The historic street of Nerudova in the Lesser Quarter used to be part of the "Royal Way" (Královská cesta), the traditional route taken by Bohemian kings to their palace coronations. Today, this is the hilly route taken by countless tourists from the Charles Bridge to reach Prague Castle. It's a steep walk for sure up Nerudova ulice, a winding cobblestone street, but it wasn't as taxing a walk as we had been forewarned it would be, especially as you can stop at regular intervals to look at the many points of interest on the way. Nerudova contains many impressive historic buildings, grand houses, hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and foreign embassies to see. A unique feature of the street is that all of the historic buildings have a distinguishing name and symbol attached to their facade (this feature predates the actual numbering of houses in the street).
Pražsky Hrad (Prague Castle) is no miniature palace, the whole site stretches out for a distance of some 570m or so in length. In fact the Guinness Book of Records rates it as the largest castle in the world! The castle's lofty location is undoubtedly its prime asset. The castle offers great views of Malá Strana and particularly of the eastern part of Hradčany. The whole complex, surrounded by extensive gardens, contains in addition to the 9th century castle, two cathedrals (St Vitus and St George), a riding school, Queen's Summer Palace and a Treasury holding King Wenceslas' Crown Jewels and other treasures (Prague's equivalent to the Tower of London). The large palace forecourt is the place to be if you want to catch the changing of the guard with its bright greyish-blue uniforms (during the summer months on the hour: 0700-2000). Currently the castle/palace is the presidential residence of the Czech Republic.
The whole area around Castle Hill, Pražsky Hrad and the other historic buildings like Lobkowiczky Palác on the hill is known as Hradčany. The core of this district is the Castle complex and its series of courtyards and gardens. The elevated location of Hradčany affords views back across the Vltava River to the Old and New Towns of Prague. There are two sets of old stairways leading to and from Castle Hill ... coming down via old Zámecke schody, even though there are over 200 large steps to descend is much easier than the cobblestoned walk up!
