OK, you guys are going to crack up at this one. Well you know how I like churches. My hotel in Prague is actually within a monastery! And it’s the oldest one in the Czech Republic at over a thousand years old (Founded 993 AD). I seriously didn’t realize it when I booked it and just went with the Rick Steves recommendation. But it is really cool.
So I got here pretty late in the day and this place is outside the Old Town up past the castle. So I didn’t really get a chance to get out and get too many pics so most of these are from the castle area and most are churches! They call it the city of a hundred spires and now I know why. But first a little history.
Prague has been the center of the Czech people for over a thousand years. In the 1300’s, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV ruled and made the city a world class capital. Later, Habsburg rulers from Vienna embraced it as a second city of culture. They populated Prague with artists, writers and composers. When the age of empires ended, and the Czechs and Slovaks finally created their own nation in 1918, Prague was the obvious choice as capital. It fortunately was spared any significant bombing from World War II, so its beautiful buildings were all left intact.
Prague is sort of laid out like Budapest. A river cuts thru it (this one being the Vltava, same one in Cesky Krumlov, rather than the Danube) and the castle sits high up on the left (Western) side of the river and the Old Town is across the river with many bridges connecting the two sides.
As I said my pics are mostly churches since those are the grand buildings up on the castle side and as you’ll see, it started to get dark as I was taking them. Hate that it’s getting dark so much earlier!
The first pic of the white building with the black onion dome is my Hotel, the Brevnov Monastery.
Next one which is white with four green spires is the Strahov Monastery.
Next white and yellow building with the one green top is the Loretta Church.
Next one with the gate and the guard in front with the three tall spires behind it is the entrance to Prague castle (they claim it’s the largest castle on Earth).
Next white building with the lights on inside is the Schwarzenberg Palace (yes, this is the same family that I included a picture of their tomb from Trebon yesterday. They get around!)
And no, for the next picture, I didn’t fly off to Paris, but this lit up structure above the trees is Petrin Tower (built for an exhibition in 1891 and patterned after the Eiffel Tower).
The last two (and I included two to show how massive this building is) are St Vitus Cathedral. It’s the Czech National Church where kings were crowned, royalty have their tombs, the relics of saints are venerated, and the Crown Jewels are kept. I can’t wait to tour the inside of it.
Well that’s it for today. We’re supposed to get a decent amount of rain over the next two days. They’re actually calling for high winds, thunder, rain, lightning… Hmmm… think it has anything to do with me staying in a monastery?? Lol.
But of course that won’t stop this Italian Wanderer! Neither rain nor snow nor…
Hope everyone’s week is starting out great!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 