I love the cobblestone streets and sidewalks here. I look at them from one angle then another, seeing different patterns from various perspectives. The designs are so intricate; I’m amazed such care was invested to create something people walk or drive on every day. Cobblestones aren’t easy to walk on, so they force me to slow down and see more of what’s around me.
I followed the cobblestone path up to the Prague Castle this afternoon. I was greeted by multitudes of enormous buildings and palatial courtyards. I ducked into St Vitus’ Cathedral and admired stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings. I eavesdropped on English-speaking tour guides explaining the history of the church. I saw a sign boasting excellent views from atop the South Tower, along with a warning sign there were 287 steps to climb. 287 steps? Not a problem.
Not a problem unless they are 287 steps in a circular stairway about two-feet wide, with people ascending and descending at the same time. Much to my surprise, I learned that I get dizzy very easily. It was impossible to see more than a couple of feet in front (or behind) as I climbed, so meeting others was a surprise, causing each of us to squoosh to the inside or outside of the narrow staircase.
I arrived at the top, breathing heavily, to which another tourist told me, “Only one more flight to go,” then laughed at the expression on my face. I was at the top and it was stupendous. I looked down at the courtyard in which I was recently standing, tourists scurrying around like tiny ants. I saw the river and multiple bridges. I saw waves of endless red rooftops. I saw spires of cathedrals. Well worth the climb.
Looking up at the South Tower
287 steps higher, looking down at the courtyard
LoriLoo 
Nice pictures!
Thanks! Your photos of Italy are gorgeous also!
Wow, that courtyard shot is amazing! It almost gives me vertigo just looking at it.
Thanks! I definitely experienced a few bouts of dizziness climbing to the top! 🙂
Me too! Really got dizzy with the second photo, but very beautiful! 🙂
I just about fell out of my chair when I saw your post on WordPress. I’m editing photos right now from our vacation to Prague, Istanbul & The Hague. I knew where your 287 steps led as soon as I saw that courtyard photo on Freshly Pressed. My husband climbed the tower while I sat on one of those benches below. How awesome to find your blog. We loved Prague. I’ll be posting photos from our trip over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I’ll be reading yours to see what you’ve experienced. So happy I found you, Lori!
Thanks! I love reading others’ accounts of places I visited. I look forward to seeing your photos of Prague!
[shudders] Just thinking about taking that picture is making my palms sweat. Nice shots!
Thanks! I was nervous as I leaned out the window to take the shot!
:O This place looks like HEAVEN!
what a beautiful peace of human work 🙂
piece* lol
Visiting Prague was like visiting a little piece of heaven. 🙂
Prague-wow. Far distance from my latest work for Colorado. http://50statesdesignproject.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/7-colorado-grand/
Such spectacular views and images … Consider me WAY jealous! 😉
Thanks, Mikalee. Prague is a gorgeous city to spend time in, especially if you like castles and classical music.
I love your photos! Prague is such a beautiful place!
Thank you! It was my first visit to Prague and I fell in love with the city. I’d love to go back!
I would love to move to Prague. Does anyone have a room there to rent out for a few months?
You might want to check out airbnb. I rented an apartment for a week, and it looked like there were many longer term rentals available also.
How much was the room rates like?
I rented an apartment for the week that I was there. I found it on airbnb. Individual owners set the rates for the properties. I think when I searched I found places for USD 50 – 120/night.
I don’t know if Walter would rent by the month, but here’s the apartment we stayed in for a week. It was spectacular – perfect location, great views, every amenity. We loved it. (We were there last month.) http://www.vrbo.com/305027
Second picture is a brilliant capture. Gives a real sense of height. 🙂
Thank you! It seemed much higher when I was at the top. 🙂
Wow. The architecture is absolutely stunning! I bet the view was incredible.
The view was beautiful from the top. In addition to looking down at the courtyard, you could look out across the city and see endless rooftops, the river, and bridges!
The Mrs. and I were there earlier this year. We didn’t have a tour guide, but we did have a lot of confidence from the Praha pilsner from the monastery down the hill. 😛 It’s absolutely beautiful. Interesting fact about the cathedral; if you look at the bottom, you can see images of the architects during latter portion of its construction. Those architect effigies are wearing modern suits. That means it took hundreds of years to make this building… amazing. Your angles really show the scale of the buildings too.
