Thursday, September 22, 2011

Saint John under the Cliff and Karlstejn Castle

OK ( SO I GUESS IT SAVED!)
Here we go read the last blog but disregard
the part where it didnt save yay for blogspot
autosaving my post!

Today's Wednesday trip was quiet the adventure. After a short bus
ride out of the city we arrived at the sacred site of
Saint John under the Cliff. Here we learned the legend
of Saint Ivan. For those of you who don't know Saint Ivan's story
he was son of the Charvatian duke Gostimysl. Obviously being a duke's son
he had the option to live quiet the luxurious life, but instead
Ivan chose to retreat to the silent landscape where he lived 42 years
under the cave. After being tempted by demons Ivan decided to leave the site,
however on the day of his departure, St. John the Baptist appeared on the hill
under St. John Cliff and he gave Ivan a wooden cross, which helped Ivan
expel the demons.

The site of the cave now has a church beside it where you actually have to enter
the church to enter the cave. Unfortunately the church was filled with
dust and construction so we were unable to get a good view of
what the church once looked like, but we were able to enter the sacred
cave, where their were holy statues and crosses.

The cave and church were pretty neetoo but my favorite part
of our little adventure to St. John's was our hike up to the wooden cross.
Let me tell you either im out of shape or this hike was strenuous beyond belief.
Lets just say i was hurting! The hike was about 25mins up and 25mins down,
coming down was obviously way easier than going up. Every step was worth it
though. The view from the top of the hill/mountain was breath taking.
It nearly brought tears to my eyes it was so beautiful. After taking it all in, and
snapping a few dangerously close the edge photos we headed back down and
we were off to our next site of the day.

Karlstejn Castle was the next adventure of the day. This also included some hiking
since the castle was located up on a hill. The Gothic style castle dates back to 1348,
when it was founded by King Charles IV. The castle served as a
place for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia, Bohemian coronation jewels, holy relics
and other royal treasures. The castle was incredible and well worth the hike
up the hill! After many renovations and restorations the castle open to the
public again in 2000, the castle is now one of the most famous
and most frequently visited castles in the Czech Republic.
I suggest visitors of Prague to take a trip up to the castle!!

No comments:

Post a Comment