Day 9 - Prague

Dec 22nd - The inkeeper had called the Castle this morning & found out that the castle grounds are open, they just have all of the exhibits closed so we cannot get inside the castle, which we are good with. So this morning's trek had us start by turning up the hill from the B&B, for a hike up the hill toward the Castle - a gorgeous, sunny day today. As we reached the top of the hill, we were impressed from the view from up here. As we crested the hill, I realized we were in front of the monastary & I know there was a brewpub very close. It was only 11:30, but I was not going to climb up this hill again later, so we stopped into Klasterni Pivobar Strahov (Strahov Monastary Brewery - brewing Sv. Norbert beers). A great little place - the copper mash kettle & lauter tun on full display when we entered. It was nice to step up to the bar & see something different than Pilsner (though we have fully enjoyed the Pisner, something different was a good change). I sampled the Christmas Dunkel & Rob went for the hoppy IPA...both delicious.

A short walk from here was the castle, and we were arriving just in time to see the changing of the guard out front. Apparenly they ususally have music of some sort accompanying the noon change, but not while the former President is in the castle. There was a very, very long line to enter the castle for viewing. We continued into the castle grounds to have a look around - wow, this place is huge! It was even bigger than the grounds of the castle in Salzburg. Apparently Prague Castle (Prazky hrad) is the largest ancient castle in the world - 570 meters long by 128 meters wide, covers the area larger than 7 football fields. It is has been the official seat of Czech Rulers & official residence of Czech Heads of State (though Vaclav Havel did not live here, he chose to remain in his house when he became President). One of the most amazing features of the castle grounds for us, besides the view provided of the city of Prague from up here, was the massive cathederal - St. Vitis Cathederal, which I would have loved to have seen inside (this is where the funeral will be tomorrow).






Charles Bridge Tower



After we has sufficiently enjoyed the grounds & views, we trekked back down the hill from the Castle in search of some food...we first ended up going past another brewery, the St. Thomas brewery at the Augustine Hotel, which did not open until 3:30, so we settled for trying their dark lager at the hotel bar. For lunch, we ended up back at Malostranska Beseda where we had enjoyed our first meal in Prague - yet again, amazing grub, and most friendly waitress.

Our last stop on the walking tour for the day was to fond the John Lennon wall - back in the 80's Lennon was seen as a hero of sorts to young Czechs & after his death, a graffiti image of him was painted on this secluded wall that is across from the French Embassy. Authorities white-washed the wall, but the graffiti returned. Every time the wall was re-painted, the graffiti (some of which could be considered artwork) of political words, images, and Beatles lyrics would reappear. I'm not sure how long this went on, but eventually the graffiti was left alone, other than addition of more - so over the years what appears on the wall has changed.

With a lot of miles put in the last 2 days, we were ready to head back to the B&B to get organized for leaving in the morning, figure out our plan for Munich, and to rest the feet. We did have to head out one more time to pick up transit passes for the morning, which we were glad we did as we ended up needing to trek to the subway station to get them and we would not have been doing that first thing in the morning. With those in hand, time for one last meal & Pilsner before calling it a night...seriously Malostranska Beseda is so good, we went back there, and had our same friendly waitress from earlier in the day. This place will definitely get a great TripAdvisor review from us.

To sum up Prague - so far has been the highlight of the trip. Phenominal city, from it's beauty, architecture, ease of walking around, friendliness & laid back nature of the people, and unbelievable prices put it high on our list!

Beers for the day: Sv. Norbert Christmas Dunkel, Sv. Norbert IPA, St. Thomas Dark Lager