Long Walk to Prague Castle, Czech Republic
When I promise something, I do deliver... Maybe not the next day or the next post, but definitely in the next 3 months! 😂 I have no idea where all that time has gone, but 2 months have just flown away! As an excuse, after my Prague post, I took a break to recover... Anyways, after touring Prague's Old Town city center and Jewish Quarter, it's time to step up and climb to the world-famous Prague Castle!
It was an afternoon in November 2025... We took a long walk around the city that morning, and "unfortunately" our tour guide mentioned that she would be doing the castle visit the same afternoon... In that moment, my wife's eyes got wide open, and I knew my destiny... 😂 In the short break, we managed to go for the already-mentioned lunch, went to the apartment to have an hour's rest, and we were back on the streets of Prague!
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Btw, not sure if I mentioned it before, but I would like to share a small tourist travel tip... On the last few trips, before going out on city tours, we would check out the Internet for FREE tourist guides... In almost every bigger European city, you will find some... They are completely free, but of course, you can (should) leave at least a small tip at the end of the tour... Most of the time, they are history students or young history enthusiasts, but always with a good knowledge base... A great way to help out someone who does what he likes to do, and to learn something about the place you are visiting...
When we are thinking about castles, we probably have different ways to imagine them, depending on the place we are coming from... or where we are visiting a castle... When someone says castle, I think of a "fairytale-look-castle", or maybe an Austrian mountain-top castle with a few towers around, and maybe a canal with alligators around it... 😂 If you think about Spain, you will probably have in mind some old, medieval castles, completely different than those in the Alps, and a few centuries' difference in age...
To get to the castle from the city center, you have to pass a bridge over the Vltava River... No alligators, but the bridge itself hides numerous stories and legends, all sculpted and well-preserved...
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In November, it was getting dark earlier, which made these views from the bridge even more appealing...
What would be a bridge without "love locks"... Not sure who planted that idea of locks and bridges, but our guide told us that locks are regularly being removed from this one... 😃
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Speaking of the guide, he noted that these stairs are very famous in many movies... Whenever there is a scene "from Paris", these stairs would appear... So, the next time you see Paris in a movie, check it twice, as there is a big possibility that it's Prague instead... Very similar architecture, a river in the city, bridges, and of course, a cheaper filming location...
Lennon Wall brings its own hi(story) in Prague... In communist Czechoslovakia, most of the Western "culture" was forbidden, and the first version of the wall was painted after the death of John Lennon in 1980... It was repainted in green by the secret police, but not long after that, new graffiti was written... You can check out the Wikipedia page for more details about it...
On the opposite side of the Lennon Wall, you can find the French Embassy building...
...back on the streets, toward the castle...
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I did mention alligators at the beginning, and this is the closest to them... 😂 There was a Castle bridge entrance over this nice valley... Maybe it was a river in the past, with animals in it... I will leave that to your imagination... 😃
When we finally got there, it was already dark... Prague Castle isn't just one building, but rather the whole complex of different buildings... They have been built over centuries, and every monarch added something personal to it... Everything began in the year 870, when the Church of the Virgin Mary was built.
We were lucky to be there when the guards changed, as it is a kind of traditional (small) ceremony...
Except for the church, most of the buildings are empty inside (at least, that was told to us), as all rulers who left Prague took their stuff with them... It was even a headquarters of the Nazis during the WW2...
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The gem that was well worth the climb, and the whole day walking, was these views of the city from the top of the castle! Gorgeous city lights over one of the nicest cities in Europe!
In the hope that I will have another occasion to visit this great city... Goodbye, Prague!
Thank you for your time.
--ph--
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Thanks for your curation, @ewkaw! 🌹
My pleasure :)
Prague is a great city. I think it may be a little cold this time in the year. Walking through a city is often the best way to discover its history and hidden details, that's what I do as well ;)
We were lucky as it was November, but luckily, it didn't rain! But in Nov- Dec, you can expect anything... maybe even snow... 😃
I like to go for a walk with locals, and if they are friends, even better... But at that time, we went with a local guide, and we didn't regret...
Not a little bit of trash anywhere amazing!
Most of these big tourist cities in Europe tend to be (relatively) clean... But unfortunately, it's not the case in every city/town...
I love that wall, I could spend a hell of a longtime just staring and soaking it all in. I have never ventured to Prague, it seems in UK to have the reputation of being a place full of pissed up chavs and slappers on stag and hen trips!
Hahaha... When people in the UK think that way, something is wrong there... But I suppose it comes from the football fans' perspective, or the beer-drinking perspective... 😃
Since I'm too old for those things, 😃 I haven't had any "unpleasant" situations...
It looks like an interesting place. Are there many free tour guides and for many locations? I never bothered checking for those, and I agree with giving them a small tip for their time.
You can Google it, and you will probably find it for any bigger city... When we went to Budapest, Hungary, we found multiple guides for the same time in the afternoon... And not just that, we could pick between English, Hungarian, and Spanish...
