Throwback To A Visit To The Palmengarten In Frankfurt

Corona influenced a lot. Not only was I locked in for two months, unable to leave the house for reasons other than catching a bit of fresh air, helping others, and running errands, the borders remained close for a long time afterwards. At the time of writing I was unable to even visit my friends in Germany, so  I turned to old journeys that had been fun and went through the photos. All of this in the knowledge that if we are disciplined now and hold on, we can travel again, visit and hug friends much sooner. My scrolling adventure lead me to Frankfurt in 2016. 

I remember Frankfurt fondly for a variety of reasons: the way it mixes old and new, that it was my first solo trip and I learned how much I enjoy this feeling, just wandering through a new city that I picked because the ICE departed on the platform opposite of mine. However, I mostly remember it because of one of the most calming places I had visited there: The Palmengarten - in English: the garden of palm trees. 

It is located at the Bockenheimer Warte U-Bahn station, right next to the university and was brought into life in 1869 as a civil foundation. It housed Duke Adolf von Naussau's plant collection, and the landscape was created by artist Heinrich Siesmayer. The garden consists of 54-acre.

Overall there are 10 green houses, with different themes - stretching from roses over plants to cacti. There is so much greenery available that you can spend a whole day walking through it. 

The Palmenhaus is the first you are going to encounter if you use the entrance at Palmenhausstraße. 

It consists of a variety of palm trees from "small" ones to bigger examples. As well as a small cave with fishes and a cute little pond. 

When you leave you enter the centre with a well. During my visit in 2016 it was surrounded by rose beds. 

This was a beautiful place to sit down on a bench and simply relax. You couldn't even hear the traffic. Instead you were surrounded by quiet nature, with water splashing and the sun shining. I spend almost half an hour just being there, relaxing and soaking in the calm. 

Further down, there is the Steppenwiese. It looks like a wild prairie grass, where nature was simply left alone and it decided to go wild. 

Right next to it, are the green houses for plants that cannot stand the middle European climate. These are the: Feuchte Tropen, and trockene Tropen - the wet tropics, and dry tropics.

The first contains a lot of plants like ferns, and everything that likes high humidity. Breathing in there is not fun when you come from the outside. It was so wet that even the signs sported little water drops.

The surprise of the feuchte Tropen was that it also contained animals, frogs but especially birds: Trichologssus haematodus. A bright and colourful parrot.

Of course, after the high humidity of the wet tropics you might think that the dry tropics are a walk in the park. Wrong ... 

These ones contain all the cacti, aloe vera, and succulents that you dream of:

So my favourite type of air and humidity was available outside. Afterwards, I made my way to an unexplored corner that was left: the Steingarten - stone garden. 

This was a cute corner where the emphasis lay on stones, and how you can combine stones with greenery. I dare say that it gave everything a touch that was a mixture of Asia and prairie. 

A little further down is a waterfall: 

Because of the calm, nature, and the way that sometimes it has been shaped for beauty and other times is left to roam, I still think back to the Palmengarten four years later. 

It is worth a visit and one of the most calming spots on this green Earth. I can only recommend it, and should I find myself near Frankfurt am Main again I will visit it once more!