Let's travel together #296 - Grotta, Prague (Havlíček Gardens)

When I get to write about a trip from the past I get all kinds of mixed feelings. I'm not sure if I should resume everything to nostalgia only but when there are no planned trips in the near future, this rather feels like a punishment to get through all those beautiful moments created since you are not sure when you'll be able to get this feeling again.

Either way, as long as we are talking about beautiful memories, I think everything is alright, although it's been more than half of a year since my trip to Prague happened and I really don't think I'll manage to see a new country this year as I planned to happen with each new year I get to live.

Anyway, today's discovery of Prague felt rather like bliss than any other things we've seen during our trip because as you might know, I am a seeker for anything nature-related.
But as in most of cases there is really not much nature you can enjoy in town other than a couple of parks. And that's why, especially during my journeys abroad I mainly focus on the urban sightseeing attractions.
I was actually speaking with @phortun a couple of months before this trip after seeing him sharing some interesting places not too far from Prague but which were closer to my heart speaking about canyons and lots of wild parts of nature.
Back then, I was confident that I was soon going to see all that with my own eyes too, but travelling in a group of five it's always a challenge to take decisions as, obviously, we all need to wish the same thing.
But as some of us didn't have the training for hiking, nor the adventurous spirit to leave the town behind us for a couple of hours, we decided to only focus on the city itself during our stay, with the promise that we would return one day and only explore the surroundings of Prague for a complete overview.

So with that thought in mind, I kind of was losing my hope to meet nature in any form during our stay in Prague, until my sister found out about Grotta and followed all the way towards it.

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Even though the pictures already talk for themselves, I'd like to add that this place felt like a deep breath of fresh air during the hot days of September Czechia was facing in 2023. That, and also, obviously, because of my constant desire to stick as close as possible to natural places rather than people, crowded locations, and polluted locations.

And Grotta couldn't come in a different way other than being carefully hidden in a park, after quite a lot of stairs climbed to make it to the hill this one is resting.

Actually, I'm pretty sure this is not one of the most famous parts of Prague just because it's very carefully hidden from curious eyes and there weren't too many people around during our visit either.

This is because we are speaking about something idiosyncratic and unique to the city, away from the center or old town, which as beautiful as it is, as mysterious it became after finding very little information about it both online but also while exploring it as there was just a single informative panel which wasn't in English anyway.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

After seeing the informative panel, along with the stone walls and columns that suddenly seemed to be a proper building rather than some remains or decorative elements, my feelings got mixed pretty quick thinking that overall we might not speak about a natural part of nature anymore.

So along with having Grotta looking like something straight out of a fairytale, this one actually represents an unusual and artificial cave with an arcade promenade in Prague that was extremely well created to be as close as possible to a real cave or canyon that you can meet only in nature.

This was initiated by the millionaire Moritz Gröbe between 1871 and 1888, whose initials can also be found here and there in Grotta, this one being opened to the public only after 2011 when it was renovated.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

But... do you remember when I told you this place is very mysterious having very little information available on the internet?

Well, the same little information we can find also complicates the case even more as it's hard to find the same details in two places, speaking about the situation of having some other people considered as initiating this whole thing, as well as the purpose behind it.

Such as, even though the millionaire Moritz Gröbe is considered the main initiator with a very clear purpose behind this whole construction, just one search away the exact same place is presented as being created by Antonín Barvitius and Josef Vorlíček who made it from the simple desire of following a trend back then to have artificial caves built around Europe.

Personally, I never heard of this trend, but I also didn't explore Europe that much either, so you can take all my information with a pinch of salt as it's the first time I'm such in doubt about the story of the place I explored.

A thing that is certain though, is that this place used to have commercial purposes in all the stories shared on the internet, speaking about a restaurant-cafe that was taking place on top of the construction, and which can be quite believable based on all the natural looking benches placed here and there, but also the arcade which seems like speaking about a location that wasn't for all ordinary people a while ago.

We actually took advantage of all these resting points not because it would take too much time to explore everything as all the walks inside the canyon cave end pretty fast, but because we still believed we were speaking about a natural cave and it would be a loss not to take advantage of this occasion, as well as stay away from the powerful sun rays for a bit.

But even if it's not a natural one, I am still impressed by all the details and the overall results which are stunning and still represent one of the best places we've seen during our stay in Prague last year.

It just seems like every spider web, plant, dusty path and rock that fell on the fragile stairs, was carefully placed to have everything look like a genuine cave that connects those in need with nature and its wilderness.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

But along with any preferences you might have in terms of places to see as a tourist, I still believe that Grotta is way too underrated for what it has to offer.

From the winding pathways and hidden cave-like rooms on several levels, leading down to a fountain featuring Neptune which I am sure it's not random and might have a story that hasn't been shared yet, the whole mystery that rests here makes you become the main character in a fairytale that might never find its ending but which can add a bit more to it through all the people stopping here from time to time.

So, even if we didn't manage to reconnect entirely to a wild part of nature, the natural look and all the details from Grotto did manage to save a special spot in our hearts, along with adding a bit more smiles to our tired faces but constant desire to explore a bit of the unknown of every country we travel to, along with the more popular sides of it.

It just feels like the complete experience we always seek for when we get to mix a bit of the popular and the unknown all together, and still enjoy the two sides equally at the end of the day. And even if I am not sure when and if I will ever be able to see Grotto again, I'll definitely give it a search once in a while to see if any extra information is available from my current knowledge about this one, as I declare myself a big fan of everything seen back in that hot day of September!

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Grotta can be found in Grébovka Park just between Prague's central quarters of Vinohrady and Vršovice also making it not too far away from Nusle quarter and the New Town of Prague.

You can reach this one via:

• Trams 4, 13, 22, 97, 99 to stop - Jana Masaryka.
• Trams 4, 13, 22, 97, 99 to stop - Krymská.
• or simply by walking as we did, which gets you closer to the feeling of heading to a hidden spot of nature away from traffic noise and crowded locations.

Other places I've seen during my stay in Prague:

• The "John Lennon" Wall
• The Nustle Bridge also known as "The Suicide Bridge" of Prague
• Street Art in Prague
• The Dancing House
• Idiom Installation - the book tower of the Prague library
• Vyton Naplavka and Palackého Most
• Grotta, Havlíček Gardens

more coming soon...

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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