Fulbright in Bratislava: Prague Castle

This morning I visited one of Prague’s major tourist attractions, the Castle complex high on the hill on the west side of the Vltava River. The complex includes several museums, a Cathedral, and other interesting sites. Some are free, but others require a ticket for admission. A license to take pictures inside the buildings is an extra 50CZK (about $2.50). Tourist-friendly signs in five languages can be found throughout the complex.

The 22/23 trams stop at the top of the hill right by the northern entrance. Tourists homesick for their StairMasters can get off early and climb a zillion steps to enter from the east side. I went with the northern entrance, complete with guards in historic garb.

The place was jammed, with tourists and school groups, perhaps because of the national holiday.

St. Vitus, the country’s biggest Gothic cathedral, is a major attraction in the middle of the complex. This is the eastern side.

Here is a sense of the mammoth scale of the interior.

These huge pipes on the north side are for the pipe organ. The keyboard console for the organist is barely visible in the center right.

I was fascinated with St. George’s Basilica, which traces to the 9th century.

Here is the interior of the Basilica.

Golden Lane consists of 16th century houses once occupied by merchants and craftsmen and now featuring real shops with antiques and crafts. The impeccably restored colorful buildings almost felt like a street at Disneyland, but these are the real thing.

This house sells handcrafts made by the disabled in the Czech Republic.

I loved this old dungeon, which seemed to be especially popular with the school groups. This is the entrance.

Inside, several instruments of torture were on display. My personal favorite, the rack.

More tools of the trade of the torturer. Would the Attorney General-nominee be willing to take a position on these? Oops -- perhaps I should not be giving the Bush administration any new ideas for how to ignore the Geneva Conventions.

Spectacular views of the city abound from several locations in the complex. I took these from the old medieval fortifications at the east end, near all those stairs to the exit. This one looks west onto the city of Prague.