June 30, 2011: Walking in Prague

Today was a free day in Prague and Beverley and Laura took the trip to Teresin, which was a holding stating for the World War II Nazi concentration camps.  I decided to spend a portion of the day walking in Prague and seeing the area across the Moldau from the old city.  This involved walking across Charles Bridge to the Lesser City, which is below the Prague Castle complex.  As I crossed the review, I continued toward St. Nicholas church, took a left and then an immediate right to begin the assent toward Strahov Monastery, which is a working and active monastery.  The climb took me through varied neighborhoods along cobble narrow stone streets and stucco covered homes.  After walking uphill for about 30 minutes, the road came to an end and a walking/biking path veered to the right with the Strahov monastery at the crest of the hill ahead.  It was gleaming white with the red clay tile roofs and patina colored spires.  At this point, I had a great view of the castle complex and Prague.  The monastery was closed for the noontime, but I could peak into the Baroque church.  The monastery grounds were very pretty.

From here, I walked toward Loreto church, which is also baroque in style.  Although closed for lunchtime, I waited about 30 minutes for it to open.  The grounds contain a “replica” of Mary’s home, which is decorated with frescos and lavishly finished in huge amounts of silver.  They also contain numerous chapels that are very ornately decorated in Baroque style and dedicated to various saints.  A reading of the inscriptions for each chapel is most interesting.  The main church is also lavishly decorated in Baroque style.  The Treasury contained articles that were extremely ornate and highly decorated in silver, gold, diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones.  As Jeff said, you can really begin to understand the Reformation.

I then walked toward the castle grounds, which were almost deserted and proceeded to walk down the numerous stairs into the Lesser City, past St. Nicholas church, across Charles Bridge and toward the hotel.  The weather was cooler today and very nice for walking, but much colder weather was on the way.  By 5 PM, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and the skies became heavily overcast. 

View of Castle Complex

View of Prague from Monastery

Monastery Church Nave

Strahov Monastery

Loreto Church

Map of Area Covere Today

Street in Castle Area

Renaissane Building Facade

Steps from Castle Area to Lesser Town

Signage for a Pub