Károlyi-kert
Segment: Károlyi-kert
Episode: Autumn 2020, Ep 4
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
TX Date: 14th March 2020
The city of Budapest is full of beautiful green spaces, with Károlyi-kert being one of the stand outs.
- The Károlyi-kert is enclosed between the high buildings of Budapest, nestled in the city centre.
- Károlyi-kert is the oldest garden in Budapest, with the French-style garden originally being the private garden of Count Antal Karolyi. It is known for its beautiful plants and flowers that were collected from across the globe lining the romantic pathways.
- The horse chestnut tree is a large deciduous synoecious tree. These trees can grow as tall as 35m, and are native to south east Europe and Asia.
- These trees are known for their conkers – great to play marbles with.
- The park features many statues, notably one of the revered Károlyi, a Belgian giant rabbit and former resident of the park.
- The garden was impacted significantly by the events of WW2, and the rise of communism left the park untended a while.
- The ginko tree is a deciduous conifer, and is an ancient predecessor to modern conifers.
- The ginko nut is beneficial for humans, and was nearly extinct in its native China around 300 years ago. There are fossil records that date back almost 2 million years.
- This is all a part of the experience for Viking cruise passengers, who start their European journey in Hungary, before travelling the rivers through Austria, Germany and Holland.