I never noticed that about the architects – what a fun fact! Thanks!
Yes, it took 600 years to build St. Vitus. The cathedral was finished in 1929. I may be biased as a resident of Prague, but of all the cathedrals I’ve seen in Europe so far, I think St. Vitus is second only to Notre Dame. It’s tremendous.
What a gorgeous building and pictures!
Very pretty. Love the pic from high up.
http://valentinedefrancis.blogspot.com
This is awesome. I’m adding it to my bucket list. Beautiful perspective picture of the castle. Thank you.
Thank you. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you choose to visit! 🙂
You know that second picture is great when it makes people (like me) experience vertigo and sweating palms! Great photos!
Thank you!
Totally worth the effort.
Sigh, I remember those 287 steps. Still one of my favorite places I’ve ever visited…though I know what you mean about feeling dizzy! Totally worth it once you get to the top though. Love your pictures, they take me back!
I wish I wasn’t phobic of heights. Even your vivid description of your journey up those stairs had me feeling slightly dizzy. But what a spectacular view, no?
It was definitely worth the climb! 🙂
Just stunning.
Very pretty!! And worth the jelly legs the next day I imagine!!
Very much worth the sore legs. 🙂
Beautiful pics! Looks like a place I would very much love to visit. 🙂
Thank you! It’s a gorgeous city. There’s so much history and beauty everywhere.
Amazing! I wish people still took the time to lay out cobblestones or even just that more people appreciated them
It was fascinating to see the designs in the cobblestones as I walked from block to block. Really beautiful!
Wow – this is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go! Fab photos 😉
Great shots…Love the photos..
Great photos. Reminds me of when I was living in Germany while in the Army. We would visit a lot of the old building and churches. Europe is beautiful.
Wow what an amazing picture i love it. great job
Ah, good old Prazsky Hrad. Many of the best views of Prague to be had from there. The tower is great! The funny-sized steps don’t help but the views are completely worth it. Great shot of the ant-like people in the courtyard… 🙂
Architecture plays a big role in the overall feel of a certain place, you worded it nicely.
Interesting blog…
Cheers!
Looking at the second picture gives me the heebie jeebies.
How you kept your hand steady i will never know.
Cool shot
-Ron
I’m lucky that heights don’t bother me. 🙂
Good stuff, so then aim for the stars
-Ron
WOW! These are amazing pics!
nice click, you are very brave to take it from such beautiful angle.
Nice Post !!!
ah yes, Prague. I miss the place!
Really beautiful pics!
Great shots, well done on Freshly Pressed.
Thank you! An unexpected benefit of being Freshly Pressed is checking out the blogs of people who have visited and discovering so many new sites to follow! 🙂
Love the emphasis on perspective!! Thank you for sharing!
http://arabianmusings.wordpress.com/
I would love to move to Prague. Does anyone have a room there to rent out for a few months?
Check out airbnb. There are lots of places that are available for long-term rentals.
Nice photo. Maybe one day my wife and I will make it back to Europe.
Wacky fact: years ago I used to play the Budapest gambit as part of my chess repertoire!
That’s awesome! Congrats on being freshly pressed. Cheers.
Gorgeous pictures, ma’am. And so glad you enjoyed Prague, as it seems everyone here did also. I’m lucky, when I go, I stay with my cousins and get to see places tourists never get to go, and I have a fair command of the language, too. Which helps immensely. Byl jsem nahore tamto schodi, take — I went to the top of those stairs, too 🙂
You are very lucky – having local hosts to show you hidden treasures!
Great photos and great article! What a view!
Great view!
Looking down makes me sick and dizzy even tho it isn’t real! I have heard from others that Prague is a really beautiful place!
It induced dizziness in real life, too! 🙂 Prague is a gorgeous city, so full of old world beauty.
Prague is wonderful. I was there in January. Did you visit the bridge? Did you rub the bronze plates? People were all going crazy rubbing them for luck when I was there.
I wrote about the John Lennon wall on my blog – it was so interesting.
I could easily live in Prague! Looks like you’ve been having a fantastic time.
Jamie
Hi Jamie, I walked across the bridge several times. My favorite walk was early, early one morning. There were only a couple of other people walking and the fog was lifting off the river. It was magical. 🙂 I didn’t rub any of the bronze plates, but I saw others doing it. I wasn’t sure what was going on. Thanks for cluing me in.
beautifully written with beautiful pictures too match. It’s nice to know historical building are still respected, admired and appreciated! You’ve made me want to visit those cobblestones. Thanks 🙂
My pleasure – I hope you make it to Prague one day. It’s a lovely city!
