Tuesday, August 11th - Prague

Today was a really long touring day.  We of course didn't get started too early but after breakfast we took the metro to downtown and one of the downtown stations and then switched to the other line to get to our destination.  A 24-hour day transit pass costs 110 koronos, or about $5.50, so it is a good deal and you can get just about anywhere in the city.  And with the tram right outside our hotel and the metro (subway) just a couple blocks away, it's all very easy.

Our destination for the morning was Vysehrad, which is a national cultural monument now but at one point was a major fortress or fortified city all on its own.  It was established in the 10th century on a high rocky outcropping overlooking the Vitava River.  As a result it was a strong and easily protected location and now it has some great views.  King Vratislav II (11 c) chose Vysehrad as his royal residence and strenghtened the fortifications and built his palace.  Charles IV ((14th c) expanded Vyserhrad even further.  During the Hussite Wars in the 15th century the whole compound was destroyed.  During the Hapsburg reign in the 17th century it was partially rebuilt and after that used by the military until 1911 when it was turned over to the city as a national monument.  A lot of the original buildings no longer exist so there is a lot of open park and garden space which is very relaxing on a hot day.  And there were very few people visiting when we were there so it was also quite a relaxing change from the crowds that you see and hear downtown in the more popular areas.

We entered through several gates (Tabor Gate, remains of Spicka or Peak Gate, Leopold Gate) with low open space between, which we assumed might have been a moat at one point.  Then we were in an open area with roads well laid out but only a few buildings.  Some of these were simply administration and not open to us.  Other were now restaurants or shops.  St. Martin's Rotunda is a round tower from the 11th century and now a church.  I don't think it was officially open but I slipped in before they closed the door.  It was pretty plain and simple but obviously set up as a church, and it is apparently Prague's oldest surviving building.  

There are numerous sculptures and statues around the grounds and the first one we came to was the Devil's Pillar.  I didn't quite figure out the significance of it but it was there.  There was also a pillar in memory of all those who died during the plague.  

We went down into the Gothic Cellar where they have a small museum showing antiquities from the site.  Some of them dated back to 3500 BC and the Funnel Beaker Culture.  I had never heard of it but apparently they were quite a large group in Europe and some of the first to really get into faming and animal husbandry and they introduced these things to the hunter / gatherers of the time.  

Throughout the grounds there are also various sights where the remains or ruins of buildings are identified.  The one that was really interesting and unique we couldn't actually get to but it was the location of the Baths of Libuse.  As we wondered around the grounds we followed the walls of the fortress and had beautiful views of the river and the surrounding areas.  At one point, the walls went right down tot he river and that was the point of these baths.  When you looked down from the wall to the river part of the old fortification wall went right to the river.  And a busy highway passed through a tunnel between the baths and the main wall.  That made for a great picture.

The main feature of Vysehrad is now the Church of Saints Peter and Paul and the cemetery beside it.  The church is from the 11th century but has a very Gothic look.  LIke so many old buildings it has been remodelled many times and one of those times was during a Gothic period.  It has two tall spires on the outside, high arched doors and windows and lots of ornamentation of a gothic nature.  The interior of the church is beautiful with high arches that are painted with frescoes and designs and almost everything has a golden glow.  It has high stained glass windows and I really don't remember any part of it being plain.  It was all decorated in many colours but the gold was the theme throughout.  Even the altar pieces were big, heavy, ornate and very, very gold.  It was a beautiful church, still in use, and perhaps the only one we had to pay to go inside.  Beside the church is the Vyserhrad and national cemetery.  It is not as big or ornate as other important cemeteries I've seen but it does have some important people buried in it such as Antonin Dvorak.  His was actually the only name I recognized.

The fortress had eight main points or towers of defence, as far as I could tell.  Each of them made great lookouts over the city.  The one with the baths would of course have been the hardest to defend because it went right down to the river so supposedly the enemies could come right up from the river if they wanted to.  All the other ares, especially on the river edge were very high.  The bottom part of the wall was the rock itself that the fortification was built on.  From the non-river side the walls were still very high and straight up so it would have been hard to get over them.  The north-western corner was not in the usual shape, or at least had an additional part to it and that's where they held their summer theatre.  They were currently doing a series of shows but all in Czech so not much use in us attending.  It looked like a wonderful place to spend the evening though.

