Prague Castle

I’ve been to Prague twice before, but never made it to the castle, this time I was determined!

We decided to book a walking tour which started on the other side of the Vltava river; we met the guide at 11am and after telling us to buy a tram ticket, we took the tram up the winding hill to the castle. As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s more a complex and not very ‘castle-like.’ The tour didn’t actually allow you into any of the buildings, only around the grounds. Thankfully, we had bought tickets ahead of schedule and were due to start our own sightseeing of the castle at 1pm. Back to our guide, James, he was an American who had moved to the Czech Republic as a Cheerleading coach for the Czech National team almost 16 years ago, he had since decided to stay but had given up the cheerleading. We started outside the castle at the Deer Moat, where game was kept so that Royals could shoot without leaving the castle.  

Our next stop was to watch the Changing of the Guard, it is only held once a day at 12 noon by Matthias Gate (Main Gate) in the first courtyard of the castle. We were slightly early so had a chance to take a few pictures at the viewpoint, as well as the home of the Archbishop of Prague. 

There were so many people waiting to watch the ceremony, we didn’t bother fighting to get pictures!

Our next few stops on the tour coincide with our own tour of the castle, so it’s probably worth stopping there. All in all, I didn’t think the tour of the complex was worth it, nothing to do with the guide, more so the fact that you actually want to visit inside some of buildings!

So onto the self-guided tour of the castle, which starts with a 20 minute introduction so that you know exactly what you are going to see and do. Now this was excellent, and led by another North American, but this time Canadian! Steve, the guide, definitely missed his calling in life, he should have been a comedian! He explained everything we needed to know, then set us off on our way!

First stop, St Vitus Cathedral, the largest and most important church in Prague. It was under construction for almost 600 years, and it’s clear from the photo taken from the side, that the architecture differs because of this. The first part of the church is gothic, the second part is baroque and the final part neo-gothic. The stained-glass windows are stunning and the light reflecting off them makes it quite magical. The church is definitely worth a visit!

This part of the church is known as ‘The Golden Gate,’ the most famous gate adorned with a 14th-century mosaic of the Last Judgement and originally used as the ceremonial entrance for kings.

The second stop of the self-guided tour is the Old Royal Palace. The vaulted hall was built so that the king could watch jousting tournaments without going outside, sounds like a must-have if I could build my own palace! 

The palace also exhibits replicas of the Crown Jewels, which are currently only on display once a year for a short period of time. 

In between the second stop and the penultimate stop of the tour, we stopped off at Starbucks, yes there is one in the castle complex! We were both needing a coffee and I had a massive cinnamon bun to stave off any hunger that was threatening. The third stop was the Basilica of St George with its Romanesque interior. We didn’t stay too long but enjoyed the look around. I didn’t mention this before but we had paid for the audio guide; we thought it would be headphones, but we were told to use our own phones and data. It wasn’t so much the fact that I would have to use data (I have unlimited!), but I didn’t want to hold my phone to my ear for the next few hours!

The last stop of the tour is Golden Lane, which also houses an armoury and torture chamber; the chair with spikes is awesome! The Golden Lane is actually an alley with colourful houses and the exhibits describe life in the lane during its existence. Franz Kafka stayed here, albeit for a short period of time, while he was visiting his sister.

Although we were now finished the final part of the tour, we go to visit the jail, again there were torture devices which did not look fun at all!

We were now exhausted, so we stopped by the castle vineyard for a drink! Plus the sun was shining, a welcome change from the previous day!

After a drink, we walked down the stops back to the old town. I had really wanted to go on a river cruise, so as we were walking, we looked to see if we could fit one in. It was now 3.30pm, and the next cruise was due to depart from pier 17 at 4pm. I bought tickets as we were walking, and was delighted with the extra addition to our day.

It was getting pretty cold though, and we had both left our hats in the hotel, so we decided to sit inside, relax with a beer and enjoy the commentary and sites from the boat. 

The boat tour was only 55 minutes, but it was worth it to say I’ve now been on the Vltava river! I’ve still never made it onto the Danube, even though I’ve been to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade!

As the boat tour finished just by L’od Pivovar, Iain was determined to visit the boat brewery again. This time I also got a picture of the toilets, as I didn’t have my phone on me first time around (on the food tour!) We had a beer and some fried crisps with tartare sauce. 

Neither of us were particularly hungry, but we decided to find somewhere in the old town. We had planned to go to the place Iain and his brother had visited back in June, but it was closed so we had to look elsewhere. After 10 minutes of searching, we found an Italian which was off the main square but looked pretty nice. Turns out the food was good, but it was probably the most expensive Italian restaurant in the whole of Prague!

After dinner, we decided to call it a night, we weren’t ready to go home, but unfortunately we had to pack and get ready for our flight home the following day.