Visiting Famous German Parks and Gardens
English Garden Munich by Ludmiła Pilecka
Guest Post by Haruto Abe
Parks make a wonderful retreat when traveling with kids and Germany is filled with excellent options. Over decades numerous palaces surrounded by dreamy gardens were constructed in the name of different Prussian emperors that nowadays belong to German’s cultural heritage. Whether you are in the gardening business or not, a long walk along any of Germany’s parks or gardens is soothing to your eyes and your soul. After an hectic day, it’s just the right place to seek a moment of tranquility. Around different areas and along the path of several German heroes, cultural and else, I dare you to lose yourself in this avid sensation of enjoying this eternally green surrounding of German Parks and Gardens.
Germany is wunderbar!
- English Garden – Munich
The Munich English Garden, the largest city park in Europe, stretches alongside the river Isar from the very center to the northernmost edge of the city. Munich makes for a great city to live in, mostly thanks to this divine piece of land. The garden is usually full of people engaging in different kinds of activities: students reading or having a picnic, random people playing football, cricket even horse riding. Surfing the Eisbach river is a popular activity here, especially to tourists who decide to visit during the warmer time of the year. The garden is rich in numerous fascinating areas to visit, each one unique and withholding a great story behind it.
Chinese Tower
The Chinese tower, built in the 1789 together with the gardens is a highly frequented spot, where bands sometimes play live to the people who decide to visit the beer garden around the tower.
Kleinhesseloher See
If you are up for a small boat cruise, there is an artificial lake built in 1802 that hosts three little islands. Since you are not allowed to step foot on these territories, they’re considered the forbidden fruit. Another famous beergarden is located along these shores.
Monopteros
On top of a small hill is this artificial ancient Greek structure, which offers a magnificent view over the Alps on the rare days with a clear sky.
2. Tiergarten – Berlin
Berlin’s central park is an afternoon delight right in the heart of the city. Once, years ago enclosed as a hunting park, it is now a pleasant walk on the wild side. Over the years it has been built and rebuilt, going through tremendous changes from what we see today; a lavish area of avenues, naturalist ponds, flower gardens and a vast range of activities. Students in Berlin make good use of the park for outdoor activities which they so much appreciate including sports and football games. On Sundays they treat their carnivore souls with grilled meat over a family picnic. Since Germany is notorious for its vigorous winters, people relish skating on the frozen small lakes inside the park.
The Neuen See Café a multifunctional attraction in the park is irresistible during both seasons. In the summer, it is used as a beer garden and a cozy self-service restaurant. During the winter, when the lake freezes, it offers a picturesque view.
3. Mainau Island – Lake Constance
Since the historians found reminiscent traces of small houses dating back to 3000 years before Christ, this island has gained its glory. The Flower Island of Mainau in Lake Constance is worth a visit at any time of the year. The beautiful island is comprised of a huge park, a church and a fairytale palace surrounded by rose gardens. It gives an impression of an illusion, a place beyond belief where harmony is the official language and people chase butterflies for a living. The floral display is remarkable along with a farm, petting zoo and pony rides.
4. Wilhelma – Stuttgart
Wilhelma, the queen of the northern suburbs of Stuttgart, is the exquisite zoo and botanical garden of the region. As is common in many German zoos, barriers between spectators and animals are minimal. The bird enclosures let visitor enter and wander among the birds in a landscaped environment; something the kids will love! It hosts over 8000 animal species and 5000 plant species, the biggest in Germany and one of the biggest in the world!.
Wilhelma hosts baboons, chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas. Polar bears as well add up to the long line. In addition to the many animals, plant lovers will have a field day! For the ones with an unconditional love towards magnolias this will be their mecca.
The insectarium owns many types of insects grown and kept live for the public to see, including African colored scarab beetles, butterflies, spiders and millipedes.
5. Old botanical Garden – Marburg
The old garden maintained by the University of Marburg is a historic arboretum and a botanical landscape. It was established as a private garden on the V century, set by the famous Euricius Cordus who is considered to be the founder of scientific botany in Germany.
The garden has been prone to change depending on the owners, yet what we see now is pretty much what was built over this land in 1810 by Georg Wilhelm Franz Wenderoth.
In 1994 the Old Botanical Garden became a registered cultural monument. Nowadays, the park is used as a public space charging no fees to enter.
6. Grugapark – Essen
The Grugapark is a park in Essen, located south of downtown between three neighborhoods. It is a modest complex consisting of a hall, a bath and a stadium. It was destroyed during the Second World War yet they managed to restore it in 1965.
The city breathes within the corners of this recreational space where children frolic on their playgrounds, concerts are held annually and teenagers enjoy some space. The park has more than 40 sculptures of important sculptors such as Alfred Hrdlicka , Auguste Rodin and Fritz Klimsch .
7. The Rhododendron Park – Bremen
The botanical garden dates from 1905. It was initially organized geographically, with plants from the Orient, Mexico, and the Caucasus, as well as collections of crop plants, medicinal herbs, native plants, and poisonous plants.
The best time to visit Rhododendron Park is the merry month of May, when the shrubs put on a dazzling display in every shade from brilliant white to bright yellow, from fiery red to vivid violet.
With a total of 10,000 rhododendrons and azaleas, Bremen’s park makes for the second largest in the world, an impressive collection the city takes pride in.
Centrally there is a floral jam, considered a green science center, hosting plants from the Far East, Borneo, the Himalayas and Japan.
8. Luisenpark – Mannerheim
Luisenpark is named after Princess Louise Marie Elizabeth of Prussia, a close relative of three German emperors: William I was her father, Frederick III was her brother and William II was her nephew. This authentic beautiful park consists of a peaceful Chinese garden, a plentiful arboretum, numerous greenhouses and astonishing rose gardens and the Kutzerweiher lake. Among the greenhouses, one is exceptionally beautiful; the Pflanzenschauhaus, exhibiting butterflies, birds and fish aquariums.
The Chinese garden hosts a tea party at the tea house, a perfect getaway from the daily noises and routines, the nosy neighbors or the dull colleagues. A tea is the best medicine for the nerves.
In case one gets hungry there is the restaurant on the top of the telecommunication tower, 205 meters high and rotating above ground. The view is a memory worth keeping.
Biography: My name is Haruto Abe yet I go by Koyotie since my friends think I’m vigorous. I have moved to Germany recently since I decided to do my masters in the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Travelling has been so far the passion I treasure the most, and thanks to the fact that I’m constantly on the move, exploring the human surroundings and nature wonders I inherited the aforementioned nickname. In time, memories seem to fade away hence the rise of my other unraveled fondness of writing down the moments I’d like to keep forever. Try to enjoy my adventures it as much as I did…
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