The last place we visited in Vysehrad was right at the Brick or Prague Gate. which we eventually left through.  At the gate we found the entrance to the Gorlice or subterranean hall.  We had a guided tour for this and that was probably a good thing.  I'm not sure you could get very lost but you might be tempted to turn around without the guide.  The passageway was narrow and dark and it went on for some time.  The guide was in the lead with a flashlight and there were some not-so-bright lights on the wall so you could see where you were going.  The floor was not even but at least it wasn't too uneven so it was reasonably easy to walk on and not trip.  The guide stopped once to show us the ventilation and natural light shaft which was really just a small round hole to the top through about 30 feet of dirt and brick.  At the end of our walk there was a large cave with arched ceiling.  This is where the troops would muster for their assignments and then go off to their duties.  It now holds some of the original statues from Charles Bridge although I have no idea how they got them in because the door down at that end didn't look big enough.  Anyway, we couldn't go out through the door but had to walk back through our narrow passage way to return to the gate.  I should also mention that our guide put on a winter coat to go into the tunnel.  It was cool but I rather enjoyed the cooler temperature after being out in the sun on another hot Prague day.

We walked down from Vysehrad and stopped on one of the small winding streets to have our lunch.  From there we caught the tram to the botanical gardens, just because we were headed that way anyway.  I did more sitting than walking there because I was getting tired out and new we still had a lot of walking to do.  We then took the tram the rest of the way down town and walked around a bit more before having a bit of a rest before joining our next tour at 7 p.m..

The Prague Castle After Dark tour left from down town and walked from there over to the other side of the river then caught a tram up the hill to the castle area.  I thought it was just a tour around the Castle but this definitely included a lot more.  Our guide was stopping to talk to us right in the old town square and many spots along the way.  This was good as we got lots of breaks from the walking, and sometimes there were places to sit.  The temperature had also cooled down, which was good, and the crowds had definitely thinned out, especially at the major attractions such as the castle.  However, the many stops for talks meant that it was a long tour and it was after 10 p.m. when we finished and 10:30 when we got home, which was a long day and a lot of walking for me.

Anyway, the tour covered some facts but also some mysteries and legends so you really didn't know what to believe at times.  I think I would have preferred mainly just the facts with a few cute stories thrown in.  We walked past palaces, churches, courtyards, monasteries and monuments, all of which had their own story.  And we went to a lot of viewing spots for looks out over the city of Prague.  The castle is up on a hill so the views were quite impressive, especially as it got darker and the lights came on.  We heard about the Devil's Bible, which one monk supposedly wrote out by hand in just one night with a little help from his friend the devil.  

We were supposed to see the Golden Lane on this tour but didn't.  I assume that is because of the summer theatre which is taking place at the end of the Golden Lane so you can't get out after 6 p.m.  The current show is As You Like It but it is only in Czech so we won't be going to see that either.  Not being able to go down the Golden Lane means we also couldn't get to the Hole to Hell, which was hole in the prison tower at thee bottom of the lane - a pretty torturous place from all accounts.

We supposedly went past the Strahov Monastery, the Cernin Palace, Domecek (the Secret Police and Gestapo prison, the Loreto, the Powder Tower, St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George's Basilica, St. Wenceslas' Vineyard and the Wallenstein Palace.  The brochure says we were going to go past them but we didn't go into any of them so it's hard to write about them when we didn't go into them and I can't remember what she said about them.  I actually don't even remember most of them.  I do remember St. Vitus and St. George's because I've been to them before.  We definitely went by them.  The Loreto I remember because it was being renovated and it was supposed to house a model of the house where Mary lived when the angel came to tell her she was going to have a baby.  It is also supposed to have a large and impressive treasury of liturgical items.  But that truly is the only place I can remember a story from.  Perhaps I was just brain dead by then.  My feet were certainly killing me.  

We took the tram home and that was the end of the day for me.  Oh I probably had a peach ice tea before going to bed.  That is my new favourite drink.  I'm not a tea drinker and even lemon ice tea doesn't work but this peach ice tea is excellent.  They have both a Lipton and a Nestea version and I prefer the Nestea.  Hopefully I can find some when I get home because it certainly is refreshing and I'm always looking for something to drink other than pop.