The Prague Castle

The Prague Castle sits high above the city on a hill. It is and unmistakable landmark that graces the horizon. Our tour began early with our guide hoping to beat the crowds that would eventually take over the castle grounds.

The castle dates back to 880 and was fortified with a moat and a rampart of clay and stones. The first half of the 10th century found three churches inside the walled fortress, the Church of the Virgin Mary and one dedicated to St. George, another to St. Vitus.

The castle was not only the seat of the head of state, princes and kings, but also of the highest representative of the church, the Prague bishop. From the 11th century on, the basilica of St. Vitus was the main castle church and contained relics of St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas (not King Wenceslas) and St Adalbert.

The castle expanded and reconstructed with each succeeding ruler and came through hard times as well as good. It is a huge complex and extremely interesting.

We arrived in time to see the changing of the guard. As with all palaces and castles where we have watched this take place, it was also an impressive display of precision and military finesse. The summer uniforms of light blue had recently changed to winter's dark blue, a fact I'm sure the guards appreciated on this chilly and windy day.

With the guards in place, we proceeded into a large courtyard. Our guide left us for a bit of free time (restroom break) while she bought our tickets. When she returned, we entered another courtyard that was in front of the Cathedral of St. Vitus and crossed to enter the cathedral itself.

I don't understand all that is involved with St. Vitus becoming so important to Prague but some of the 150 relics of St. Vitus were acquired for the castle's cathedral including an arm. 

While we were exploring, our guide told us the story of St. John of Nepomuk whose silver tomb is quite impressive and huge. As the story goes, he received the confession of the queen and when King Wenceslas IV(not the good king) demanded he tell the king what she had confessed, he refused and kept his vow of confidentiality. The king was incensed and had his tongue cut out among other wonderful tortures he inflicted. 

St. John never gave in and his body was thrown into the river from the Charles Bridge. It is said that fishermen the next day saw five floating gold stars that indicated where the body was. He was pulled out and now whenever you see an image of him he has the stars circling his head like a halo. I'll tell a little more about him when we get to the bridge.

We stopped in front of the stained glass window depicting St. Wenceslas, as a child, who was the patron saint of Bohemia. He was posthumously given the title of King Wenceslas and we know him from the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas." There is a square and a statue dedicated to him in Prague.

Entrance to the Old Royal Palace was by ticket only and we saw the huge ballroom that was there. Well, ballroom was only one function of it. Apparently they would cover the floor with something and have jousting contests inside. I can't even imagine...

The last area of the castle grounds was called the Golden Lane, a small street behind the castle wall that had very tiny houses built against the wall. A famous Bohemian author was said to have lived in one. One of the houses which are now small craft shops, was so tiny that in order to have steps going up to the upper room, they had to be foldable, fitting against the wall and pulled out when needed. Clever craftmanship.

We poked our heads into a few houses but since we had free time and it was cold and our guide had mentioned a cafe at the end of the street, we quickly made our way there. Hot chocolate sounded good, dairy or no dairy, I was going to have some. I'm so glad I did. It came in an espresso sized cup and was the richest darkest hot chocolate I've had since we visited a chocolate factory in France. I don't think there was much dairy in it.

From the last courtyard, there was a long but easy stairway of stones to get back to our bus that had moved to the base of Castle Hill. It was good to get back to the hotel. We had just enough time to grab a pizza at the place a few doors down from the hotel and then be back in time for our afternoon excursion to Terezin, a concentration camp.

Just a little side note and to let you know our guides were often a bit humorous. This guide informed us very matter-of-factly that McDonald's did not originate in the USA. She pointed to a spot in a relief on the wall. Sure enough, you could make out the "golden arches." It was actually a W upside down but almost convincing.