The Upper Castle

Our last stop in Prague was the Vyšehrad, a fortress built in the tenth century on top of a hill overlooking the river.  In these early years the leaders went back and forth between here and Prague Castle (which you can see on the horizon in the second picture down).  The Basilica of St Peter and St Paul was built on the grounds in 1080, then was rebuilt after a fire in the mid-1200s.

Because the fort is on top of a huge hill (it was quite the inclined hike to get up to it), you can see vast expanses of the city.  After it was abandoned as the royal residence, and taken over by the Austrian Monarchy in the mid-1600s, Vyšehrad was remodeled and became the training center for the Austrian Army.

This sculpture of an arrow-pierced man in the wall was quite beautiful.  To me, his facial expression looks more like sadness than pain from the arrows, which I assume would have been quite hard to get across in the stone medium; so, bravo to the sculptor.  

This hidden door led out to a viewing platform overlooking the river.  We were there right as the sun was setting, which meant that the skyline was just beginning to be lit up for the night.  As the sun was going down, it began to get colder and colder, and it was already freezing to begin with, so we decided to take the metro back to our apartment rather than walk.

(photos by e.hunt)