Isn’t it always? Just as in Buda, and I suppose everywhere it’s possible, royalty builds its castle on the highest ground in the area. Best for defense. We hop on our first tram and head up the hill and past the palace area. We walk through the Loreto – a 17th century Baroque pilgrimage site which is a replica of the original Santa Casa in Loreto, Italy, which is believed to the the house where the Virgin Mary received the Incarnation (so nice that castles come with fairy tales).
We then head down the hill – and enjoy a spectacular view of the city on the way, but too misty for any good photos – until we reach St. Vitus’ Cathedral, started with a single rotunda by Prince Wenceslas I in the mid 900’s and then taken up in earnest and built into an imposing cathedral, finished only (relatively) recently in 1929. It dominates the skyline over Prague and is beautifully lit up at night. the republic’s greatest kings and a multitude of saints are buried under the church.
the view when first entering:
The Wenceslas chapel, with semi-precious stones laid in the walls:
We are standing in front of the tomb (made from 3,700 pounds of silver) of St. John of Nepomuk, who dared decide an argument in favor of an archbiship over Wenceslas IV, and was tortured to death and then thrown over the Charles Bridge as a result:
beautiful and huge lead glass windows all around the top of the walls:
From there we stopped in a cafe for some hot tea and apple strudel:
Then the walk continues around the Cathedral
and then into the Old Royal Palace, where no pictures are allowed. The large hall is quite imposing, and although large enough, it’s hard to believe, when we see the Riders’ staircase, that men would ride into the hall on their horses for jousting contests. Also for viewing are the rooms for land registration (old lands rolls) and the Diet, where the ruling lords and priests would meet with the King on issues of the day. Note of history: it seems that Prague had a series of 3 famous defenestrations – killing the condemned by throwing them out of a window. The first occurred in 1419, during the Hussite wars (with hussies? really?). Vadislav II’s officials met a similar fate in 1438. In 1618, more than 100 protestants stormed the Old Royal Palace and cast two hated Catholic governors and their secretary out the (topmost) window.
The men’s fall was broken by a dung heap from a jousting tournament, although they liked to say they were caught in the wings of angels, or by the Virgin Mary’s robes, depending upon which one you talk to! We peered out said window and could see the two stone monuments erected where each of the men fell, and then made good on their escape to a nearby estate of a famous woman, who refused to give them up to authorities.
From there we walk down Golden Lane, an area adjacent to the castle where small rooms turned into miniature apartments that became very popular and fashionable. Franz Kafka lived there for a time to write and escape the hubbub of the city. Next to that was the area where weapons were made,
and the tower where prisoners were tortured:
A pleasant walk through the south gardens, and there’s an incredible view of the whole city. Kind of misty, but here’s the view:
and now we’re back where we started. We hand in the audio guide and caught a tram back to our hood.
On the way, Lance is looking to try the beer listed in our guide as “maybe the best in Europe”. We stop in the first pub that has it (which has been around for 700 years! first as a wine cellar, and then in the 1800’s, it became a restaurant), and hoist a couple of pints:
with only a shared apple strudel for lunch, I’m hungry, so we opt to share a quarter of a duck with braised red cabbage and both potato and bread dumplings:
I finally have duck! It’s pretty good, but I’m so hungry it doesn’t really matter. We sit and watch the tourists, nurse our beers and agree that what we had at the pub two nights before was much better; but of course, we didn’t ask for the name that night!
Back to the room to pack up for tomorrow’s departure, nap some more (all this napping is to keep illness at bay, but it’s really nice to have rest time built in. the first part of the trip was so hectic, I’m still exhausted from it all), and goof around until dinnertime.
We leave a bit early to see if we can find the John Lennon wall (some Mexican artist painted a whole city wall with his likeness), but cannot. We walk to the restaurant – Bellevue – and have a seat with an incredible view of the cathedral lit up on the hill. This is a sister restaurant to the one we so enjoyed last night, but the service does not match up. The food is yummy, though, and I start with a 63 degree egg, surrounded by white onion, lardons and chestnut, with two little packages of pork cheek in cabbage leaves:
my entree is grilled monkfish dusted with fennel pollen, chorizo and piquillo pepper cous-cous with a light bouillabaisse sauce poured over all:
All of it was delicious, but I am (cumulatively) so damn full, that I leave most of both. When finished, we walk through the neighborhood to the Globe bookstore, which is supposed to be a delightful place to have a coffee and chat. There’s a solo guitarist playing english songs, and we certainly do enjoy our coffees. No other english speakers in the place, and no one (seemingly) over 33 but us! A pleasant walk home, over the bridge and through the crowds and a last night’s sleep in the old country.
It’s been a real adventure. The night before I left, I was jumping up and down in the apartment and was so excited because no matter where in the world I travel, there remains something special about Europe. The attention, attitude and importance of culture, fashion, food and health is so different than anywhere else in the world. And it didn’t disappoint. They get a lot of things right – a balance that the capitalists extraordinaire really haven’t figured out. The history of conflict, religion and art is enough to keep any tourist busy for the rest of their life – and it truly is the birthplace of the founding principles of our own country. Koszonom Expedicio sok!! Vielen Danke! Dekuji moc Vey! (sorry can’t print Russian – don’t have cyrillic alphabet on my laptop).
until the next adventure….