The biggest castle in the world? Praha… or Prague to you and me.
We know Prague for a number of reasons.
For many it’s a stag or hen do, for me it’s beer, yes, their Becherovka spicy aperitif too, and its Castle.
Which gives it its name.
Praha, the first bricks of which were laid as far back as 870, is the largest ancient castle in the world and occupies 750,000sqft.
Home to the President, it also contains the crown jewels, and spanning more than 1,000 years it has a lot of history and stories.
All the great civilisations have been through here and many of the worst.
Thankfully like all great castles there is magic in its bricks and woe betide anyone who messes with it.
Reinhard Heydrich did, placing the Bohemian crown on his head and thus invoking the curse.
Where anyone who does so will die within the year.
The Resistance did the rest and he was ambushed and killed on his way to the Castle… you might have seen Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan in the film Anthropoid.
Like all good castles it is on high and you get wonderful views of Prague with all its charms, the Vlatva River.
And you can think about visiting the Astronomical Clock and the Kafka Museum.
Which has one of the world’s great statues: Piss… Read my review of Prague and the Spa Triangle for all things Czech https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/24/czech-it-out-2/.
Of course the best place to stay in Prague is up at the Castle and we did just that. Czech out my review in the same article.
And, of course, this being Central Europe the Czech Republic is replete with great castles.
Loket Castle is one. Near Karlovy Vary, home of the international film festival.
It is also set in the Spa Triangle where people drink a salty lukewarm water which revives their health.
And I’d recommend eating just outside the Castle where they bury the pig in foul underground and roast it.
Of course, you want to wash it all down with a Ruby beer.
Visit www.czechtourism.com.
Now in Loket there us a seat with an inscription from Richard Gere where he sat to eat while attending the film festival.
Of course, I was an officer and gentleman and gave up my seat to a lady.
After I’d finished my roast pig and Ruby Beer.
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