The dog ate my shoe, castles, and fried cheese

Day 3

The dog ate my shoe...quite literally. As Em and I were getting ready to head to the bus to ride into town for some more exploration, Pavel said “hold on, I come with you.” This of course caused me to be slightly confused as he’d previously said he was busy and couldn’t come to the city with us. But as I walked into the mud room to put my shoes on it became immediately clear why; sometime during the evening one of the nine month old Czechoslovakia wolf dogs had acquired one of my Keens and decided to drag it outside overnight as a chew toy. 

Thus our morning began with a quick jaunt to the mall where wonder of wonders the first pair of shoes I tried on actually fit wonderfully. This in itself is a miracle since shoes never seem to fit me right. So a short time later, Pavel headed back home with my new Sketchers and Em and I continued on our way into town.

Em and I decided that today we were going to wander again through Old Town and try to see the shops that had been closed the previous day during our early morning jaunt. We started down the same path, but ended up diverging at the Vltava. Instead of going right towards Charles Bridge, we turned left towards the National Theater.

We walked along the banks of the Vltava for a bit before deciding to randomly hop on a bus and see where it took us. Turns out that our mystery route crossed the river and wound up Petrin hill (adjacent to Prague Castle; but over a ways), winding through a super affluent and beautiful neighborhood, to end at the Strahov Stadium. 

Strahov Stadium was built during the early part of the 1920s for synchronized gymnastics. The stadium is the largest in the world being three times wider and three times longer than a traditional soccer field and can hold 250,000 fans. To Em and I it looked super creepy and abandoned, but apparently it is currently a training facility for the Sparta sports team and a concert venue.

Since we were already at the top of the hill, Em and I decided to meander slowly back down via the various tourist traps on Petrin Hill. This area is on the left bank of the Vltava and eventually leads to Prague Castle if you walk far enough. On the way, you can visit the Stefanik Observatory, the Petrin Lookout, the rose garden, a mirror maze, a memorial, take a funicular back down the hill to the Mala Strana district, a church, or a few other gems. You get the picture for why this is such a popular location.

While we didn’t decide to visit any of the aforementioned locations, we did end up popping out at the Strahov Monastery; a Premonstratensian abbey founded in the 12th century. While wandering around the monastery, we found a light up sign that talked about the various buildings on the grounds. The sign was talking about the Strahov library and its “cabinet to of curiosities” and archaeological finds and that was enough to spark my interest.

The current variation of the library is called the Theological Hall and was built in 1679 by Jeronym Hirnheim, the then current abbot. The library contains a long hallway with various curiosities (wax or preserved animals and plants)on the one end and some archaeological finds (portions of marble walls, furniture, scrolls, etc.) at the other. Along the hallway are two rooms that we weren’t allowed to enter, but were gorgeous. These rooms housed the actual books (over 20,000) and were impressive. Each had frescoes on the ceilings and ornate details along the walls. The rooms would be like stepping into an art piece.

From the library, Em and I left the monastery and made our way back to Prague Castle; the largest ancient castle in the world. Since we hadn’t had time the day before to enter and explore, we did so today. Since you can not longer wander in and out of the various buildings free of charge anymore like I used to as a teenage back when I lived here, Em and I purchased the “Circuit B” ticket and toured the Old Royal Palace, Saint Vitus’s Cathedral, Saint George’s Basilica, and the Golden Lane.

The Old Royal Palace dates back to the 12th century and is most known nowadays for Vladislav Hall, where inaugurations take place.

Saint Vitus’s Cathedral is the large Gothic Church most postcards display in relation to the castle. It is the largest and most important Cathedral in the entire country and amazing inside. The inside is comprised of numerous vaults containing various religious iconography, towering ceilings covered in an ornate frame design, and amazing stained glass windows (of which no two are the same). The Cathedral is also the final resting place for various bohemian nobility and saints.

Saint George’s Basilica is the oldest serving church building in Prague Castle; dating back to 920 AD.

But my favorite part of our self guided tour was Zlata Ulice (Golden Lane). When I lived here as a teenager, this lane was free and always open to everyone, but now requires a fee to enter. The lane is comprised of numerous small (probably 100-150 sq ft) colorful houses that were originally built in the 16th century to house the Castle Guards. Now they house displays of how the homes may have looked or souvenir shops. There’s is also a 14th century armory museum above the houses. After you exit the row, you are greeted with Dalibor Tower, which is a stunning example of the sickness of the human race. This was utilized as a dungeon and examples of humanity’s ingenuity when it comes to torturing its fellow man was on display.

Our visit of the dungeon complete, we raced down the castle stair to the metro station to meet up with Pavel and a friend of his who helps out a the bird rescue  located at the Botanic Gardens at Charles University.

Pavel’s contact allowed the three of us to get an up close and personal experience with some rehabilitating parrots, cockatoos, and a parakeet. Most of the birds were friendly and always up for attempting to climb their way up your arm and attempt to eat your necklace or camera strap. One of the cockatoos however, seemed to be either very jealous of another cockatoo or just decided to take an affront to Em’s hair. Twice while Em was holding the cockatoo that had on the “collar of shame”, the other bird swooped down, pounced on Em’s head, and took flight again; only to settle and continue to glare at her. It was hilarious.

Day 4

For our last day in The Czech Republic, Em and I decided to leave the city and go visit a favorite castle of mine, Karlstejn Castle. The castle is about 30 km outside of the city and easy to get to via the metro and a local train.

Karlstejn Castle sits high on the hill above the town of the same name. From the train station you walk across the river and wind your way up the hill past all the local shops selling trinkets. As you crest the hill, you walk through the gates and emerge in the courtyard of the castle, where you have the option to purchase tickets to one of three tours: the basic tour that shows you the living and representative rooms of Emperor Charles IV, the religious icon and Church of the Holy Cross tour, or the tower wall and attic tour. Em and I had wanted the wall and attic tour, but it seems that that is only offered on the weekends now, so instead we went with the general tour.

Karlstejn was built in 1348 for and by King of Bohemia and Emperor Charles IV as his residence and a place to store his ever growing collection of holy relics and jewels, including the Imperial Crown Jewels. In 1365 the Chapel of the Holy Cross was consecrated and the Imperial Jewels were stored there until the 17th century (minus a short hiatus while the castle was under seize by the Hussites in the 1400s).

After our history lesson for the day, Em and I meandered back down the hill, purchasing some honey wine along the way (as this is one of the only places I can find it) and then caught the train back to Prague. 

With our few remaining hours, we wandered the Old Town and discovered that the famous Prague clock tower is undergoing renovations and therefore not currently operating. Additionally, the Jewish quarter was closed in observance of Rosh Hashanah (the start of the Jewish New Year). So we peered through the fence, acknowledged Em had been able to see it on our last visit to the city twelve years ago, and headed back home.

For our last evening, Pavel helped us create a Czech favorite, Smazak, which is essentially giant mozzarella sticks, but uses a different type of cheese. Traditionally its eaten with potatoes in one form or another. Em was getting a kick out of watching Pavel and I make the fried cheese, where Pavel’s pieces looked wonderful and mine looked like a toddler had been playing with glue and sand.

After dinner, we said our goodbyes (Jana came home early from work so we got to say bye to her in person as well) and headed to the airport to head to our second port of call, Belgrade, Serbia.