Castle

After checking into our hostel, we headed off to Prague's main site - the Pražský hrad. It might just be the biggest ancient castle and seemed more like a walled-city. The interior of many of the buildings have beautiful, ornate Gothic vaulting and ribbing, including the Old Royal Palace.Apparently it used to be acceptable to sentence someone to being throw out the window, or defenestration, in Prague in the Middle Ages. The Old Royal Palace is where the Second Defenestration of Prague occurred, although the councilors' lives where saved when they landed on a pile of dung.

While the castle buildings varied widely in their architectural styles, most of the building were early, middle, or late Gothic in origin. Contrasting this was the St. George Basilica, which is probably the best example of preserved example of Romanesque architecture in Prague. Golden Lane provided a view into 16th century cottages , originally built to house the sharp shooters of the castle guards. Over the years the cottages have also been lived in by goldsmiths, squatters, and artists. Kafka even lived here for a short period of time (in #22). Today they house shops hawking tourists souvenirs. The view of the castle at night from the Charles Bridge is spectacular.