This morning we headed back to Prague Castle (we can't get enough of the place!). After learning about the history in the museum yesterday we spent a few hours exploring some of the buildings in the Castle complex. We arrived just in time for the changing of the guard - complete with band!
First up was the beautiful St Vitus Cathedral where we saw the tombs of many saints (but not Wenceslas' -which is apparently quite stunning - as it was all locked up!). The Cathedral was first established on this site in 925 but wasn't finished until 1929. It hasn't always been the Cathedral - at one point the king abandoned the Castle to live in the Old Town so the Tyn Church became the Cathedral for a while. Of all the churches we've visited St Vitus would have to be one of our favourites!
Just one of the many beautiful windows in the Cathedral.
The amazing silver tomb of St John of Nepomuk who was thrown off the Charles Bridge for disagreeing with the king!
After exploring the Cathedral we walked though the many courtyards to get to Golden Lane - a settlement of craftspeople built up against the wall of the Castle complex. Today it is home to some really cute but tiny shops (we may have done just a little bit of shopping!).
Golden Lane.
Our next stop was Rosenberg Palace which was turned into a home for impoverished or orphaned noble women by Maria Theresa (a Hapsburg!). They could live here from the age of 24 in 3 room apartments. Here they learnt skills such as needlework, reading and writing and prayer. They dressed simply and were only allowed out once a week to go to the Opera! They could live here for as long as they liked.
Rosenberg Palace - The Institue for Noblewomen.
From here we headed back up to the other surviving church in the complex - St George's Basilica. This small, simple church is the resting place of St Wenceslas' father and grandmother (who is also a saint!). Some time in the 19th century the Chapel was stripped right back to almost original condition and it's quite a beautiful little church.
George's Square - the basilica is the red building on the right.
Inside St George's Basilica.
After a quick trip to the Powder Tower to learn about the Palace Guard we returned our audio guide and headed back down the hill to the Old Town.
We wandered through the Jewish quarter in search of the Spanish Synagogue where we learnt lots about the history of Bohemia/Czechoslovakia/The Czech Republic and the Jewish community of Prague and the surrounding area. There has been a Jewish community in Prague for about 1000 years but things have not been easy for them in Prague. This synagogue is part of the Jewish museum in Prague which houses many items not found in other parts of Europe. Apparently the Nazis allowed a group of Jewish people to preserve and store various artefacts in buildings like the Spanish Synagogue so that once their plans for exterminating the Jews was complete they could open a museum of an extinct race. Once the workers had completed their task they were shipped off to places like Auschwitz.
This synagogue was built on the site of a very old Synagogue in the 1860s and is considered to be one of the most beautiful synagogues in Europe. It's decorated in an ornate Moorish style (hence the name of the synagogue) and has an amazing interior, we'd love to show you some photos but we weren't allowed to take any!
The exterior of the Spanish Synagogue.
After a wander through a very big shopping centre we finished our day with dinner in the Old Square - not a bad view!
We also tried a local specialty - Trdelnik.
Trdelnik - yum!
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Beautiful colourful windows in the cathedral. That pastry looked like one of those old fashioned muffins ladies used to wear to put their hands in to keep them warm! Joel, nearly had photo today but I guess with the girls needing to go to a hairdresser they don't want to be putting themselves out there to have their faces plastered all over any fridge doors. Enjoying Prague. Cheers FOA
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