Keeping your eyes focused farther away is good to avoid the dizziness, but as you pointed out old places like this don’t give you that luxury. Have you climbed inside the dome at Duomo in Firenze? The passageways are sandwiched between two domes: twisting, winding, cramped. I recommend it, especially for the view from the top.
That’s a good tip – thank you. I’ve never been to Firenze, but if I do, I’ll definitely visit the dome at Duomo. 🙂
Amazing snaps!!! 😀
Beautiful! 🙂
I look up to people who love traveling, see them as being free spirited. I personally have never been able to make the time to take a trip all by myself and really hope one day I can 🙂
I never thought I’d be the type of person to travel alone, either. Growing up, I never did anything alone. In college, a boyfriend convinced me to take a trip by myself (backpacking through the Australian outback) and I’ve loved traveling ever since! If you have the opportunity, I’d encourage you to do it. 🙂
Great photos! and the view!! I feel like I climbed the 287 stairs looking at that photo! of course without being winded and dizzy at the end 🙂
Very cool.
I love the architecture. Very nice. Hope I can go there someday 🙂
Amazing photos! 🙂
Hi Lori. Loved your post. The old world has some beautiful places. I saw parts of France, Germany, and Switzerland. Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph all very beautiful.
Dusty
Hi Dusty, I haven’t explored much of Germany or Switzerland. There are so many countries to see; I’m looking forward to visiting more of the old world countries of Europe.
I climbed those same 287 steps three years ago. The climb was brutal, but the view was totally worth it! 🙂
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Wasn’t it a spectacular view? Well worth the tired legs. 🙂
Awesome heights! Nice writing! and pretty pictures!
Great shots. I’m glad I saw your post as I will be in Prague next month. Any tips on visiting Prague?
I loved Prague. 🙂 I would recommend visiting the Old Town, walking across the Charles Bridge at dawn (otherwise it’s super crowded), visiting the Lennon Wall, seeing the Jewish quarter, walking around the Prague Castle complex (the building are open until 5 or 6, but the compound is open until midnight. You can see beautiful views of the city from there), and listening to music. There are excellent concerts everywhere, particularly jazz and classical music. If you like jazz, go to the Jazz Dock. If you like classical music, check out a performance at the Municipal House, or at any church. You’re going to have such a great time!
The first picture is just stunning!
Thanks, we needed this little trip
How beautiful. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for bringing a view of Prague Castle since it is my travel tour for the day, oh, what am I saying….the only way I will ever experience it! Beautiful.
Wonderful Shots. If I ever I would visit Czech Republic, I’ll never miss Prague.
Amazing Pics
Great Architecture.
Very nice architecture.
the second picture look like bird-eye view pic.
Not just this post, your entire blog is amazing!
Thank you! I appreciate you stopping by. 🙂
Lovely pics, reminds me I need to get away to somewhere like that soon x
I very much enjoy traveling as well and having lived for a period of time in Sweden I appreciate the wonders all around this world. This pictures are great! Isn’t it amazing how vastly different each experience is in each new country?
I agree! I still get so excited about going new places and wondering what new things I’ll experience there.
This reminds me of Krakow! I think Prague and Krakow are very similar.. now I’m having intense Krakow nostalgia!
I travel a lot but mostly the U.S. and Mexico, I live at 8000 ft.but don’t know if I could make it up all those stairs. Beautiful pics!
beautiful!
Looks like a great view. The best one’s do usually require a little work.
Lori, all those steps were worth it for that picture! What a brilliant place to visit! -Mark http://www.markinthecity.com
They were worth it. 🙂
Reminds me of our recent trip to Italy, where we climbed duomos in Rome, Florence and Milan. All involved climbing a few hundred steps in narrow, dark and sometimes stinky staircases but was worth the effort to see the cities from above.
Brought me back to past travels.
Thanks for the time-travel.
Mar
Just back from a magical trip to Prague,……………….. my calves are still suffering from climbing the tower at the Castle, I could hardly walk the next day but wow was it worth it for the spectacular view!!! To travel is to live ~
Sounds like you had a great trip!