Anna Staniszewski

I’ve finally gotten around to downloading the pictures from my recent trip to Poland and the Czech Republic and wanted to share some of them, namely the castles. I’ve long-since been intrigued by castles and luckily Eastern Europe is a wonderful place for castle-hunting. Seeing these magnificent structures makes it clear to me why so many people are interested in fairy tale and historical settings: it’s difficult (but fun) to imagine that there was a time when people actually lived in places like these, when the throne room was used by a real ruler and the moat was an actual line of defense.

First off is the castle in Krakow called the Wawel. Since Krakow is the only city in Poland that wasn’t destroyed in WWII, there are so many amazing historical buildings here. The castle stands atop a hill (of course) and has inspired endless Polish fairy tales and legends, many of them involving dragons. Here is part of the outside wall:

And here is the inner courtyard. See those little black things in the sky that look like birds? They were, in fact, bats. Bats in the daytime? I didn’t think such things happened, but this is a city full of wonders after all.

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photographs inside the castle, so we had to be content with snapping a few of the outside. As is true in many historically Christian countries, a prominent part of the castle was the cathedral. Here is a view of the backside of the castle, cathedral and all, that looks out onto the Vistula River:

And finally, getting back to those dragons, this is the cave under the castle where a dragon is said to have lived. We actually got to go inside the cave and wander around, but it was a tad too dark in there to get any decent pictures. You can just use your imaginations.

Next we move onto Prague. For anyone who hasn’t been here, it really is a gorgeous city. I’ve never taken so many pictures of random buildings just because they were pretty. The castle can be seen from nearly all over the city:

Since the castle was (not surprisingly) on a hill, it was a little bit of a trek getting to it from the Metro. We wound up weaving through the royal gardens and vineyards, and were rewarded by amazing views of the city below:

Inside the castle “compound” was, of course, another cathedral. This was by far the most eye-catching structure in the whole bunch.

A more dramatic view:

And, for good measure, a view of the inside of the cathedral:

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The moat!

It’s more of a stream these days than a sprawling moat, but trust me, it still has a foul, medieval stench.

And that’s the end of the tour. Needless to say, I’m now fully inspired to try to incorporate a castle or two into my writing (or at the very least, a dragon).