Day 11 October 18th Prague



Part of the castle

Today we are due to have

St Vitus's Cathedral

 a full day tour of the Czech capital Prague, a city neither of us had visited before but of which we had had many good reports.  We were up early and ready for the coach departure time of 0830.  It was a beautiful, warm day 

The Golden Door

which remained dry and sunny all the time.  We had

part of the castle

 to be away early to beat the crowds at the castle/palace area which was a very popular destination. The coach made its way through some quite narrow streets until we were dropped as near 

St Vitus's Cathedral

to the castle as possible.  It was still quite a walk over cobbled streets but we were soon

multi-purpose hall

 admitted through security and into the castle complex.   We started at St Vitus’s Cathedral with its beautiful stained glass and tombs of saints, kings and emperors with their families.  We saw the inside of the golden door where coronation processions entered and then went outside to view it from there.  We then toured Vladislav Hall which was multifunctional - used for markets, jousting and coronations!  It was time now for a coffee break.



frescoed ceiling of convent

We then toured a very old 

Golden Lane

convent with a frescoed ceiling and further royal tombs.  Still within the castle walls but near the walls we walked the Golden Lane with its small cottages turned into souvenir/craft shops.  We were told it was called 

2002 flood level above head height

Golden Lane because at one time alchemists lived there.  At the end of these houses we descended out of the castle and down some quite steep steps to the settlement adjacent to the River Danube (which sometimes floods). It was time for lunch which we enjoyed at a nearby restaurant with some others of our party.



us on Charles Bridge

After lunch we wandered 

entrance to Charles Bridge

across the iconic Charles Bridge and its statues, watched the boats on the river and generally enjoyed the melee.  We then made our way to the Old Square where there were many buildings of age and character.  Included was 

Charles Bridge

the horological clock which had a special hourly chime 

Old Square buildings

including figures that represent the 12 apostles.  We decided to spend longer here than the tour and so wandered further and eventually caught the tube back to the hotel.  Plenty of good pictures – 

more of Old Square

too numerous to put on the blog. 

It was soon time to gather for our group’s evening meal together in the hotel and again we had the chance to get to know other members better.  Another very good day which provided some ideas on how to spend our free day tomorrow.