Prague Blog - Day 3 - Castle District

We rode the tram across the river to the Castle District with Eva. The first stop was the Strahov Monastery. We went there to get the view, but we also went to see the library in the monastery.

The old city wall in the Castle District

Entrance to Strahov Monastery

The Strahov Monastery has an amazing library. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed. The library is ver beautiful, in the Baroque style. Not what you would expect n a monastery. The lareg collection of books includes books that were banned by the church. Those books were kept locked behind a metal grate. They could only be read with the archbishop's permission. The library also includes a fascinating collection of plants, animals, shells and rocks from other parts of the world. 

There is a set of books made of wood. Each book contains information about one type of tree. The cover of the book is made from the bark of that tree. The book is really a box. Inside the box are specimens from the tree - wood, seeds, leaves, etc.

There is a funny-looking bird. It was thought to be a dodo bird, but it was later determined that it was pieces of different anmals that had been sewn together.  There are various birds' eggs, many of them in nests. The scientific curiosity of the monks was quite sophisticated.

On the balcony behind the monastery

From the monastery we walked downhill towards the castle.

Huh?

A gas lamp near the castle entrance

Building near the castle. The images on the building are created by layering on different colors of stucco and then scratching through. From a distance the wall appears to be 3-dimensional.

Door

The entrance to the castle, now the president's headquarters

Herrcules is on the right

Stt. Vitus' Cathedral

Mucha stained glass window inside St. Vitus'

Vineyard behind St. Vitus'

We followed a path downhill and arrived at some beautiful gardens near the Senate building.

One feature of the gardens was a grotto, with a wall made to look like stalactites. There are nuerous faces and animals worked into the design. This wall was built  four or five hundred years ago.

After reaching the bottom of the hill we walked toward the John Lennon Wall, the only place in Prague where graffiti is legal. (Unfortunately, there is quite a lot of graffiti everywhere in Prague. What a shame. Itt is otherwise a fairly clean city.)

Laska means "peace" in Czech. I wonder whether Alaska means something.

From the John Lennon Wall we headed to the Charles bridge, built by Charles IV. This is the most famous bridge in Prague. Itt contains 30+ statues. There are a number of vendors on the bridge who are licensed to be there. And, of course, droves of tourists.

Gate to the city at the end of the Charles Bridge