It sounds like your Prague walking tour, which started in the morning, was truly wonderful. Given their areas of expertise, having history students act as your guides was a huge advantage for your itinerary. It is so important for people to be able to work in their fields of study and continue their personal growth. The "crocodiles" part made me laugh—I suppose Prague has everything except real crocodiles. 😂 I’ve watched so many movies filmed in Paris or with "Paris" in the title... now I wonder: were they actually Prague all along? 😄 The night view from the castle hill looks absolutely magnificent. Climbing all those stairs couldn't have been easy, but after walking so many kilometers, I think you more than earned that view. Thank you for taking us along on this long walk and for sharing Prague from such a genuine perspective.
I'm so happy to read that you liked this small walk tour toward the Prague Castle! My wife is a big "castle fan", so whenever we go somewhere, we have to check out if there is any... Of course, I search for canals and crocodiles to be prepared, just in case... 😂
You definitely delivered! Prague Castle is stunning. Rest well after that long walk!"
I'm glad you like it! It is a great city for check out! And compared to some other European cities, very affordable accomodation and super-tasty food!
Some spectacular photos captured here. Love hove how clean and historic the city looks. The artitecture of the castle and other buildings look amazing. It makes me wanna save up and explore europe even more.
Thanks!
If I got you right, you were there on your "beer tour"; maybe it's time for some sightseeing next time? 😃 With a beer in your hand, of course... 😃
Absolutely, I will stop for a beer at each beautiful building or tourist attraction hehe
Three months is acceptable; I still have photos from my 2024 trip to Spain, haha. My friend, everything I see here is beautiful; I recall that this is one of the countries that has really caught my eye ever since I became a fan of travel videos and articles. The entire route you’re showing here is impressive—though it’s no surprise that the church is my favorite, along with the panoramic views of the city with the river in the background (I imagine that’s the Vltava)... I’ll always be around on Worldmappin to show appreciation for a great post 🙏 Hugs!
It's time for the next Venezuelan Choir Tour, but this time, not only through Spain, but the rest of Europe, too!!
Now that you have your winter coat, you can go to Prague easily... even in winter... 😜
Wow! Has that much time already passed? 😱
I just like how the post started with daylight images, and ended with nighttime silhouette of the whole city. PS: should have added a lovely little selfie too lol.
Hehehe... That's my OCD thing... 😂 Almost always, I tend to sort my images by the time I took them...
And regarding selfies, I do them only if it's a must... 😂
It's great, it let's the reader, see things as they happen in real-time 😆
"When I promise something, I do deliver... just not on time" should honestly be everyone's Hive motto. Three months between Old Town and the Castle — that's not procrastination, that's pacing yourself for maximum storytelling effect. 😄
The moment your wife's eyes went wide open when the guide mentioned the castle tour that same afternoon is the most relatable thing I've read all week. No rest for the tired traveler — just straight from lunch to conquering a 1,000-year-old hilltop complex. Respect.
That bridge shot at dusk, with the lights just starting to come on over the Vltava, is stunning — November light really does something special to a city, doesn't it? Moody and golden at the same time.
And the alligator-less canal running gag throughout the post had me smiling the whole way — you really committed to that bit! The "castle bridge over the valley" photo where you brought it back one last time was the perfect callback. Almost had me checking Wikipedia to make sure Prague castles don't come with reptiles as standard equipment.
The love-locks photo made me laugh knowing they get stripped off regularly — a beautiful, doomed tradition, frozen in a picture right before the next cleanup. And I will never watch a "Paris" scene in a movie again without squinting suspiciously at those famous stairs and thinking "...that's Prague, isn't it." Thanks for permanently ruining cinema for me in the best way possible. 😂
The Lennon Wall photo is the one that actually stuck with me the most, though — there's something powerful about graffiti that survived being painted over by the secret police. A wall that just refused to stay quiet.
The guard-changing ceremony timing was a lucky catch, and that final skyline shot from the top — the whole city lit up under you after a full day of walking — is exactly the kind of image that makes the sore legs worth it. Goodbye Prague indeed — until the next post, whenever that may organically arrive in 2026, 2027... 😉
🌾 Matteo
Ca' Paradiso | Cagli (Marche)
www.caparadiso.com
Thanks for your comforting words about my procrastination... I like to call it by its name and not hide behind the "pacing" myself... Hehehe... But I appreciate your words... 😃
Beautiful scenery, I hope to visit this country someday.
I hope you will have an opportunity to do it! 💪
Thanks for checking out the post!
Wow nice one! Always read that Prague is a beautiful place, and based on your photos, indeed!
Thank you! 🙏
Did you have a chance to visit it on one of your Europe trips? I know you've been around a lot!
I didn't manage to visit the Eastern Europe side, hehe!
Hiya, @gabrielatravels here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Travel Digest #3054.
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Thanks for picking my post in the Top 3! Appreciated! 🙏
It's great that you've recovered and can walk much better! Thanks for taking us along on this journey!
Well, this was from November last week, but I did recover nicely, and I have been walking a lot recently too!
Great!
Congratulations!
Wow. Beautiful Photography
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