Located near the shore of the Hron river, just 3 km North of the center of Zvolen, you'll find the Arboretum Borová Hora, an incredible Botanical Garden with a vast diversity of plants and trees.
From up there, you get a spectacular view of the surrounding area, including the town of Zvolen.
What you see on the distance is the very center of the town. It looks far away... but in fact, it's just a 30 min walk, which is not much, specially considering the views you get along the Hron river.
At this place, you can take an opportunity to rest as you come across these cute benches... So, sit down and appreciate the view.
Here's another little bench, right at the top of the hill. You can see the whole town from here.
The Technical University of Zvolen is responsible for maintaining and administering the site, which they do out of this building, located by the entrance of the park.
Supposedly, a ticket to get in costs 2€ ... but I waited for a while and I saw no one. I stopped by this building and took a few photos, expecting to see someone coming to collect the entrance fee.
This garden focuses a lot on the study and collection of roses, so it's only natural that a small rose garden was located right in front of the main building.
Every single plant was identified with a little plaque like the one below.
At this point, I was starting to check my clock. No one appeared, so I moved on without paying any fee.
Right ahead, there was a fork in the road... first I went to the right, where there was a collection of cactus.
Around the cactus, there were a wide array of plants, perfectly identified.
These people do a great job, indeed. Can you imagine the work it takes to maintain the place looking this good and so well organized? Just fantastic!
Every single vase was well nurtured and labeled.
After seeing this area, I had to backtrack to go to the higher grounds of the park.
Just like in the previous spot, almost every plant had been labeled with the name of the species, including the scientific and common names... The trees were no exception.
There were a few surprises along the way, such as this lovely little shack, covered with leaves and vegetation...
The door was closed and there was no name on it.
Could this be the home of someone? It certainly appears to be the case, even though I saw no one to confirm my suspicion. I think the head gardener could be living here.
Of course, a perfect little house deserves a perfect little garden.
This a huge place and I think I only managed to cover a third of it. I had to get back sooner than I wanted as the weather was getting menacing and rain would soon start to pour down. I took a few final shots before going back.
Maybe on a future trip I'll have the opportunity to check out the rest of the garden.
Zvolen is a little town but it's well situated and it's very likely that I'll be passing through this place again, when I decide to visit the Eastern side of the country. Next time, I would like to visit Banská Bystrica, Poprad, Prešov and Košice and the simplest way to do that - from Portugal - is to catch a direct plane to Budapest and from there, a bus to Slovakia. Since Banská Bystrica and Zvolen are so close to each other, I might consider spending another day here, in the future.
I hope you liked my article and photos. Leave a comment, please.
| Camera | Panasonic Lumix DC-TZ90 |
| Location | #Zvolen - #Slovakia |
| Photos | 10 Untouched |
| 5 Edited | |
| 2 Cropped | |
| 2 Rotated |
