It’s been a year since I rediscovered Copenhagen all over again, when I visited my family in their new Danish home. Of course a visit to the botanical garden couldn’t miss on my itinerary, so we spent some time in the infamous Botanisk Have, which turned out to be the perfect place to warm up after a stroll through the city. While winter turned Copenhagen rather dark (and extra cosy), I still managed to snap a few analog shots while we marveled at all the beauty. Scroll along for luscious plants and intricate details of the beautiful greenhouse and don’t forget to add this one to your must visit list for any future trip to the Danish capital!
Botanisk Have, Gothersgade 128, 1353 København - website - facebook
In a few months I’m (hopefully) off to Portugal again for the christmas holidays, so it’s about time I shared the remaining photos of last year’s trip to my favorite country. Despite living in Lisbon for 5 months and visiting the city countless times since, a visit to its neighboring town Sintra, known for its numerous royal palaces and castles, was somehow long overdue. Last winter I finally made it and visited Sintra’s Quinta da Regaleira, a clear favorite among my Portuguese friends. This romantic palace dates back to the early 1900s and is surrounded by a garden that was designed to mimic the idea of “heaven and hell”. Any luscious garden is a must-visit in my book, but with its multiple lakes, grottoes, wells and fountains, this garden is something else. Only a train ride away from the city of Lisbon, Quinta da Regaleira is a mysterious fairy tale that’s waiting for you to be explored.
Quinta da Regaleira, R. Barbosa do Bocage 5, 2710-567 Sintra, Portugal
While I’m enjoying sunnier places this week, I wanted to share few fragments of last year’s trip to Denmark. I visited family in the vicinity of Copenhagen and spent a few days wandering the streets of the Danish capital on my own. One of my favorite discoveries was the Glyptoteket, a museum that is dedicated to sculptures but is a work of art on its own. Wandering through its marble clad halls and exploring the luscious winter garden was an absolute dream and a must if you’re ever in Copenhagen.
While I’m already counting down to my next vacation (only 11 days until I’m cruising around Ibiza in a camper!), I wanted to share my last photos from Gran Canaria with you. As a lover of all things botanical, a visit to the Jardín Botánico Canarian obviously made it on my to do list. This garden was the life work of Swedish-Spanish botanist Erik Ragnar Svensson, who spent many years searching for a site where all of the highly diverse plant species of the Canary Islands could grow successfully. (Gran Canaria alone has a wide variety of microclimats and both forests, deserts, beaches and volcanoes, so you can imagine the huge diversity of vegetation when looking at all of the Canary Islands!) He finally settled on a steep slope close to the capital of Las Palmas, resulting in a lushious garden dwindling down the slope along narrow pathways and staircases. My sister and I spent our day admiring the enormous cacti in the Garden of Succulents and, well, Cacti, bumping into surprises like a waterfall, caves and places with names like “The Road of the Dragons” and “The Fountain of the Wise”, wandering through the Garden of the Islands and the Garden of the World and discovering the Hidden Gardens inside cute greenhouses. With its 27 acres, approximately 500 different plant species and over 10 000 cultivars of succulents, the botanical garden of Gran Canaria definitely is one of the most beautiful gardens I have visited, and I’ve visited my fair share!
Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo, Ctra. del Centro, Km 7, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain - website
Before we started our 50 km roadtrip, Eline and I first had to drive our car from the airport of Barcelona to our hotel in Girona. To make sure we had the best possible experience during our first drive with the prius plug-in hybrid, the toyota team programmed a scenic route into the GPS. We drove along some of Barcelona’s most impressive views, but there was one in particular where we could not resist to make a quick stop. When we spotted the lushious vegetation and interesting architecture of the Jardins Fontserè i Mestre, we just had to pull over! Unfortunately the greenhouses were closed, so we didn’t get the full experience, but I did manage to snap a few photos that convey the atmosphere quite well. Definitely a place that should be listed in my city guide for Barcelona!
It’s no secret that I’m rather fond of botanical gardens, so it shouldn’t surprise you that when I planned to visit Cologne, the first thing I looked up was if the city had a botanical garden. Wandering through the lush gardens, exploring its stunning greenhouses and reading while enjoying these exotic vies turned out to be a perfect way to spend my afternoon. What can I say, I just never get tired of botanical gardens! So here are a few fragments of Cologne’s most peaceful hideaway, hopefully this dose of greenery brightens your Sunday!
When Lies and I visited London, we ran into a picture of the Barbican Centre’s Garden Room on a viny sleeve that immediately sparked our interest for this botanical walhalla. In the ever growing list of botanical gardens that I’ve visited, this one definitely is my favorite. Besides its beautiful collection of plants, the Barbican Estate is also an architectural highpoint. Designed by British firm Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in the 1950s, this complex houses 2014 apartments, a library, several restaurants, two schools, a museum, several theatres, an art gallery and much more. Curious yet? I’ve prepared an overload of photos for you below, but I recommend you just visit this place yourself if you’re ever in London. I promise, you won’t be disappointed!
Even though I’ve lived in Leuven for more than 5 years, I somehow never managed to make it to the Kruidtuin, the city’s botanical garden. When I recently spent a weekend in my student city with my friend Paulien, we had to pay a visit . Leuven’s botanical garden is the oldest in the country, dating back to 1738, when it was founded by the university for its medicine students. Nowadays the garden with its beautiful greenhouse and orangery is the perfect spot to escape the city, take a relaxing walk between the plants, have an indoor pick-nick in the orangery or simply enjoy the sun and the view on one of the garden’s benches. A must if you’re spending some time in this city! If a visit to Leuven isn’t for the near future, you can discover more botanical gardens I’ve blogged about here.
The Jardim Botânico in Lisbon is one of those place that doesn’t need a lot of explanation. After our brunch at Tease, Miguel, Lisa and I enjoyed a peaceful walk in the city’s botanical garden, where the gigantic trees offered us some refreshing shade. With an entrance fee of only 2 euro’s, it’s a must visit if you feel the need to escape the heat in the city!
Jardim Botânico, Rua da Escola Politécnica 54, 1250-102 Lisboa - website
Sundaze is all about that Sunday feeling, with no obligations, only endless possibilities. Whether your day off is on an actual Sunday or any other day of the week: everybody knows and loves that feeling. In this topic, I document inspirational people on their day off. How we spend the day is up to them, no obligations, remember? Through this topic, I intend to see the city through their eyes, but also find out a little bit more about what drives this person in their daily life. The first person to offer a peek into her life, is Lies Mertens, a 25 year old graphic designer and leather accessory designer located in Antwerp, but with a lot of love for travel.
