Day TWENTY FOUR
On our last day we visited the beautiful Karlův Most, or Charles Bridge, and then walked up the hill to Prague castle, where we looked inside the cathedral of St Vitus.
Construction of this, the most impressive bridge I've ever seen, started in 1357 (?!) by order of King Charles IV of Bohemia, and was the only way across the Valtava river until 1841. It is made of Bohemian sandstone, is about 600 metres long and has three guard towers, but the real interest are the beautiful sculptures which look down at you from the sides of the structure as you cross.
Although they are replicas of the real ones (mostly erected between 1683-1714 but taken down in the 1960s for preservation) they are breathtakingly beautiful. Further restoration occurred between 1965-78 after the damage made during WWII, and the bridge was made pedestrian only. These days there are small craft and gift stalls set up along the bridge (like everywhere else there are tourists) and some groups also busk or perform music for free. There would have been shops along the bridge in earlier times, and the bridge itself is quite wide (about 10 meters), so I didn't find the stalls to be too annoying or to detract from the experience. The architectural style of the bridge is gothic, and the statues baroque. They are mostly bohemian saints.
We started from the Old Town side of the bridge, and crossed over onto the more hilly side of town to explore the cathedral.
Two photos of Tyler actually smiling. You're welcome world.
^ Walking up Nerudova Street to the castle...
^ You can literally get a bloody Pumpkin Spiced Latte anywhere.
^ view looking back over Prague from the castle
^ Very violent statues guarding the gates - loved the brutality in these - sure fire way to scare the peasants away!
^ door to St Vitus's
^ Sebastian having a nap before dinner after another long day. In each hostel his stuff seemed to spread further and further away from his bunk by the hour haha
with love from Prague
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