Cairo Again, and Some Botanic Gardens and The Final Departure.

Anybody that knows me will tell you that if you give me a couple of train journeys and some Botanic Gardens to look at and I will be happy. So arriving in Cairo early in the morning after a good night's sleep on the train, I am far too early to check into my hotel but I can leave my luggage there until it is time.

My flight time the following day is not until lunch time so I have a full day and a half in Cairo. It was my intention to visit the Egyptian Museum again, and maybe have a look at the shops, but then I had read about the Orman Botanical Gardens. And close to where I am staying on Gezira Island there are also various gardens, all of which are closed for some reason.

So the Orman Gardens in Giza, near the zoo, it is going to be then.

If you are expecting something like Kew Gardens then you will be disappointed because this is more like Central Park. It is a popular place to go in the middle of a crowded city.

The Orman Gardens has some fine specimen trees from around the world and an interesting cactus garden, (which is only open at certain times, and not while I am there), but is worth a visit even though parts of it are not well maintained.  

 They seemed to have a couple of trees affected by drought which is surprising as the garden is not far from the Nile and I would have thought the roots had reached there by now, but they seemed to be flood irrigating them.



There is a very nice clump
of bamboo! 

 There is supposed to be a ''lotus pond'' but this, sadly, seemed to be empty and in disrepair, there is however a fine lotus pond in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia! 

The cactus garden was not open the time I visited so the picture right was taken through the iron gate.

And lastly there is a fine example of the rare palm tree phoenix vodafonicus.





Between my hotel and the Nile there is a small municipal garden that I had noticed on arrival in Cairo, indeed my suite actually looked straight down on to it so I made a point of visiting it the same afternoon.

I think this is best described as an ''Islamic'' garden, no doubt this style of garden was brought by the Ottomans, or even the Romans. Formality is the buzzword here although here and there are some more ''relaxed'' corners. I had already noted that topiary is a popular style in Egypt. They follow a similar theory in Greece which requires extensive use of a chain saw, except the Greeks, although occupied by the Ottomans, never quite got the hang of it so everything just gets cut down to the ground or back to the trunk without any style or artistry to the finished product. 



 As you can see there is a lot of symmetry going on here, Poirot when he was on his Nile journey would have been pleased with the effect!

 Some of the tiling on the ground is to die for!

The benches around the ''theatre'', (I think that is what it is supposed to be!), remind me of the mosaics by Gaudi in the Gaudi Park..

But sadly I must leave Egypt, that last evening sitting on the roof of my hotel I listen once again to the haunting sounds of the ''adhan''. I think I am going to miss Egypt. I wonder if Egypt will miss me?



Perhaps it is already missing me because the morning of my departure it rains. And rains heavily. Well it is winter, and they do have rain occasionally in Egypt.

And my last photograph is something that you will not often see in Cairo.

During my visit I have seen some wonderful things, heard some wonderful, if fanciful stories, and meet some wonderful people. Indeed over the last few years I have travelled to South America, Australia, (where I used to live but was never a tourist!), and New Zealand, and this has been the most memorable journey I have had.

Will I be back?? Time will tell.....