Where to take in Europe an elderly parent who loves flowers and gardens?
Taking my elder parent on a 7 day trip to Spain in mid September. May take a 1–2 day trip to Istanbul and Italy each if can find location worth visiting. Where should she go so she can see nature in a small scale (Nothing off the beaten path- prefers small parks and gardens. Please suggest must see locations for her (no art museums, etc., just garden related locations). Thanks.
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In Spain I would recommend Madrid, more specifically the park “El Retiro” and the famous train station with an artificial tropical forest in it.
If you go to the UK at all, I would suggest some of the royal gardens and gardens in Lords mansions, plenty of them around.
How much energy does this elderly parent have for traveling around? Maybe just Spain is enough? I’ve heard wonderful things about Barcelona and the Gaudi architecture; don’t know about the gardens there unfortunately.
In Florence the Boboli Gardens are magnificent. But it’s quite a walk and it’s on a hill side, so there is a bit of climbing.
There are many wonderful gardens in England.
^Agree. Personally, before I die, I hope I get to see a few of the National Trust Gardens for now, I enjoy viewing them on the HD channel.
Oh – I agree too; England’s the place to go for gardens, both formal and informal “cottage” gardens..
In the Netherlands, many universities have botanic gardens that can be really beautiful, so you might want to try and see if the same is true for universities in Spain and whether any of those are nearby.
Belgium.
Some cities in Holland.
Luxembourg.
Switzerland.
Before you decide on one, find out the conditions of the parks. When I went to Spain in Madrid, 2 years ago in September, many of the flowers were not in season. All I saw was a lot of shrubs. On top of that they had been going through a bad drought. It is a beautiful city though.
At the time, Barcelona wasn’t having too bad of the time with the drought. The building and museums where beautiful in Madrid, but I wished I had gone to Barcelona.
Edit: I looked back and thought that perhaps wasn’t helpful. In Spain, Granada there is a palace called ‘La Alhambra’ which is simply stunning, gardens and fountains and a little culture!
Still have a look at my link though :) most beautful place in the world!
The gardens at the Alcazar in Cordoba, Spain.
Keukenhof Gardens in Holland (drive past hundreds of acres of tulips and hyacinths in April)
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