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Published: August 14th 2007
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St. Vitus Cathedral
Exterior of St. Vitus Cathedral... Our day started off with a guided city tour of Prague. Our guide, Eva, took us first to the Strahov Monastery located on Petrin Hill just past the Prague Castle area. The monastery, built in 1140 by Prince Vladislav II, was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in a gothic style in 1258. We took some photos of the outside of the monastery and then headed to the Loreto, a baroque church from the 17th century. At the end of the block was a statue of Edvard Benes, the second President of the Czech Republic. We toured the inside of the Loreto but were unable to take photographs inside.
After the Loreto we headed to the Prague Castle area, first walking through Hrydcany Square with Schwarzenberg Palace, the Plague Statue (or statue of the Virgin Mary), and the residence of the Archbishop. At the entrance to the castle is a statue of Tomas Masaryk, first President of the Czech Republic. We photographed the guards at the entrance gate to the castle and then made our way inside. St. Vitus Cathedral, which is the most noticeable (and most beautiful) structure within the castle area, is currently offering free admission, so we got
Strahov Monastery
This is the entrance to Strahov Monastery, home to the famous library that houses one of the oldest monastic collections in the country (containing over 16,000 books). in the long line and slowly made our way inside. The inside of the church contains the crypts of several important historical figures (including St. Wenceslas), as well as many beautiful stained glass windows. What really impressed me was the outside structure with its Gothic architecture. St. Vitus is probably the biggest church I've ever seen (I could barely fit the whole thing in when taking a picture of it).
After walking out of the cathedral we saw that the changing of the guards had just taken place, so we quickly snapped pictures of the guards marching by with their guns. We then walked past the Royal Palace and St. George's Basilica. I took another photo of the guards at the back gate of the castle as we walked out, and as we made it to the bottom of the hill, our driver was waiting to pick us up and take us back to Old Town Square.
When we arrived at Old Town Square, it was 10 minutes before noon and we were just in time to the see the Astronomical Clock as it chimed. We crowded in with the dozens of other people and waited for the
Strahov Monastery
Front of Strahov Monastery... clock to strike, and when it did, the little doors at the top opened and several figures passed by and looked out at they passed the openings. The crowd applauded and then we all scattered in our different directions again.
We went back to our hotel to freshen up and then headed back out again, this time to the nearest Metro station (Namesti Republicki) to buy our 3-day passes. It really is a good deal to buy these, whether you use them a few times or the entire time you're here. They are good for the metros, trams, buses, and the Petrin Hill funicular, so it's nice to have those as options for transportation (especially after you've been walking all day!). We took the yellow line metro to Nadroni Trida and then got off to transfer to Tram 23 (Tram 22 also goes the same direction). I chose the wrong direction when boarding the tram (not surprisingly), so we got off at the first stop and boarded the tram traveling in the opposite direction. We got off at Ujezd, which is just across the bridge in Mala Strana, and then walked across the street and over to the Petrin
Strahov Monastery
Another photo of Strahov Monastery... Hill Funicular, which we rode up to Petrin Hill. There we saw the minitiature Eiffel Tower (which we decided not to climb), wandered around Petrin Park a bit, and then headed back down the Funicular again.
We retraced our routes back to the Namesti Republicki station and found a restaurant (Plzenska Restaurace, located under the Municipal House) to eat dinner at. This was a great choice, as this was by far the best meal I have had so far on this trip! I had a vegetarian risotto and Pillsner Urquell beer, and both were perfect. The menu there also has pictures next to each item, as well as descriptions in about 7 different languages, which makes it incredibly easy to choose what to eat! I really wanted to try the Palacinky (a pancake desert with ice cream and vanilla sauce), but my stomach couldn't bear another ounce of food, so I decided to wait until tomorrow to try one.
After dinner we wandered back through Wenceslas Square and then headed back to our hotel. The clouds were hovering with the threat of rain, but so far the weather has been clear (and very hot!). I am crossing my
Prague
View of Prague from Strahov Monastery... fingers for clear weather tomorrow, as we will be walking around Mala Strana and the Prague Castle area (again).
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Michael
non-member comment
It sounds like you're seeing some stunning architecture while you're there, I'm very jealous and looking forward to the photos so much! Yay, I'm glad you got to see a full clock show. I like the idea of the crowd suddenly appearing as noon approaches and then just as suddenly leaving after applauding. :D That sounds like a very handy menu for a restaurant to have indeed, hope you manage to try the Palacinky, (sounds tasty) and that the weather holds for your walking.