Prague: a visit to Praha Castle

If you follow me on Instagram (and I can only suggest to do that ;p) you already know I’ve recently been in Prague to visit my little cousin – who’s not that little anymore – who’s doing an internship there.

I hopped on a plane on a Friday morning and arrived in an incredibly warm and sunny Prague just in time for lunch.

My cousin being still at work when I arrived, I just had a quick toast & a cappuccino before heading to Prague castle.

Actually the castle is not just a castle, it's a real city inside the city. It sits on the top of a hill & its silhouette is visible from every corner of the city. Ne need to say, from up there you enjoy a wonderful view over the city below.

The castle is surrounded by beautiful gardens, that were bursting with colors & smells.

Wandering among the castle's palaces, churches & gardens is the perfect way to spend half a day while in Prague.

You can reach the castle by foot or take an old fashion tram. I would suggest this second option and then you can go back to the city centre by foot, as the hill is quite steeply plus the walk till the castle is quite long and, trust me, you're gonna walk quite a lot inside the castle as well.

Little time-saver tip: to buy tram tickets, you need to go in a subway station. 

(Obviously I didn't know that, I thought I could just buy tickets on the tram, as I just did on the airport bus. Eventually, the tram driver very nicely, made me go up on the tram anyway).

You can enter the castle and the gardens for free & explore around and it's yet very beautiful, but if you wish to visit some of the historic monuments you'll have to get your ticket ;)

You can chose between a long & a short tour ticket. I chose this last option, that gives you access to the Old Royal Palace, Saint George Basilica, Saint Vitus Cathedral and the Golden Lane.

Just be aware that while the castle and the gardens are open until 6pm, the monuments close at 5pm, but starting from 4.30pm, the attendants begin not wanting tourists in. Summer time hours, you can find all the opening hours here.

I started my visit with the most emblematic building: Saint Vitus Cathedral.

The interior is huge 

& heavily decorated (in a good way ;p) 

& the stained glass are just wonderful. The lights enter through them, creating colorful drawings

But the noise of the huge crowd of tourists took some of the pleasure of the visit away.

That's probably why I preferred Saint George basilica. The monument is clearly less impressive

but it was empty from tourists, resulting in a very peaceful & charming place.

I wandered around the courtyard and south gardens...

To arrive to the Old Royal Palace. I expected a Versailles style place, but instead I surprisingly found quite austere rooms.

I continued with Golden Lane a colorful alley, which didn't impress me much, probably, again, because of all the tourists.

I finished with the upper & lower gardens, which was what I preferred. As always & not surprisingly I'm more an outdoor girl.

I've spent so many time wandering around the gardens that, before I could realize, it was 6pm and the guardians made me get out.

I kept on walking to come back to the hotel enjoying the beautiful views of Prague at sunset...

Tired & happy I found my cousin Elena at the hotel & after a quick shower off we were again for some local meal.

We went to a very nice place suggested by one of Elena's colleagues, of which I unfortunately cannot recall the name.

Where we share the biggest skewers I've ever seen and a typical beef dish with a raspberry sauce and bread dumplings.

And one (or two) enormous beer... we're in Prague after all! Chatting & laughing until tiredness won us (and we realized we were the only clients left, but waiters were too nice to tell us something)!

Not resisting to take a last few snaps on the way home...

But hey Prague at night is very charming (and empty of tourists!!).

Plus I was enjoying being with someone that takes almost as many pics as I do instead of hubby that usually sighs every time I take my camera (please, tell me I'm not the only one!) ;))