Jardim Botanico

The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden was created by the, at the time, prince regent Dom João de Bragança in 1808, it was opened for the public to visit in 1822.

It is a park and a research center, extremely well kept and with about 6500 different species of plants from Brazil and the rest of the world. There are lakes, waterfalls and greenhouses, special gardens like the rose garden, the Japanese garden, the medicinal herbs garden, the sensorial garden. There are monkeys, squirrels, turtles and many, many birds. A true oasis in the megacity of Rio de Janeiro.

There are also a few restaurants, my friend and I opted for having lunch at one of them before going for a long walk in the Botanical Garden. We chose "La Bicyclette", a charming bakery and had a wonderful sandwich and salad.

And then we were ready to go. Starting by the visitors center we got a map and set off into the green.

The sensorial garden, where plants can be touched and smelled and there are signs in braille was our first stop.

We went on, opting to find our way by chance. But eventually endend up at the Fountain of the Muses:

From there we made an effort to find the lake with the famous "Vitoria Regia". One of the stars of the Garden, this water lily from the Amazon river has beautiful leaves and flowers, and we were lucky enough to see one.

Close to the lake is the Comoro Frei Leandro - where they say the Friar Leandro, the first director of the park, liked to sit and check on the work in the garden.

We continued our walk, visited the Japanese Garden, were delighted by the squirrels, and surprised by how much noise the toucans made! And as we walked we commented on how privileged we are to have such a place, and how the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro is well tended and wild at the same time.