December 17th was a bit more of a lazy morning. I had my "Fred" brioche in the room instead of going down to the hotel breakfast and got ready to head out. I had to pack up and leave my luggage at the front desk because I was moving on later that day to my next destination.
I walked around old town for a bit. I tried to visit Maisel Synagogue, but you couldn't purchase a ticket to just visit the one, you had to buy a pass for all the Jewish historical locations, and I didn't have the time to see more than the one (plus I'd already visited some 10 years prior).
I walked across the bridge to meet a scheduled tour.
Charles Bridge
I had a tour for Prague Castle. I had gone up to the castle my previous trip, but didn't have a proper tour. This time I did. We met and then took a tram up to the castle.
The most imposing part of the castle is St. Vitus Cathedral.
Crossing over Powder Bridge to get to the castle. I liked their decorations.
Castle guard.
This is known as the Second Courtyard. During the 18th century, Empress Maria Theresa commissioned to have some of the castle grounds unified. It's painted Habsburg yellow. Today, the complex houses the offices of the President of the Czech Republic.
St. Vitus Cathedral. This is a Roman Catholic cathedral and is the Czech national church.
"It's where kings were crowned, royalty have their tombs, the relics of saints are venerated, and the crown jewels are kept. Since AD 920, a church has stood on this spot, marking the very origin of the Czech nation." -Rick Steves
The Mucha Stained Glass Window
The 1931 Art Nouveau window designed by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha celebrated the birth of the Czech nation and the life of Wenscelas.
Construction is still underway installing this new pipe organ. Inauguration of this new organ with it's 6000 pipes is scheduled for June 15, 2026 on the feast day of St. Vitus.
Royal Mausoleum contains the remains of the first Habsburgs to rule Bohemia.
Wenceslas Chapel which includes the tomb of St. Wenceslas.
This is where Czech Kings were crowned over the centuries and also houses the Bohemian crown jewels. The jewels are actually locked behind the door of seven locks. Seven different people hold the keys and they must all join together to unlock the door and access the jewels.
This is the Third Courtyard
The gold mosaic is from the 14th Century and is a mosaic of the Last Judgment.
Also interesting here is the clock. You have to consult the top clock for the hour and the bottom clock for the minutes.
The Old Royal Palace
This is Vladislav Hall
Diet Hall once served as the high court.
The Habsburg rulers- Marie Theresa & Joseph II
Replicas of the Crown jewels. The real ones only go on display a few weeks per year.
Basilica of St. George
It dates from the 12th century (thus the wooden ceiling)
This was the royal burial place before St. Vitus was built and this contains some of the tombs of the earliest Czech kings.
One of the tombs here is Ludmila's. Ludmila was St. Wenceslas' grandmother. She was reburied here in 925. That is her depicted on the archway. She is always shown with a scarf around her neck because her murderer used her scarf to strangle her.
Maria Theresa had this building constructed to house unmarried Noble women and royals.
Golden Lane
Once my tour was over, I walked back down through the Malá Strana
I finally stopped at a restaurant. This pumpkin soup was great and really helped warm me up.
I wandered around Prague some more and then finally decided to go collect my bags and head to the train station. I had a 4:30 train from Prague to Dresden. Earlier when I dropped my luggage I asked how long it took to a requested taxi to arrive (3 minutes) and how long to get to the train station (no more than 10 minutes). I knew I was probably way too early, but as I stated, I don't like the rush of running late!
Turns out I needed the time. There was some major accident and all the taxis said they couldn't get to me for at least 30-45 minutes. I finally walked a couple of blocks to where an Uber XL could pick me up. He was quite confused to find it was just me, but I explained that he was the first one available for pickup! Traffic was terrible, but since I allowed plenty of time, I didn't miss my train.
My train arrived in Dresden, Germany about 6:50. I took a taxi from the train station to my hotel. Well close to my hotel. Because of my hotel being right in one of the Christmas markets, you had to walk a bit to get to it because cars are not allowed. I walked around a couple of the markets and a little bit of Dresden that night before calling it a day, but I'll post all of the Dresden content in my next post.
Comments