The Prague Castle

On our first full day in Prague we slept in (both of us are still recovering from a head-cold, which is annoying when you are traveling). Since we're on vacation, though, we didn't feel that we had to get going at the break of dawn. So, after a late breakfast, we headed out to visit the Castle Quarter.

We decided to walk the first part of the way along the river. (I've gotten so used to saying the Vistula River, since we were in Poland, but this is the Vlata River.) The Saturday market was going on and there was every kind of vendor and stall. Fishermen on the river were pulling out fish, knocking them dead, and selling them fresh.

It was kind of like the Orange County Swap Meet, but with stuff you would actually want to buy, like huge, freshly grilled sausages. It was a good thing we had just eaten breakfast, or our day would have stopped right here. Here's one of the fish stalls, although I'm sure none of this was caught in the Vlata.

After walking along the river for a bit, we picked up the #17 tram and got off at the famous Charles Bridge, along with the other million or so visitors to Prague. Prague reminds me a lot of Venice. The sights are so justifiably famous that your jaw just drops.

There are statues and monuments all the way across the bridge. Like Venice and St. Mark's Square, you share that experience with so many other people that it becomes a little unreal.

Once we got across the river we hopped on a tram to try and get out of the crush. The Rick Steves' guidebook was really helpful here, letting us know we could take the tram all the way to the top of the Castle Quarter, and start our walk with the Strahov Monastery. That way we would be working our way down, instead of climbing up through the crowds.

At the monastery, which really was less crowded, we looked into the church, but skipped the library tour. You can't actually go all the way inside the Baroque church; I took this picture through a screen at the back.

There is a great view from the top, but we found that our iPhone pictures didn't really do it justice. You just have to be there. By now it was after 2:00 PM and we were ready for lunch. We had pad Thai and fried rice at the Maly Budda, a tea house just below the monastery. Refreshed, we were ready to tackle the rest of the castle along with the crowds.

St. Vitus Cathedral is another one of those jaw-dropping sights. You just can't get your head around the scale. Partly, I suppose, that's because it is shoehorned into a courtyard in the castle, and you can't get far enough away to take a picture of the whole thing.

When you go inside, though, you can see that it is really build on a monumental pattern. The stained glass windows on either side are just beautiful.

Leaving the Cathedral, we headed down the hill to town. We stopped for a moment to take this picture. When we got to the bottom of the hill, we picked up the tram and headed back to the hotel where we had dinner and went to bed.