The Cathedral

There are a lot of great buildings to see in and around Prague, and the Cathedral is a must. We set off early, caught the metro into the city, walked through the square and across the bridge, and then caught a tram up the hill. We weren't the only ones. The tram was fairly crowded, and there were crowds already waiting to get into the cathedral. In fact there was a very discouraging queue several hundred long ...


We wandered around outside, looking at the statues and admiring the gargoyles, wondering if it was really worth queuing to get inside.

Finally we went and asked in the tourist office about ticket prices, and were told that of course, being a church, this was free. We watched the queue for a while, and noticed that each time it did move it made excellent progress. So we joined the end, and were quite surprised how soon we were allowed in - there was a man at the church door letting in groups of maybe twenty or so about every ten minutes. Once inside we found the place was huge and not at all crowded.




I haven't seen a lot of cathedrals, really, so I'm definitely not an expert. But this one is magnificent. Even if you are not a stained-glass enthusiast, you have to be impressed by the numerous windows in this church.

There are statues and a massive organ, a great deal of beautiful artwork.




But we wanted to climb the tower. It took us a while to find the staircase, but as soon as we did we started up. After a few steps there was a sign:

Warning: 287 steps

Ah, well. How bad can it be? I set off up the stairs with Peter, Max and friend Richard behind me. The staircase was small and winding in a clockwise direction. Whenever we met people coming the other way we pressed ourselves against the wall, and they had to step down the tiny side of the steps.

I could hear one of the guys had started counting - I was determined not to. Just concentrate on steady step - step - step ... and breathe ...

It was a long way. When we must be nearly there I heard Richard call "That's a quarter of the way!" Ahhh! By the time Richard announced "Half way" the claustrophobia was closing in on me. Just concentrating on the steps, and the way out is up!

We got there. And it was worth it. We have hundreds of beautiful photos. Here's a couple of small ones.