Concrete, stone and iron in the parks of Prague

I was out walking this morning in the Vinogrady district of Prague, as you do. On previous days I'd been to the Old Town, the New town and the Lesser Town. It was now time for the real town - where joggers jog, dog walkers walk and locals hang out.

Havlíčkovy Sady, or Grébovka, is a large park on a steep hillside, and previously the estate of local industrialist Moritz Gröbe. The house is very nice and the vineyard beautifully situated up above the roofs of Prague.

The grotto? Well its undoubtedly a personal thing. There is a lot of concrete and a lot of nodding to the classical. It includes caves and rooms, none of them particularly inviting. 

I'm wondering if Mr Gröbe made his money in the construction or concrete business, although these concrete stumps and fences seem have been built after the property moved to public ownership.

Yesterday while visiting the various aged towns of Prague we journeyed up to the Castle and the Royal Park. 

The park is a little municipal sadly but it has a lovely Orangery, under restoration. I assume it will be a terrible environment inside for growing plants so some kind of museum or food venue is most likely to blossom indoors. 

Next to it is the new glasshouse, with again municipal quality collections inside (and apologies to all my colleagues working in council gardens, many of which are very beautiful, but you know what I mean by the term right?). It's apparently a state-of-the-art facility but perhaps more functional than fun.

But this figgery if fun - full of figs, of the edible variety.

I realise a concrete garden and a fancy new glasshouse are not what people go to Prague to see. It's this kind of thing, and very beautiful it is. 

Such a shame there aren't many plants to justify more of it in my blog. Actually the city isn't particularly well endowed with private gardens or beautiful treescapes. There are some, but Prague is more about architecture of the stone and concrete kind. Lynda reckons there is an opening in the market for a home gardening business...

Images: There are some fantastic (in all senses of that word) building façades in Prague; I'll post a few fun pictures of these on my Facebook page.