Grotto

The artificial cave in Grébovce (Havlíčkovy sady).

If you’re going for the wine festival at Grébovka, don’t make the mistake and forget to pay a visit to the Grotta, the artificial cave at the upper part of the park. And if you’re not going to the wine festival, the park with its cave is actually worth a visit by itself. It’s not advertised very much in the regular tourist brochures but most of the people who go here tend to come back, so…

The park and its buildings go back to 1871 when businessman Moritz Gröbe needed a place to charge his batteries. So he had a little green area built for himself,11 acres, no shortage of small change there. 🙂 One story tells that when Moritz wanted to enjoy the achievement of his work, he sent a servant in advance to the park to make sure that there was no other present in the same area. The park and its founder have a rich, long and interesting history which I will not go into more, I’ll leave a link for those who want to read more about it. 🙂

Friendly fire

The cave and its surroundings have had a hard time in history. It was more or less totally destroyed in Prague bombing 1945. The communist did their share when they had the chance and so on. Only after the revolution 1989 things started to change. The former mayor of Prague 2, Michal Basch, had an opinion drawn up about money, time… with the intention to give the park back to the public. The whole project was completed in 2011 and today here’s a place that offers the city’s inhabitants a place to relax, for picnics, restaurants to have something to eat, drink, to enjoy the company of your friends. The cave itself is of course a favorite spot for the kids, they love the three-story grotto, maybe good to keep in mind if you’re traveling with children, everybody needs a break sometime. 😉

For more information about the Grotta start here: https://encyklopedie.praha2.cz/stavba/1880-grotta-v-grebovce