Description: As we enjoy gardening and like to get a little peace away from traffic or people, we usually find ourselves to attracted to any city gardens even in winter.
Palermo's most famous garden is its botanic gardens down by the seafront. Today, it is run by the University, and there are a number of grand summer houses with displays to the early founders of the botanical gardens, together with some plant displays. Must confess the exhibits didn't mean a lot to me as they were largely in Italian, but the buildings are grand enough to merit a stroll through.
The gardens are large (about 30 acres) and old (dating from the late 1700's), and comprise of a number of greenhouses, and zones, including one called "useful plants", which gave pause for the thought that the rest of the garden had been planted with "useless plants". There are also some areas devoted to different cultivation methods.
Being used to colder climes, we were interested in the fruit trees, although of course, they are probably the least interesting aspect of the botanical gardens in reality. We also liked the various palms dotted around, and as the gardens are so old, the architectural aspects are also grandly crumbling, which lent a rather noble air to the gardens.
I was also intrigued by some of the exotic barks of some of the trees; one looked like a huge rose branch with spikes, but about as wide as my waist. When i touched the spikes, I discovered this was not a tree I would like to brush against. Likewise, the fig trees with their hanging roots which form its own trunk once they hit the ground always fascinate me. This one had spread a long way from its original plant.
The gardens are long and thin with a small spur that we were determined to get to right at the end of the garden. Unfortunately, this small part is the most unkempt and un-atmospheric part of the gardens; the Mediterranean Hill was overgrown and although it gave a view of the Med, it also gave a sweeping view of the modern and poor part of Palermo before opening out over the ugly dockland. If you are pushed for time, I would suggest you stick to wandering along the cactuses, palms, fruit trees and fish ponds of the main part of the garden.
I didn't find anything particularly of note in the Botanical Gardens but for us we enjoyed the stroll in the winter sunshine away from the bustle of the city, and so the 5 Euros for a couple of hours wander was worth it in our book.
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