Czech Republic - 2002

With an around the world air ticket, we flew out of Melbourne on the 10th of May to Vancouver in Western Canada.
 Next flight was to Calgary then we flew over the North Pole to Frankfurt
 in Germany where we went on a Trafalgar Highlights of New Europe tour.
(Frankfurt to Berlin, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, The Czech Republic and Rothenburg before returning to Frankfurt.)
After this tour we flew to Istanbul in Turkey and went on a Trafalgar tour of Turkey.
Then to Singapore via Dubai and back to Melbourne after 54 days.

From Vienna we crossed into The Czech Republic. Our first stop was at Lednice where we wandered through of Lednice Castle,
a former hunting lodge of the Liechtenstein family.
Then through the Bohemian countryside to Prague. Highlights of Prague were the castle area, the old town square area and Charles Bridge.
The former country of Czechoslovakia has now been divided into two countries - Slovakia and The Czech Republic.
(It was later renamed Czechia not long before our 2017 visit).

Lendice Castle

Our first stop in The Czech Republic was at Lednice, just over the border from Austria.
We walked through the grounds of Lednice Castle, a former hunting lodge of the Liechtenstein family.
It was in a run down condition with the masonry in poor repair and the gardens untidy.

 

   

   

   

  

The minaret in the gardens of Lednice Castle
 

   

Lendice Village
   

The Bohemian countryside on the way into Prague.

Prague

A Gothic astronomical clock built in 1401 entertains the crowd with apostles, Christ, a skeleton and a cock on the hour. 

      

Attractive headgear on the horses in the main square of Prague.

Fine stonework around the doorway of a building that is now used for weddings.

       

       

       

Some scenes from the old town square area of Prague.


       

       


More pictures of Prague.

       

       

             

After dinner in Prague, we went on the optional night tour of Prague.
First to the Castle Area which is the oldest part of Prague and dates from at least 880. It was the original fortress of Prague.
The Fourteenth Century was glorious one for Prague. Charles IV, the emperor, made Prague the capital of The Holy Roman Empire. He was half Czech.
After visiting the Castle Area we went to the Strometske, the old square.


       

The Castle Area of Prague.
We walked through 3 courtyards before reaching the Cathedral.
Ceremonial Czech guards watch over the entrances.



































 


 One of the most impressive buildings in the Castle Area of Prague is  St. Vitus Cathedral (Kathedrala sv.Vita).
It had beautiful, beautiful, vivid stained glass windows; the best that I have ever seen.
The cathedral is owned by the state and the Catholic church is allowed to conduct services there.
It was started in 1344 and only completed in 1929. Made of sandstone it has gone black because of absorption into the stone.

The Charles Bridge over the Vltava (Moldau) River, was built in 1357 in the time of King Charles IV, and was the only bridge in Prague until 1841.
We climbed the tower on the Mala Strana side which had a good view over the river and the city at both ends of the bridge.



   

       

 

 

 

 

A view from the Charles Bridge in Prague.

       

       

       

       

A smart fountain in front of the main museum at the end of the fashionable boulevard in Prague, Vaclavske Nam.

There were majestic Art Nouveau facades on the buildings.

       


An equestrian statue of the 10th century King Vaclav (St. Wenceslas), the patron saint of Bohemia.