Praha, Praga, Prag, Prague

How you spell the place depends upon where you come from, but whichever way it’s spelt this city is one of the most important tourist attractions in Europe and with this popularity goes hoards of people. You’ve got to be pretty good to get photos without tourists in them, especially in the old town square or on Charles Bridge (two of the main tourist sites/sights).

Yesterday  we drove from Cesky Krumlov to Prague, stopping at the town of Tabor for a late morning coffee in the town square, it’s on a smaller scale than other towns we’ve visited but still attractive.

After negotiating the increasingly busy motorway and driving across the city we found our, pretty basic but cheap hotel. We’d booked it because it had parking and was near to a subway station for access to the city. About 3pm we headed off and had a great walk around the centre of the town then out onto the Charles Bridge and with its statues along its considerable length and medieval towers at either end it justifies its rating as one of the most beautiful bridges in Europe. Got back to the hotel about 8.30 after a beer and an ice cream sundae. They brew some excellent drops in this part of the world tonight’s was a Pilsner Urquell. Oh, and earlier I’d had a Caesar salad with ducks hearts, a bit rubbery but not bad.

Today we dedicated to Prague castle, still the official residence of the head of state. It’s an enormous complex (they claim it is the biggest castle in the world) the oldest parts of which date from the 10th century. We got a ticket which gave us access to St Vitas Cathedral, St George’s Basilica, the Old Palace and the Golden Lane.

St Vitas Cathedral is a gothic building which holds the tombs of St Wenceslas and St. John of Nepomuck made of over two tons of solid silver. The cathedral was started in the 1300’s but finally completed in 1929 and has some brilliant modern stained glass. St George’s Basilica is one of the oldest parts of the castle dating from the tenth century, a smaller and simpler structure but also quite lovely. I stood and sketched for a while in the Golden Lane and will try to post the finished picture soon.