Today marks the start of the third leg of my spring break and it begins in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. After a quick breakfast we set off towards Prague Castle. On our way we passed by the Wallenstein Palace. This building is home to the Czech Senate. We couldn't go inside but stopped in the courtyard for a peek. This was our first experience with a Czech palace. From there we climbed up the rest of the hill, through a vineyard, and made our way into the Prague Castle grounds.
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| Looking down at Prague |
The Prague Castle was definitely super touristy but it was worth it to see everything. The first attraction we saw was Golden Lane. It is so named because it was said alchemists came here looking for a reaction to produce gold. It was super touristy and kind of lame so we moved on. Next was St. George's Basilica which was done in the Romanesque style in 920. It was an interesting church but one that seemed pretty plain. It didn't seem like anything exceptional to me. I was more excited about seeing the next church.
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| St. George's Basilica |
The church that can be seen from miles around is St. Vitus Cathedral. It is a rather big church done in the Gothic style dating back to 1344. It is so very beautiful with many flying buttresses, a large rose window, and many stain glass windows. It was such a grand space and one of my more favorite churches I've seen. The last building we saw at the Prague Castle complex was the Old Royal Palace. It is a pretty straightforward building with a lot of empty rooms. It has elements from the Gothic, Renaissance, and Romanesque styles. The important thing to note is its unique and complex vaulting system. I really don't understand it as it looks unnecessary and over-complicated.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral |
After leaving the confines of the castle complex and the tourists behind, Rebecca and I found ourselves in a quaint residential area of the Praha 6 District. We were looking for the Villa Müller designed by Adolf Loos that Hans had recommended we see. It wasn't hard to find but when we got there we found out it was closed on Fridays. So we took some photos of the exterior and headed off for a late lunch.
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| Villa Müller |
Next we went into the park located on top of the tallest hill in Prague called Petřín. We went to the Petřín Lookout Tower which resembles the Eiffel Tower a little bit. It was 299 steps and 208 feet up to the top but it was worth it. There were incredible 360 degree views of the entirety of Prague. It was beautiful. I spotted a structure I wanted to see so we headed down and walked to it.
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| Petřín Lookout Tower |
The structure I saw from the tower is called Strahov Stadium. It has 9 soccer fields on its interior and used to host synchronized gymnastic events on a massive scale. The stadium also can hold 220,000 spectators making it the largest stadium in the world and fourth largest sports venue. The stadium though has fallen into disrepair. It looks abandoned and like a dump. Despite this, AC Sparta Prague practices there. We walked around part of the complex and came to this weird tower structure that appeared to be the most modern thing around. Turns out it was a ventilation tower for the tunnel underneath. With that, we set off down the hill in search of food.
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| Strahov Ventilation Tower |
Prague is a very old city with architecture that reflects that. It is full of character and that is good to find in a city. Tomorrow is my last full day of Spring Break before travelling so here's to making the most of it.
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