Sunday, March 17, 2024

Vienna would soon be in our rear view window as we left for Prague, Czech Republic.

Crossing the border from Austria into the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic had several wine regions. We past by one of the areas.

We arrived in Prague around noon and we saw some of the area.

Our bus driver dropped up off by the Prague Castle district. There were government buildings, churches, museums, and gardens. It was the largest castle complex in the world, over 17 acres. It was busy as we toured the area.

As we entered the Prague Castle complex we saw the guards that were there to protect the buildings belonging to the Presidential office

St. Vitus Cathedral’s construction began in the 14th century but it wasn’t finished for 600 years!

Various views of the cathedral.

On the south side of the cathedral was the historical Golden Gate from the 14th century. Below this was a mosaic of the Last Judgment. The mosaic was made from 1 million pieces of glass and marble.

Golden Gate on the left. Mosaic of the Last Judgment on the right.

The inside of the cathedral had many stained glass windows as well as a beautiful rose window.

A two-ton silver sculpture on top of St. John of Napomuk’s coffin was beautiful.

St. Wenceslas Chapel was restricted for visitors. You could look through the open doors to see the inside.

St. Wenceslas Chapel also had the entrance to the crown jewels. The jewels would only be shown for special occasions. The door that lead to where the jewels were kept required 7 keys that different public figures held and to open the door and safe all the key holders had to be present at the same time. The Czech president, the Prime Minister, and the Archbishop were three of the key holders!

Inside the cathedral was a carved 3-d wooden map of Prague and dated at 1620.

The Old Royal Palace was our next stop. It was built during the 12th century. It used to be the royal residence. We walked through the Vradislav Hall that was used for jousting matches, banquets, coronation festivities, and other royal activities. When we left this hall we walked down the wide “Rider’s Staircase” used to leave the room.

The Ludwig Wing was the where the Second Defenestration of Prague occurred in 1618. Because of another religious rebellion that saw the closure of Protestant chapels in Bohemia by the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II of the Habsurgs, two government officials and their secretary were tossed out the window! They all survived but this incident was credited with starting the Thirty Years’ War!

A replica of the crown jewels can be seen in the Old Royal Palace.

The Diet Hall in the Old Royal Palace was where the government conducted business.

The St. Georges Basilica’s ceiling was made of wood and the rest of limestone blocks.

Below was Queen Anne’s Summer Palace. King Ferdinand I of Habsburg family, built the villa below for Queen Anne. She died before it was finished. She had given birth to her 15th child and she didn’t survive.

The “Golden Lane” consisted of sixteen rows of small houses that were built into the fortifying wall of the Prague Castle.

These small houses were once inhabited by goldsmiths and castle guard members. The homes were preserved and we visited the homes. Franz Kafka’s former home where we did writing was number 22.

Number 14 was the home to internationally famous tarot-card reader, Matylda Průšová (Madame de Thebes). She was arrested and died while in prison for predicting the end of the Nazi regime.

From the South Gardens we had wonderful views of Prague. It was located between the Prague castle buildings and the castle wall.

We stopped at the Ippa Cafe for a drink, snack, and restroom break before heading down the 100 steps from the Prague Palace grounds.

We walked from the Castle hill and over to the Charles Bridge. It was 100 steps down from the hill.

We walked to the famous Charles Bridge and then walked across. The bridge construction began in 1357. It was a medieval bridge that was built of sandstone blocks. We began walking under the Lesser Town bridge Towers and crossed the other end at the Old Town Bridge Tower. We also saw figures on the bridge.

The bridge was very crowded!

We also took pictures as we crossed the Vitava River, the longest river in the Czech Republic.

Karolina, our tour director lives in Prague so she knew the shortcuts. We avoided the crowds on the main street and cut through the Klementinum library. The library was built in 1722 and housed the National Library of the Czech Republic.

We ended up at the main square of Prague by the astronomical clock tower and the Old Town Square.

After our introduction to the area, we had free time to visit the Easter markets in the Old Town Square and also watched the astronomical clock come to life on the hour! We actually watched it two different times!

The Astronomical clock was over 600 years old! On the hour the bells chimed and then four characters came to life. One represented vanity and stared into a mirror, the second represented greed and was holding a purse full of money, a skeleton represented death and rang his bell, and the fourth was a musical Turk that shook his head in denial to the skeleton. Twelve apostles rotated through the doors above the clock face. All of this lasted less than a minute.

We enjoyed walking around the Old Town Square and the Easter Markets! Many people enjoyed the decorated eggs, crafts, food, drinks, and entertainment!

At one of the booths a woman was selling her decorated eggs and also had a display of the process!

Chimney cakes were a popular food that was being sold here and in Budapest! They were a sweet yeast dough that was rolled into a long rope, baked around a cylinder, coated in melted butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

On the Old Town Square (also called the Marianske Square) we saw the Prague New City Hall (1908-1911) and since 1945 held the offices of local officials and the formal residences for the mayor and other city officials.

The Marian Column was a religious monument topped with a statue of Virgin Mary. The original column from 1650 was demolished in 1918 with the fall of Austria-Hungary. It was reconstructed and completed in 2020.

Below were a few more pictures from the square.

When we left Old Town we walked through the area that was the Jewish Quarter and ghetto from the 13th century.

We past the Old New Synagogue which was Europe’s oldest active synagogue and was completed in 1270.

It was a full day and we enjoyed every minute!