.

Crown Jewels
Sadly, I do not recall whose these were. But, I liked the reflections.

Inside Katedrála svatého Víta
This cathedral is impressive inside and out, and I do not have the talent to convey just how awesome it is through photography. Maybe this will give you an idea, though.

Comments

[J&J]

Prague
What a lovely city! My feet would be numb just doing all that walking and taking in the magnificent views all around!