Karlstejn Castle (part 1) ... what a way to spend a Saturday!

WARNING ... this is a LONG - and in my personal opinion, fabulous - blog entry. It will be in two parts ... part one (this one) is before I actually get into the castle and take the tour, part two (check back tomorrow, as I've got to sleep!) will be the tour itself and getting back to Praha. 


See ... I was not allowed to take pictures inside the castle, so I want to describe my tour to you in writing ... I hope you enjoy!


;-}


Ahhhh ... the big day of the week has arrived ... my visit to the castle! This is my first ever REAL castle (somehow I've always had difficulty calling American ones 'real' ... now I know why - they just DO NOT compare!) ... and I've been waiting patiently all week.


I started my trip by taking the A (green) metro to the Staromestska stop, and walked to the Old Town Sq where I was to meet my Study Abroad (SA in the future as I'm tired of writing it!) peeps at Martin's Tours. Along the walk I saw some cool things ...

A cool metal sculpture on the edge of Old Town Sq. It is made of ...

... keys! Crazy and cool!!

The Prague Astronomical Clock ... made in 1410.

So, after nearly getting lost - I found Martin's Tours just 5 minutes before they were scheduled to leave. Whew! Only one of my SA peeps were there - David. Alejandro had told me the day before that he was heading to Budapest for the weekend, and according to David - Travis had not come home the night before. Uh oh ... I hope he's okay!

And we were off! The trip was about 45 minutes to the southwest of Prague, and the bus driver went the scenic route ... along the Berounka River, which is fed from the Vltava River - the one that cuts Prague in half. I could not really understand our tour guide ... maybe one word out of 10 - part of the problem was the sound system on the bus, although she was still hard to understand once we were out in the open due to her heavy accent. That coupled with David's reserved, and non-communicative, nature - made the bus ride quiet and thought provoking. So ... I took some pics! When in doubt - take some pics!!!

A lovely field of yellow flowers ...

The Berounka River ...

A waterworks on the Berounka River ...

Then we arrived at Karlstejn Village, and had to leave the bus behind. Vehicles are strictly controlled in the Village proper ... so we had to either walk, take a taxi, or ...

A horse-drawn carriage ... WOO HOO!! That is our tour guide, Elenor, in the front seat.

So ... up the long and winding and steep road of Karlstejn Village we went - - clip clop, clip clop, clip clop ... sigh, it was wonderful. It was sunny and not too warm, as we were up higher than Prague - it was only 11a, and still quiet. Lovely, just lovely. 

Karlstejn Village ... and a cool horse shadow too!

Ahhhh ... my 1st glimpse of the castle! That is Elenor, our tour guide, in the left front seat - and the driver on the right. That is my SA peep David's face peeping in on the left as well.

A cute little beer truck ... well, a blurry one at least!

The sweet little stream in Karlstejn Village ...

We've now left the Village proper behind, and entering the Castle grounds themselves - which are heavily forested. It was simply heaven crossing this little 'border' ... the temperature dropped by probably 10 degrees, the birds were chirping, and almost all human sounds were gone. Clippity clop, clippity clop ...

And so our journey with the sweet horseys is at an end ... "we walk from here" as Indy once said!

The castle's Great Tower ... and the last look at the Village before we enter the castle.

So, I am about to walk through the castle's official entrance ... drum roll please!

The Great Tower (left) and The Marian Tower (right)

View down the valley from the curtain wall, with the Castle Well tower seen on the left

Looking up at The Great Tower (left) and The Marian Tower (right) ... I wanted to capture the purple flowers on the ground, along with the raised cross

A view of Karlstejn Village, from the stairs down into a small courtyard leading to the Castle Well from the main courtyard

The main courtyard ... that is my SA peep David sitting on the bench under the umbrella

View up from the Castle Well courtyard. The Great Tower is on the left, The Marian Tower in the middle, The Clock Tower (the 2nd gate into the castle which leads into the main courtyard) is visible behind the tree just to the right of center-pic), and The Burgrave's Residence is on the right - he was the "property manager" if you will.

The Castle Well tower is in the left foreground (it was 78 meters deep - that is about 240 feet!), with The Great Tower quite obvious! The two small towers to the left of the Great one are the entrances to the castle itself ... the lower tower is the current entrance, the middle tower (The Ursuline Tower) is the original entrance.

Looking up at The Burgrave's Residence from the small courtyard in-between the main courtyard and the Castle Well.

From the same small courtyard referenced above ... I just LOVE the plants growing on the curtain wall. That is The Marian Tower in the middle of the pic.

I simply HAD to take this pic out the wall 'window' ... on the stairs from that same small courtyard, on my way back up to the main courtyard.

A view through the entrance into the inner castle from the main courtyard, where the tour will begin.

The tour ticket ... I was hoping for another instant souvenir, but no such luck. Martin's Tours needs to keep it for bookkeeping purposes. So ... next best thing - pic!

And so the tour is about to begin ladies and gents ... and this sign reminds us, no pix please, as it is apparently ruining the castle itself.

So, tune in tomorrow (uhhh - actually, later today now that I look at the time!) for part two of the splendid Karlstejn Castle ... 

Night to all ... it is 12:55a (no Momma, I haven't figured out how to automatically time stamp my entries - oh well).


Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Ami's Karlstejn Pics

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