Garden Archives - Travel To Eat

August 27, 2018 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Succulent and Cactus Gardens of the Relais de la Reine in Madagascar

Madagascar Palm (Pachypodium lamerei) with Octopus Tree (Didierea madagascariensis), Aloe and Christ Thorn. Relais de la Reine Lodge, Madagascar

The garden at Relais de la Reine is concentrated on succulents and cactus and is one of the more remarkable collections I have seen. They have a collection of the Malagasy succulents Didierea and Alluauda from the famous “Spiny Forest”, a beautiful collection of indigenous Aloe and Kalanchoe, a collection of rare and unusual euphorbia from the Americas and Africa and an equally amazing collection of unusual cactus with the very rare Brasiliopuntia cactus. You will be forgiven if all these names just went over your head, this post will focus on pictures of these unusual plants with a minimal description. Even if you don’t know their names, these plants are something you will not want to miss. The Spiny Forest in the south of Madagascar is a world of spiky octopus trees and swollen baobabs, and almost all its species exist only in Madagascar.
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July 30, 2018 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Vakona Forest Lodge and Gardens in Madagascar

Vakona Forest Lodge, Madagascar

On my visit to Madagascar, I chose Natural Habitat (NatHab) as my tour group due to good reviews by friends and some internet investigation. I think in Madagascar, and Africa in general, it is best to visit with a tour. It is possible to book things on your own but these are poor countries, with limited lodging and transport options, often requiring private plane and car services. Both for safety and to avoid the headaches, I recommend a reputable tour service unless you simply want to go to one hotel for your stay. While Natural Habitat was a little more expensive, the hotels were really nice, there were local guides in addition to the tour director and the complex business of getting around in Madagascar was handled seamlessly. The Vakona Forest Lodge was the first hotel we stayed in after our arrival in Antananarivo and as you can see, it was a beautiful place with lovely gardens. This was our home base to visit Andasibe-Mantadia National Park (Reserve of Perinet), quite a mouthful. Andasibe-Mantadia National Park is a 100 square mile (155 square km) protected area, located about 93 miles (150 km) east of Antananarivo, consisting principally of primary growth forest in Alaotra-Mangoro Region in eastern Madagascar. The park’s two component parts are Mantadia National Park and Analamazoatra Reserve, which is best known for its population of Madagascar’s largest lemur, the Indri. The Analamazaotra (or Périnet) Special Reserve (ASR), known locally as Andasibe after the nearby village, was once part of the larger Mantadia National Park which also included Maromizaha Classified Forest to the southeast and Anosibe an’ala to the south. However logging and deforestation for farming has resulted in these parks now being isolated.

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January 25, 2017 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Pakaritampu Hotel and Gardens. Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo Peru

We decided to stay at the Hotel Pakaritampu which is a 3-star hotel conveniently located near Ollantaytambo ruins, with quick access to the train station. Because Ollantaytambo is 1,000m (3281ft) below Cusco (which is 3,400m or 11155ft above sea level), it provides a very good location to begin the acclimatisation process. In fact many visitors to the region travel directly to the Sacred Valley after landing in Cusco to reduce the likelihood of experiencing altitude sickness. We stayed in Ollantaytambo for two days to acclimate and to enjoy the the nearby Inca ruins. In the process we got to know the truly beautiful and historic town of Ollantaytambo.

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November 11, 2016 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Montréal Botanical Gardens

The Montreal Botanical Garden (Jardin botanique de Montréal) is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Quebec, Canada comprising 75 hectares (190 acres) of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008 as it is considered to be one of the most important botanical gardens in the world due to the extent of its collections and facilities. The garden was founded in 1931, in the height of the Great Depression, by mayor Camillien Houde, after years of campaigning by Brother Marie-Victorin. The grounds were designed by Henry Teuscher, while the Art Deco style administration building was designed by architect Lucien F. Kéroack. It serves to educate the public in general and students of horticulture in particular, as well as to conserve endangered plant species.

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March 12, 2016 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Museo Larco Gardens, Lima Peru

Museo Larco, Lima Peru

The Larco Museum (Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera) is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Peru. The museum is housed in an 18th-century vice-royal building built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. It showcases chronological galleries that provide a thorough overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. It is well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery. Rafael Larco Hoyle (May 18, 1901 in Chicama Valley, Peru – 1966), raised at Chiclin, his family's estate, was sent to school in Maryland, USA, at the age of twelve. He later entered Cornell University to study agricultural engineering and by 1923 returned to Peru to work on the family's sugar cane plantation. Peruvian archaeology was in its infancy and Larco Hoyle realized many typologies were yet to be recognized. He set out to correct that and approached archaeological research academically. During the 1930s, he discovered many distinct Peruvian cultures such as Viru, Salinar, Cupisnique, and Lambayeque. In Lima, Larco purchased the Luna Cartland family house, built in 1700, to house his museum. The grounds of the museum are surrounded by beautiful gardens that won the prize for best gardens in Peru in January 2009.

