Visiting the Cathedral in Pilzen Czech Republic. A nice panoramic view of Plzen after a lot of stairs.

This Cathedral was built before Columbus discovered America. It is a very special Cathedral with wonderful architecture and stained glass windows. It has a famous Status of the Virgin Mary and Christ above the altar. It also has a magnificent bell tower which may be climbed to the top to view the entire city of Pilzen and surrounding country side. There is a lot of history that goes with the Cathedral to include the Occupation by the German Forces in World War II and liberation by General Patton. Pilsen hosts many Festivals my Favorite it he Liberation Parade by General Patton and display of Czech young people who dress up as General Patron's Soldiers in the Liberation of Pilzen. General Patton wanted to liberate Prag as well but was ordered to leave it to our (Russian Allies) which historically proved to be a big mistake. Other festivals are "Church Night" when all the churches are opened to include the Benedictine and Franciscan Monetary. Other festivals include the Historical Weekend, The Musical Festival and the Historical Christmas Market. It is also home of Charles University. The majority of the citizens and young people speak fluent English. There is a wonderful inexpensive Railway system to travel through out the Czech and Slovakian Republic. Moravian is famous for its rolling mountains and famous Moravian Wine. The Czech people are found to be guest friendly and proud to show tourists their historical sites. I consider it a must to see while in Europe and to enjoy and taste the Czech and Slovakian Hospitality. There are also wonderful and inexpensive camping sites. Pilzen also has a world class famous Zoo.

In the middle of the town square across from city hall is St. Bartholomew's. You cannot miss it because it is the tallest church in the whole country. You are allowed to walk into the church and look past through a gate at the pews, stained glass, paintings and alter. It is attractive but I wanted to get closer to the artwork.
Directly to the left of the church entrance is the entrance to the tower. The first part of the ascent is up a stone spiral staircase. You take that up about three stories where there is a booth where you pay the 30 Korunas entry fee. There are also some old postcards for sale and some odd artwork on the walls. This is where the adventure really starts as you start walking up the old wooden staircase. After about 8 stories, you continue on much steeper and narrower steps. I needed to stop a couple of times to catch my breath since there were more than 250 steps! When you get to the church bells, you are almost to the top. Finally there is a room and outdoor walk-around view. The view is worth the climbing as you see for miles in every direction including other churchs and the huge synagogue, the spawling Pilsner Urquell and Skoda factories and the endless about of "soviet", concrete houses in the suburbs. I enjoyed it.

Plzen is not such a big city, so you can go over this tower to see the whole city. Since we do not have an elevator we climb the stairs all the time, but this is a little exercise. I had a beer at the last lunch, so this stairway was pretty hard. However, the view from the top is the best. (I was a little scared because I was afraid of high altitude) Of course the church on the first floor is a must-see.