After Dusk...

My final post about our Prague adventure (at least this time around), describes the magic of the city after the onset of darkness. A veil of endless, sentimental romance settles over the streets, exuberating the feel of old photographs or paintings from times long gone.
The best pictures that I took on this trip were made during the hours of dusk and twilight. Nevertheless, they can not match the beauty of the reality, which can only be appreciated fully by being there.

The winding streets leading up to the castle became silent and deserted as soon as darkness covered the city. We lived in a small, romantic hotel just under the castle and had every opportunity to visit it after dark. It was accessible and held open. Walking around the empty castle yard and gazing at the buildings and the majestic cathedral with its gargoyls and ornate stone structures was an amazing, unusual and almost surreal experience, particularly due to the fact that just a few hours prior, it was filled with hundreds of tourists.

Of course, a city like Prague with all its legends and tales, holds a few stories of the supernatural nature. Book after book has been written on this subject and the city offers a multitude of ghost tours.
We joined one of the tours and were led through the streets of the old town, listening to forgotten tales of the old city, feeling the hair on the back of our neck rise. No matter how logical ones mind is, the atmosphere of the empty streets mixed with the dark tales will make a believer out of the worst of sceptics.




A picture worth posting and a detail worth mentioning is the one that we were encouraged to take standing in front of the St. James Basilica. Not only does the church have a mummified forearm hanging at its entrance, but the monastery connected to it also apparently played a major role in the killing of the Knights Templar in the 14th century.
On the pictures of the entrance here, one large "energy orb" can be seen to the right of the entrance, almost at middle of the gate. Although some will claim that these orbs are of no supernatural origin and can clearly be explained scientifically, I choose to believe in magic and will proudly display my one and only meeting with the unknown.