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November 1, 2015 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Catacombs and Garden of Kom el Shoqafa. Alexandria, Egypt

Entrance of Catacombs and Garden of Kom el Shoqafa. Alexandria, Egypt

When I was in Alexandria, we visited the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, an ancient necropolis during Ptolomaic and Roman times. Due to the time period, many of the features of the catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa merge Roman, Ancient Macedonian, Greek and Egyptian cultural points; some statues are Egyptian in style, yet bear Roman clothes and hair style while other features share a similar style. The catacombs were named Kom El Shoqafa, meaning Mound of Shards, because the area used to contain a mound of shards of terra cotta which mostly consisted of jars and objects made of clay. These objects were left by those visiting the tombs, who would bring food and wine for their consumption during the visit. However, they did not wish to carry these containers home from this place of death so they would break them. At the time of the discovery, heaps of these broken plates were found.

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January 26, 2014 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Getty Villa. Pacific Palisades, California

Outer Peristylium, Looking South. Getty Villa. Pacific Palisades, California

The Getty Villa is modeled after a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy from the first century. The building was constructed in the early 1970s by architects who worked closely with J. Paul Getty to develop the interior and exterior details. Buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, much of the Villa dei Papiri remains unexcavated. Therefore, architects based many of the Museum's architectural and landscaping details on elements from other ancient Roman houses in the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae. Gardens are integral to the setting of the Getty Villa, as they were in the ancient Roman home, and include herbs and shrubs inspired by those grown in ancient Roman homes for food and ceremony. It opened in 1974, but was never visited by Getty, who died in 1976. Following his death, the museum inherited $661 million and began planning a much larger campus, the Getty Center, in nearby Brentwood which opened in 1997. The museum overcame neighborhood opposition to its new campus plan by agreeing to limit the total size of the development on the Getty Center site. To meet the museum's total space needs, the museum decided to split between the two locations with the Getty Villa housing the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities. The Villa was closed in 1997 for renovations and has only reopened in 2006.

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June 25, 2013 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Twelve Secret Gardens of Paris

Garden of the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris

I have been posting on the large gardens of Paris, so I thought I would present some of the smaller gardens as well. This is inside the Hôtel-Dieu complex, a working hospital, next to Notre Dame. The French believe that gardens help cure patients more quickly. This hospital has a full time gardener who keeps the gardens in good condition. The medicinal garden was a staple of gardening in medieval times, often mixed in with the kitchen garden. Also known as a herb garden or a garden of simples, specialized medicinal gardens have been made at least since the Middle Ages, though plants were grown for medical purposes long before. A “simple” is a herb used on its own in medical treatment. Many modern drugs are, of course, extracted from herbs and other plants.

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June 8, 2013 by Max Distro LLC 2 Comments

Gardens of Les Invalides, Paris

Jardin de l'Intendant with the Dôme des Invalides in the Background, Paris

Hôtel des Invalides was founded by Louis XIV in 1670 to shelter 7,000 aged or crippled former soldiers. The enormous range of buildings was completed in five years (1671-76) by Libéral Bruant, and then by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte. The gold-plated dome, with six kilograms of gold leaf, that rises above the hospital buildings belongs to the Church of Saint-Louis (1675-1706) and was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Mansart modeled the dome after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Construction began in 1706 and was completed in 1708 by Robert de Cotte after Mansart had died. Surrounding the buildings are gardens and parks, consistent with the French ideal of the healing powers of nature. I thought that as part of my series on French gardens, I would show you some of my favorite places at Les Invalides.

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October 18, 2012 by Max Distro LLC 1 Comment

The Fall Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Las Vegas

The Bellagio also contains a Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. In total, there are five seasonal themes that the Conservatory undergoes: Chinese New Year, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The plantings are usually pretty spectacular so we decided to drop in. The day we visited, a harpist was playing as you can see to the left of the picture above. Such a beautiful place.

The conservatory is enclosed in an old-fashioned glass and copper roof.

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Succulent and Cactus Gardens of the Relais de la Reine in Madagascar

Vakona Forest Lodge and Gardens in Madagascar

Pakaritampu Hotel and Gardens. Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo Peru

Montréal Botanical Gardens

Museo Larco Gardens, Lima Peru

Catacombs and Garden of Kom el Shoqafa. Alexandria, Egypt

Getty Villa. Pacific Palisades, California

Twelve Secret Gardens of Paris

Gardens of Les Invalides, Paris

The Fall Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Las Vegas

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