A bit of refeshment in Palermo: The Botanical Garden

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This summer, suddenly blown up, is making us gasp here in Apulia. Sometimes a bit of  wind blows and  it seems to give you a bit of relief, until you realize you have welcomed with open arms a rush of warm air.

These temperatures, this bright and dazzling sun make me think of the weather that I found in Palermo last September. Before leaving an air conditioned place, you needed to prepare yourself psychologically. Fortunately, Palermo also offers nice gardens that, as for example the English Garden, aren't just a joy for your eyes with all that green, but also are a perfect place to restore and to escape from the heat. My favourite is the Botanical Garden, a garden where, as I said in other posts about Palermo, you can appreciate the mix of Orient and Occident.

It was founded in 1789 by a French architect, Léon Dufourny, and hosts an incredible variety of plants: not just local examples, but coming from the whole world too. Walking along the paths of the Garden is like getting lost in an enchanted place. There's peace, you hear water flowing in the fountains, birds singing and even see flocks of parrots that cross the sky. Honestly, one forgets to be in a town. Here, I've  even found a little bamboo wood, where I obviously got into, tasting the feeling of being among these plants, imaging how it could be to get inside the bigger and more famous bamboo forest in Japan.

In the bamboo "forest"

And after a chat with a thoughtful Paride, there you find yourself admiring the spectacular thing of the garden, that is to say the ficus magnolioides. They're trees of exceptional dimensions: they seem endless. The particular thing is that from the branches of these giants air roots grow and extend towards the ground, that become real trunks once they touch the ground, creating very tangled twists. So, you think to walk in a little wood and then realize that in reality it's always the same tree! It's the case to say that you feel tiny in front of these colossuses.

Now, if you like, as me, taking home typical souvenirs of the place you have visited, here you could find what's for you. No, I'm not saying to take a tree with you, for goodness' sake! On the contrary, in the shop/ticket office that you find at the entrance, there are some original little objects that I bought, obviously. In particular, some accessories are realized with seeds of soap tree. So, you would wear a cute souvenir of the place, for example, a pair of natural earrings, that just you will have, because it's handmade and all are different from each other.

Just thinking of the cool of the Garden I feel restored, ready to continue my day. Sometimes you need just little things to escape the heat.