Pražský Hrad (Prague Castle) & St. Vitus Cathedral

Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral are the trademark symbols of Prague, dominating the skyline to the west. The Castle is comprised of the buildings seen with the red roof tiles along the skyline in the first picture, and lit at night in the foreground of the second picture. The history dates back to 870, with the ruling parties of this land living here throughout the years. Dominating the courtyard of the Castle is St. Vitus, with huge Gothic steeples rising high above the Castle's walls . In the foreground of the first picture, you can see how the Charles Bridge leads to the castle from the east bank of the Vltava.

The outside of Cathedral (below) is too large to even photograph the whole thing up close. The Castle walls block you from moving far enough back to get the whole cathedral in. The detailed architecture, and the colors, are amazing. The original plans called for such painstakingly detailed stained glass windows that the Castle had a long construction period - from 1344 to 1929! That's when the final window was completed, 1929.

The main tower is over 100 meters high (328 feet). We should have paid more attention to the metric system in grade school, because after 287 steps in a stairwell about 1 meter wide we finally made it to the top! It was well worth it for the incredible views.



Here's Becky inside the fortress walls, and a view inside St. Vitus Cathedral.

The castle has a dungeon where the bad kids were tortured.

Needless to say, we did not act up, touch or break anything.

We enjoyed the day wandering though the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, realizing how lucky we were to see such an incredible piece of history.