Argentina 4 – Los Jardines de Buenos Aires
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
The Rose Garden
Bueno chicos….I’m back. As always, I struggle a bit to come up with blog material when I’m stationary for a while as I’m basically just living and not doing a huge about of blogworthy stuff. Having said that, one thing that porteños have done a great job with is their preservation of green space via their parks system. Like any great large city, it’s not just concrete and sky scrapers but with careful prior planning the city forefathers were able to set aside lots of parks and gardens in the city. Admittantly, it seems that in the last 30 years or so many of the parks had fallen into states of disrepair but now have been refurbished to their original splendor.
Images from the Botanical Garden
First off is the Jardin Botanico which is a beautiful park area near my house that contains lots of native to Argentina flora as well as flora from other parts of the world. It is a nice place for a stroll and to take pictures as the trails are beautiful and well-maintained and some of the buildings are historical including the beautiful greenhouse that you can see below in the photos. The garden, which has been declared a national monument, has a total area of 69,772 m2, and holds around 5,500 species of plants, trees and shrubs, as well as a number of sculptures, monuments and 5 winter-houses. In recent years a large community of cats has established itself within the garden, encouraged by neighbours who leave food out for them. Attempts to remove the cats have so far proved unsuccessful but thanks to the dedication of volunteers in the local community who formed a voluntary committee, a humane resolution became possible, cats are allowed to live out their lives and no new cats are allowed in the garden while the current population receives care and free veterinary services from Instituto de Zoonosis Luis Pasteur. The subject of cat herds is one that we will return to in the near future when we chat about Recoleta Cemetery. Until then…it’s on to the Japanese Garden.
More images…
…still more
Camouflage cat
It seems that many major cities in the world have Japanese gardens and they are, almost invariably, the most beautiful and interesting parks in the system. Near to the other parks in the Palermo neighborhood, El Jardin Japonés is as beautiful as would be expected and includes a pagoda with a Japanese cafe and lots of water, bridges and scenic viewpoints as is characteristic of Japanese gardens everywhere. In fact, typical Japanese gardens have at their center a home from which the garden is viewed. In addition to residential architecture, Japanese gardens often contain several of these elements:
- Water, real or symbolic.
- Rocks.
- A lantern, typically of stone.
- A teahouse or pavilion.
- A enclosure device such as a hedge, fence, or wall of traditional character.
- A bridge to the island, or stepping stones.
Like those in other cities, El Jardin Japonés does not disappoint.
Images from the Japanese Garden
Of the three gardens I’ve recently strolled through El Rosedal (Rose Garden) is the smallest though equally as beautiful as its larger counterparts. Despite the fact that the roses in the garden are currently suffering under the stifling Buenos Aires heat, the architecture and water in the surrounding area makes up for the lack of roses. Since the pictures always do more justice than any words I can write…I’ll leave you simply with more photos today. Hasta luego!
Images from the Rose Garden…
A Japanese Garden pond with koi
Stacey