Friday September 20 – Prague escaped most of the destruction experienced by other European cities. Because of this most of the original city & buildings are intact. The historic centre of the city has three main areas. The Old Town dates to 900AD. The New Town dates to the mere 1350s. Finally the Lesser Town, which is across the river and is where Prague Castle is located dates to the 1400s. Again thanks Wikipedia. Our plan for the day is to explore Prague Castle.
See stairs! The large hotel room mentioned in the previous day’s post. The yoga studio is upstairs.Prague has definitely leaned into Kafkaesque surreal art thing.
Old Town & Charles Bridge
The main way across to Prague Castle is via the Charles Bridge which was completed in 1402. The river is still very high after the heavy rains that hit central Europe.
The Charles Bride is on the left, on the right turns out to be the Old Water Tower. The water was still really high. The Church of Francis of Assisi is one beside the bridge.Pretty stunning stuff. The entrance to the bridge.Along the bridge are 30 statues of saints
Lesser Town
The Lesser town definitely doesn’t live up to its name.
Definitely doesn’t feel lesser. Further up the hill you go the palace ratio increases too. It was the main area where the aristocracy lived.Don’t let your trainer know. The steps leading up to Prague Castle. We made it
Prague Castle
We didn’t really know much or what to expect at Prague Castle, it certainly looked stunning at a distance. It is definitely stunning up close too. Turns out that Prague Castle is the largest in the world covering 7 hectares & dates to 870. Again thanks Wikipedia.
The front door. The sculptures up the front are fun, one’s clubbing someone, the other is stabbing another. Welcoming.
St Vitas Church
St Vitas Cathedral is inside the Castle, the gothic church dates to the 1340sRose window It’s definitely one of the most beautiful churches we’ve seen. Just the side door. The Golden Gate.
St George’s Basillica
Why have one big church when you can have two. St George’s Basilica looks more recent with its Baroque front elevation but actually dates to 920s.The basilica’s interior is largely unchanged from the original Romanesque church.
Golden lane
The golden lane was originally housing for the castle guards, and dates to the 1500s.
Big Hansel & Gretel energy. I know I’m tall but they must have been tiny humans.
The Palace
We weren’t able to tour the palace as they were displaying the ‘Bohemian Crown Jewels’.
We decided against seeing them. The waiting time was over an hour. We were given our marching orders. The changing of the Czech Castle Guard.
Lesser Town Again
We decide to head back to the hotel.
Us. Prague in the background Back through the Lesser Town it’s super prettyGiraffe. Not so hidden.The Lesser Town gate back to Charles bridge.
New Town detour
Back over the bridge we head to finish our day at Dancing House designed by the architect Frank Gehry, which was built in 1992.
It’s also called the Fred & Ginger House, as it resembles Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. Sort of. Mary Poppins?
I’m a bit behind on the updates, hope to catch up when we have more time in Rome.
MM4.Travel 
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