Churchs, Churchs, Churches of Prague
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2008
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Trip End
Sep 24, 2008
Prague, Bohemia, Czech Republic
Friday, September 26, 2008
The drive from Bratislava to Prague took us the whole of the way across the Czech Republic/Bohemia. We passed the miles of vineyards where my husband's Grandfather's family (Vondracek) came from - they were vintners and barrel makers. Into Prague we drove and from the serenity of Autobahn driving into a city PACKED with pedestrian, automobile and bus/trolley/tram traffic. Thankfully the TOM TOM is accurate, because we were led straight to the Ambassador Hotel. Now the Hotel's of Prague website spoke of the boulevard as the "heart" of Prague, but we found this old but lovely hotel situated at the end of a street packed with pounding discos, casinos and street vendors cooking all manner of odd sausage-like meats. The literature boasted parking, but we found that meant the bellman fed our meter in front of the hotel the whole three days we were there.
The city is a pedestrian paradise. The old city is lined with streets of cobblestone and some of the loveliest baroque building architecture I've ever seen. The Stare Maestro area was the most beautiful, with the town halls' astronomical clock being the big attraction every hour. It houses a parade of apostles statues which whirl by on the hour. Our first day we mostly walked this area and then back to finally eat in a cafe along the way. The weather was misty rainy and cold, but the city is even more beatiful to walk at night with all these gorgeous churches lit up.
The second day we ventured up via the town trolley/tram system to Prasky Hrad, or Prague Castle. It is situated on the other side of the river and up a huge hill. It was a good 15 minute tram ride to get there. We spent most of the rest of the day strolling the grounds of the castle and the enclosed St. Vitus' Cathedral, Castle Palace, St. George's Chapel and the small shopping street of this fortress. The shops were no larger than my master bathroom, some being the former medieval homes of palace workers. The cathedral houses about 12 side chapels of incredible beauty in homage to various saints or cardinals from about 1069 on. We strolled the cathedral and grounds for hours with our audio guides. We decided to take a side trip to the Church of the Nativity, one tram stop away from the Castle grounds. It turned out to be nearly closing time when we got there, but the guard let us in nonetheless. There were skeletons of two saints on display covered by wax masks of what they looked like. Creepy. In a side chapel is the burial of a saint who legend has it was a bearded lady. Check Ryan and Patti's blog for the clandestine photo they took of the chapel. Along the way in this part of the city we walked by a small cafe with the sign that they were selling buchty! BOY was I excited. I went in an bought a bag of six of the cheese and raisin filled sweet dough treats. They were just like Grandma used to make! Delicious. That night after a rest in our room, we ended up eating at a restaurant with live string music complete with violins and a bass. Good food.
Our last day of walking took us ove rthe Charles Bridge, a medieval walking bridge packed with tourists and artisans selling all manner of drawings and local art. We walked into the "little town" area of Prague, which is situated below the Prasky Hrad on the same hill, but dominated by the Church of St. Nicholas, proabably one of the most spectacularly decorated chruchs I have ever seen. Very baroque over-the top with decorations of every conceivable surface and lots of frescoes painted with trompe l'oeil, wich means "trick of the eye". The paintings blend with the archtecture to make it seem as if there were more architectural elements.
