Prague & Budapest - Day 2- Prague

After a long night’s sleep, we were refreshed and ready to hit the other side of the river and some of the major attractions.  We walked along the river and then took a route up the hill that wound through a small vineyard. The destination was Prague Castle; it’s very prominently placed atop the hill and we had been looking at it from the other side of the river, but it was really great up close.  It’s not just a tourist attraction though, it is the official seat of the Czech president.

We walked through the Golden Lane section, which are basically old rowhomes that have been turned into historic scenes or little shops on a very narrow alley. Apparently soldiers and guards used to dwell here and surprisingly people actually lived here until the early 1960s! At the end of this area, you come upon Daliborka Tower, which is actually named for the first prisoner interned there and is from the late 1400s. There is a legend about him actually, about how he learned to play the fiddle in jail and people used to flock to listen to him outside his cell. According to the informational plaque inside, this is baloney—apparently the story sprung from the use of the word fiddle in relation to a torture device not an actual musical instrument, but clearly the charm of the story and the tower being named after him perpetuates the myth.

The setup of the castle is really great for visitors, they flow the traffic through the different areas and the wide open squares really lend themselves to some great photos (stay tuned!). A little further up the hill on the right was St. George’s basilica which was a lovely church. While it’s the oldest preserved church building of the castle, there’s not much else to say as you see the back of St Vitus’ Cathedral and frankly, there is no comparison. The cathedral is huge and dramatic and really steals all the attention on this square.

Before we went into the cathedral though, we first took a quick spin through the Castle seeing the Great Hall, the council room, and a room that housed the land rolls (aka titles). The Great Hall Gothic Vladislav Hall) has a fantastic vaulted ceiling and is actually where the presidential elections take place (every 5 years). The castle has been around since the 9^th century, but the oldest parts of the palace are from the 1100s.

Exiting the castle, we made our way across the square to the breathtaking St Vitus Cathedral.  Amazingly enough, though the foundation stone was laid in 1344, it was not truly complete until 1929. It’s an exquisite building, but still pretty crazy to think it took almost 600 years to build this cathedral. Inside, you’re immediately swept up by the sheer scale of the nave—it has a very tall ceiling and large arched windows that contribute to the overall grandeur. The stained glass was also beautiful during the early-afternoon time we stopped; as the light flowed in, the colors really came to life. With beautiful alter,s an enormous organ, and also neat art (like a large metal plaque/map of the city with 3d elements), we took our time exploring this beautiful space.

When we left the cathedral we thought we would take time walking through the gardens, but it turned out some of them were just wooded paths and there was actually a ticketed event in the more manicured section (the prague food festival). Instead we wandered out of the castle complex and explored small streets on our descent. On our way, we actually passed the US Embassy where we were surprised and delighted to find a car with Maryland plates!

We stopped partway down the hill for a quick lunch at a café on a quiet little square, and then went to the Vrtbovsky gardens. Tucked into a little walkway off the street, you would never know they were here if you weren’t looking for them. While small, this is a beautiful site with terraced landscaping, a small aviary, and just beautiful views of the city from the top. A really awesome place to stop and enjoy some scenery.

Continuing down the hill, we walked through more of the Mala Strana area, stopping at the Lennon Wall where we saw artwork for the UMD Terps and Alpha Phi!  Back in Kampa park, we walked along some streets we didn’t the day before then made our way back across the Charles Bridge. Though it had been a full day so far, we weren’t done yet, so we made a quick pitstop for some awesome ice cream from Angelato (there was a long line outside so we hopped in it since we knew it had to be good!) and that refueled us for our long walk through Wenceslas square (super touristy and not unique) and past the impressive National Museum, to find what we affectionately call “the baby tower”.

From our hotel, we could see this big tv/radio tower that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Mitch actually already knew what this tower was and was able to tell us that an artist added baby statues crawling up the legs of the tower; hence the nickname we gave it. It’s up on a hill and is very easily seen from around the city, so knowing the general direction we took off walking figuring we would see it. We got to walk through the Vinohrady neighborhood which was really nice once you were off the commercial main street, and just when we were walking through a park and getting worried that we still hadn’t come across it, we took two steps away from the corner map and lo and behold, there it was. M&B went up the Zizkov Tower to the observation deck while I hung out below, but it turns out there is a restaurant in there as well as one suite that you can rent out. It was a very modern space and the views of the city were pretty cool from the top (216m).

We had literally walked almost the entire city at this point (I think our final tally for the day was somewhere around 15 miles!), so we stumbled back to the hotel to rest and then went to a restaurant called Lokal for dinner. Continuing with our Czech food, we had beef goulash with bread dumplings, beef tartare, and veal with mashed potatoes.  The beer options were light or dark (very McSorley’s!), but they had 3 different ways of pouring it that allegedly changed the flavor. Whatever they did, it was a delicious, comforting meal at the end of a really long day.