January 20, 2011
Prague: Prague Castle (Pražský Hrad)
Prague castle was something which hubby and I had never visited before – the rainy weather on our previous visit had rendered many of our outdoors plans null and void. So this time, it was the first thing on our list of to-do-s! We headed up to the Castle via a nice walk across the Old Town, across Charles Bridge and onto a tram up to the Castle.
The Castle complex is said to be the largest “coherent” (!?) castle complex in the world, and it’s a World Heritage Site. There’s quite a range of different sites within the complex, all offering something different – from the vast St Vitus Cathedral, to the Golden Lane.
Once we got to the Castle, we purchased our tickets (information about the types of tickets available and what you get for your money can be found here. We purchased the “Long” ticket, along with two photography passes (for the three of us). While the tickets are valid for a couple of days, we knew we would have spent enough time there in a single day, so we got to work!
First up, we headed over to watch the changing of the castle guard. This takes place each day at midday and comes complete with music and lots of marching. It goes on for quite a while, but is good to watch for a while.
Prague - Changing of the Guard 1
Prague - Changing of the Guard 2
From there we made our way over to St Vitus Cathedral. When we got there, we found the line to get into the cathedral was out the door and half way down the length of the catheral – so we decided to go look at some other parts of the complex and return later. We stopped next at St George’s Basilica. It’s quite simple inside, which is a refreshing change from so many of the highly ornate churches which tend to dominate.
From there we made our way to Golden Lane. We’d heard mixed reviews about this, but decided to take a look anyway. It’s quite kitsch and I certainly wouldn’t say that the little shops hold much that tempted me to purchase anything, but we took it as part of the whole experience. Upstairs you can find your way down a long hall past suits of armour to a small crossbow range. For a small fee you can shoot a rather-underpowered crossbow – but it’s still a bit of fun.
Prague Armour Exhibit 1
Prague Armour Exhibit - He-man poses!
From there we skirted around to the far side of the complex, to the prison cells and torture chamber – complete with replica implements.
Prague Castle - Nasty Spikey Hurty things!
Prague Castle - More Nasty Spikey Hurty Things
We did a walk through some of the State Rooms, and the Old Royal Palace. We then headed back towards St Vitus but first stopped in at the castle complex’s Powder Tower (not to be confused with the perhaps-better-known Powder Tower on the other side of the river!). The tower houses an exhibition of the Castle Guards and their history which I found quite interesting – particularly around some of their history and how things came to be how they are today.
Then it was over to St Vitus Cathedral – this has to be one of my favourite cathedrals to far, by virtue of its sheer scale and amount of detail. The outside of the cathedral is spectacular in its own right – there are so many little details to catch, and the cathedral looks quite different depending on what side you’re on. While tourists enter the cathedral on its western side, the southern side provides a grand view of the Golden Portal with its ornate golden ornamentation.
Prague Castle - St Vitus Cathedral
Prague Castle - St Vitus Cathedral Golden Portal
Inside the cathedral there is so much to look at. The main nave and the various chapels could have kept me occupied for a lot longer than I had time for.
One of the things I enjoy most about exploring places like the Cathedral is discovering the small details that many people just walk past. St Vitus has a magnificent set of timber doors (not sure where they go…) with so much detail and they really tell a story.
Prague Castle - St Vitus Cathedral Doors Detail
Prague Castle - St Vitus Cathedral Doors Closer Detail
The various chapels also tell their own tales, as do the tombs around the space. St Wenceslas’ Chapel houses the grave of this patron saint, and is ornately decorated. The windows of the Cathedral are amazing and each one is its own work of art.
After spending a while in the cathedral, we decided we’d had enough of looking at old things, so we headed out of the Castle complex. As we headed out though, we found what turned out to be one of the highlights of our day (well, hubby’s day anyway!). A little sign told us that there was a birds of prey display – and of course, seeing as we’d seen such wonderful birds at Werfen, of course we had to stop and take a look. For a small donation (supposed to be for the upkeep of the birds), we were allowed into a little park area where a couple of people had a collection of birds of prey. We were able to walk quite closely to these birds, and hubby’s day was made when they asked whether he’d like to hold one – of course he said yes! He picked the largest of the birds (naturally) and we took the obligatory snaps with him grinning like it was Christmas. He later said it was like trying to hold a huge frozen turkey at arms length, and that the feel of the birds massive claws through his sleeve gave him a great idea of how powerful they really are. The gentleman who owns the birds told us that they were “working”‘ birds and were often used to cull pests (rats, pigeons) around the city.
Prague Castle - Birds of Prey
Prague Castle - This guy did a great spinning head trick 
