Admittedly, spending what was – at that point – the hottest day of the year in Prague walking up a hill to the castle perched high above the city was a bold move. Still, when time is limited, that’s what we did.

Prague Castle

The path up is steep, and doesn’t reveal its destination until you are through the first gate and on a bit further. Consisting of the castle, St George’s Basilica and Cathedral of Saint Vitus, this is a an impressive collection of buildings, with the cathedral a third development of an original church founded in 930CE.

Hot and bothered as we already were (by 10:30am), we skipped the views inside (no doubt I missed the best part), but the queues were long and slow-moving. Ice cream instead 🍦

Heading back down, we took a different route which lead to the Waldstein / Wallenstein Garden, the Parliament buildings and the curious artificial stalactite wall, home to hidden silhouettes of animals such as frogs and snakes or grimacing faces.

Kunsthalle and DOX Centre

Opting for locations with air conditioning, after the castle we headed to the nearby Kunsthalle. With exhibitions spreading over three floors, we explored Mark Dion’s Cabinet of Electrical Curiosities, Memory of Touch: Chapter I and William Kentridge’s The Battle Between YES and NO.

Of those last two, I found the former more accessible, but certainly aspects of Kentridge’s work (YouTube link) are approachable for us non-artists.

Then over to the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. Here was more challenging for me: a three-storey exhibition by Radka Bodzewicz on the story of Faust was pleasing, if you are familiar with the intricacies of the writing. Hit by News, Press Art from the Nobel Collection detailed how access to and truthfulness in writing was forever changed by the introduction of mass printing and newspapers.

Least meaningful, to me, Jiří Petrbok: Patient Diary, a focus on self-portraiture, could be seen as the expression of a madman in places. It didn’t resonate with me.

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