Prague has a green heart, indeed more than one: they are the many parks and gardens that punctuate the Czech capital, which in spring become an anthem to rebirth, to the nature that awakens and transforms the face of Prague, only apparently unchanged and unchanging.
Examples of the gardens Prague Castle, stronghold of yesterday, where on the trees and in the flower beds the show is a monument today and tomorrow. The Kralovska Zahrada, the Royal gardens, surround the sixteenth-century palace of King Ferdinand. The green masterpiece, now designed in English but for centuries cultivated according to the fashions of the various eras, stretches in front of the pavilion.
Lots of bushes, climbers, green geometries, driveways and large kiomas including the spires of the cathedral... In the centre of park, a beautiful Renaissance fountain "sonora" (water falling on metal produces a musical sound). Interesting also the court of the Lions, where the fairs were raised, wanted by Rodolfo II, whose fate is said to be linked to that of a lion precisely. For a witch would have predicted his death after that of a lion of his breeding. When the beast died, after three days the Emperor also died.
Not far from the Castle Prague, in the Mala Strana district, here are Ledeburska Zahrada. The historical gardens by Ledebur, annexed to the homonymous building and built in the eighteenth century, they are on terraces, arranged in a symmetrical and tidy way, edges of balustrades, embellished with statues and fountains, connected by stairways and beautiful walks. On everything, terraces and hanging gardens, dominates the characteristic pentagonal pavilion.
Green lung of the capital, the hill of Letna, which degrades towards the waters of Moldava with view of the city and with the historical non-monument at the end of the regime (the base that recalls where the monument to Stalin, then demolished), is ammantata by the Letenske park. The park preserves the pavilion of Hanavsky, unique neo-baroque style structure today home to a restaurant, and the oldest joust in Europe.
Another hill, another oasis. The Petrinske Sadny -recognizable for the television antenna that stands on its summit with a strong and not casual resemblance to the Eiffel Tower - opened its park to the public in the 19th century, where in the times of Charles IV grew the vineyards of the king and from 1600 onwards the gardens of noble residences Mala Strana district.
In addition to the miniature of the symbol monument of Paris, to be climbed for a 360° view on Prague, the park offers attractions such as the Labyrinth of Mirrors, the Stefanik observatory accessible by the cable car, the medieval wall of hunger built by the poor in exchange for food, the viewpoint and a very fragrant rose garden.
For lovers, not to miss a visit to the Botanicka Zahrada, one of the two Prague Botanical Gardens, which offers a path of perfumes, colors and suggestions in the flora of the middle world. Particularly welcome to the public the Japanese garden and Fata Morgana, the tropical greenhouse.
The city is mainly proud of the vineyard of Santa Chiara, part of the garden and national historical heritage, which is a green monument to the past of viticulture of the capital. Pruhonicky Park is home to the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. With a collection of native and exotic plants, for a total of 1800 taxa, the park has great scientific relevance. They can be admired from the common rhododendro to very rare species. There is also an alpine garden.
