A Day on the Hill

 Day 33

Today was our last day in Prague and we spent it exploring the sites on the other side of the river.  Our trusty tram #9 took us through town and over the river where we caught the funicular up to the top of Petrin Hill. 

The lovely park at the top was as neat as a pin and I was surprised to see the roses in the formal beds had been pruned and then covered with a ‘blanket’ of what looked like blue spruce.  It grows so slowly in Australia that we’d never use it in a way that would be discarded in a few months.

Built in 1891 the Petrin Tower, supposed to have been inspired by the Eifel Tower is a 63m tower on the top of one of the hill close to Prague Castle.  It’s just over 60m tall and you can climb up the 299 steps to the observation tower.  We decided to give that one a miss.

The wind and light rain made it quite a cold walk across from the tower to the Strahov Monestry and the early hour meant that Tony decided to forego a taste of the beer brewed by the monks. 

We also decided not to check out the Loreta complex in favour of reaching the Castle entrance in time for the noon changing of the guard.  A very sharply dressed group of soldiers marched out of their barracks   and down to the entrance on Hradcany Square where a 10min ceremony takes place.  We got a lovely close-up look at their uniforms, designed by the Czech costume designer from the film Amadeus (the President was a big fan).

We joined a fast moving line to pass through security (and bag check) to enter the castle and then joined a very slow moving queue to buy our castle ticket. 

As soon as you pass through from the second courtyard, the massive façade of St Vitas Cathedral looms large.  It’s an extraordinary church – tall gothic interior, walls filled with spectacular stained-glass windows and the most amazing set of flying buttresses outside.

The simple chapel  containing the tomb of St Wenceslas sits just down the side aisle from the completely over-the-top tomb of Empress Marie Theresa

In complete contrast is the simple Basilica of St George.  King Vratislav (the father of Wenceslas) established the church in the 10^th century and is buried in the Basilica. 

Disappointed that the Old Palace was closed (we don’t read Czech so we really don’t know why) we stopped for some lunch and then headed down the Golden Lane and then visited the medieval prison in the Daliborka.  Some of torture tools there are really gruesome.

Final stop on our exploring of the castle was the terrace at the end and the fab views back to the City of Prague.

Down the hill and into the Mala Strana area, we passed the lovely Palace Gardens (closed during winter but offering glimpses through the fence), past the Palace Gardens to the John Lennon Peace Wall opposite the French Embassy.  

After his assignation in 1980 young Czech pacifists painted his image and song lyrics in a mural on the wall.  By the late 80’s it was becoming a site for anti-governmental slogans and the government ordered it painted over.  The students repainted it and it has stayed – ever changing  as new additions are made. It was kinda cool to arrive just as a busker and the crowd (none of whom were even born when Lennon was shot) were singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.  It was not cool to see how much recent crap has been painted/scribbled/permanent-marker-ed etc over the original work…. Or maybe that’s the essence of street art, that it’s always added to. 

It was coffee time so we popped into ‘The Wall’ a sweet little café just metres from the Peace Wall.  It seems the owners felt the same way about the message of the wall and have made their own little piece of wall inside their café.

 Last item to be ticked off the list was the Charles Bridge.  621 metres long and nearly 10 metres wide the bridge construction began in 1357 and kept stonemasons and builders busy for more than 60years.  Lined with massive statues of saints etc, and the ubiquitous vendors selling paintings and Prague magnets, it was a great walk to end out visit.