In one of our earlier blog posts I mentioned that we always make it a point to check out if there are any nearby botanical gardens we can visit whenever we go on a city break. And on our long weekend break to Paris just recently it was no exception as this time we made sure to check out the huge Jardin des Plantes, the main botanical garden of France which is also conveniently located in central Paris and can be reached via several metro stations (or on foot if your hotel is just nearby).
A taste of the exotic in central Paris!
So what is in Jardin des Plantes and what can you see in it? Well I'll let Monsieur Wikipedia do most of the explaining but within it is a series of reasonably large botanical glasshouses with a collection of exotic plants from different parts of the world. Worth noting that nearly all parts of this botanical garden are free to public with the glasshouses an exception, but the entry fee of Six Euros is not that unreasonable.
Glimpses of what else is in Jardin des Plantes apart from the glasshouses...
Pretty but more comfy inside...
The glasshouses, Les Grandes Serres as they are properly called are interconnected and composed of four sections:La serre des forêts tropicales humides (Tropical Rainforest)
La serre des déserts et milieux arides (Deserts and Arid)
La serre de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (plants from New Caledonia) - the second smallest area but my favourite!
and La serre de l’histoire des plantes (History of Plants)
Despite the four sections and being France's main botanical garden, the glasshouses and plant collections are comparatively small compared to some of the glasshouses found in the UK (The British love their ornamental plants, significantly more than continental Europeans in general I'd say!). Compared to Kew Gardens then it is tiny even. But if you're in the city and fancy some green fix for a couple of hours or so, perhaps in the morning then it's worth visiting and spending some time ambling around inside the glasshouses.
As you enter the Tropical Rainforest Glasshouse, this is the first structure you go through. A very unique way to 'support' a climber, very nice!
Whilst it's not one of the biggest botanical attractions we have been to we still managed to take loads of photos. Despite trimming it down, a single blog post about it would still be too photo intensive so I will divide into different sections and will feature them gradually in the next few weeks. But for now we'll start with the main and biggest section, the Tropical Rainforest plants.
Detail shot of the pathway, love it!
Very lush, and very exotic!
Now, the only other thing is that when we visited in the morning it was so grey, dark, cloudy outside which made the interiors of this section, with a canopy of towering tropicals even more shady. It was great as it made it more atmospheric, but not so great for taking photos especially with the ailing snappy snap camera we bought. So some photos will be dark and grainy (apologies for that) but things have improved gradually as it started to become more sunny later on during our visit.The viewing platforms overlooking the rest of this section and connecting to the New Caledonia glasshouse
View from Level 1
The three tiered platforms are a sight to behold themselves, looking like a rock face and blended in with plants climbing on its surface
Ficus roots
with a variegated Pteris fern growing in one of the root hollows
Bananas...
towering over everything else.
And that structure by the entrance once again...
which actually continues towards...
the Desert and Arid section. More of this section at a later post!
It was an enjoyable visit despite being so dark and gloomy outside (and as a consequence inside too) on he first quarter of the time of our visit but we're glad it brightened up later on, easier on our eyes and taking photos. The morning we spent looking around was lovely and was just after we have arrived via Eurostar and dropped our luggage at our hotel nearby. It's so nice to travel abroad via train, so much less stressful than flying! And even better that we started it with a quick botanical visit. More to come in the next few days (or weeks!).Mark :-)