The throat-tickle that had started yesterday - to take a phrase from the Austrian ballad "Edelweiss" - "...began to bloom and grow..." into a full-fledged, runny-nosed and fevered bad cold. I felt not so good waking up this morning (9/28), but felt steadily worse as the day went on. That being said, I wasn't going to waste a full day in Prague, so I headed for the castle.
It was a long, uphill march to the castle. I could have taken public transportation most of the way, but you miss so much by doing so. I didn't set foot on a single mass transit vehicle in Prague my entire stay. According to my TripAdvisor App, the walk was about 1.7 miles - each way, and that doesn't count all of the walking within the huge castle complex.
Here I'm approaching the rear entrance to the castle. My strategy was this - most tourists would enter through the main gates and work to the rear - I pulled a "reverse commute" and avoided some crowds by being off-time arriving at the various points of interest.
At the entrance were some very good classical music street performers, and, of course, the elite guard for the symbol of Prague:
The gates have some cool statuary:
I entered the castle and found the ticket booth. You could buy tickets of a single part of the castle, or for full access - what do you think I opted for??
You enter the grounds and you're first met with the gi-normous church which dominates the skyline of the castle complex. But, if you look closely, there are wonders within its facade:
The gargoyles were spectacular. And many of the buildings I will showcase for you are original - Prague was spared from bombing during WWII.
The insides of the castle buildings were pretty neat, too:
And now, what a certain nephew of mine has been waiting for
the dungeon!
The stairway to the dungeon was guarded by a giant crossbow on wheels. I used to know the name of this weapon, but it just won't come to me - I think it starts with a "b."
The pathway to the dark, creepy dungeon was lined with suits of armor, shields, pikes and swords - medieval weapons of all kinds.
Then, as everything was getting darker, and colder and gloomier - aha! - I had arrived at the dungeon at last!
I was fortunate to find the stairway out of the dungeon before the guards found me and shackled me to a wall!
Once out of the dungeon, I found myself along the castle wall, abutting which are tiny little houses owned by private citizens until the Goverment "bought them out." now the insides are set up with different themes from different time periods during the castle's existence.
From Golden Lane, as it is called, I made my way to the front entrance of the castle and climbed down dozens and dozens of steps.
From the castle I headed back to the hotel. I had arrived at the castle at about 9 AM and I departed from the castle at about 4:30 PM. During that time I was feeling progressively more ill - chills, a fever, runny nose and so forth. I walked all the way back to the hotel, crossing Charles Bridge again, and was under the covers by about 5:30 PM. I slept fitfully until the next morning and my train trip to Vienna, to be covered in my next post!
For now, some parting shots of my time in Prague!
Maybe ballista? Hard to find an exact picture of the Crossbow on wheels. My word. Did you feel overwhelmed by the castle? It is stunning. The amount of detail on the castle? I'd stand and just stare for hours. Loved the gargoyles especially the cockerspaniel looking one :) You poor thong, there's nothing like feeling ill and having to look up all the time. Was that manacled hangy thing over the round grate something that was lowered into it? Dang. The little homes you mentioned along the castle wall? Was that where the people who worked in the castle lived and the farmers and the peddlers on the outskirts? So much to see. Sorry you feel sick. Hope there is a cvs like place for you. Darlene
ReplyDeleteHi Darlene - sorry for the slow reply, and sorry I haven't posted anything about Vienna yet! It's coming, I promise! I'm STILL fighting the bug I caught, but I think I'm finally winning. The Prague Castle was absolutely amazing, and I would have stayed there until much later than I did -- simply to soak it in. The level of detail in the buildings -- from medieval to romanesque, baroque, gothic, etc., etc. -- was extraordinary!
DeleteThe hangy-thing over the grate was a full-body shackle set-up, and yes - you could hang someone in there and lower him into the pit below the grate (although I think simply hanging someone there would be pretty good on its own).
The little houses were pretty neat, too. I lost my train of thought in the blog, but did I mention that the government basically forced-out the private owners of the houses and took the houses by eminent domain about twenty years ago? The houses had been in some people's families for literally centuries.
Crud. I meant to say you poor thing, not thong. Oops hee hee.
ReplyDeleteAs the song says, "Thong, tha-thong, thong thong!"
DeleteYour nephew's not the only one who thinks dungeons are cool.
ReplyDeleteThat's for sure! You can't beat a great castle with a dungeon although I will admit to being a little disappointed that there were no pictures of where the evil sorcerer/sorceress stayed or possibly the alchemists lab. Hmmmm, maybe there is an invisibility spell that goes on through the ages and that's why no one can see them. Darlene
ReplyDeleteThere WAS a set-up for an alchemist's lab -- I even have a picture of it. I can't post EVERYTHING I see....
DeletePout. Yes you can and hurry up on the next blog please and thanks. Darlene
ReplyDelete