Jardim Antonio Borges features creatively designed rock structures, tunnels, ponds, ancient trees and of course, flowering plants.

The Antonio Borges garden is located in the center of the city of Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel Island of the Azores archipelago of Portugal. It was built as a private garden of Antonio Borges between 1858 and 1861. Since 1957 it has belonged to the Municipality of Ponta Delgada and has been a leisure area with free public access.

The garden is a large park like green space that covers slightly over 6 acres. Most of the garden has a lush heavily wooded tropical design with an almost jungle feeling and a smaller section is cleared with a manicured lawn.

Rock structures

The most distinctive feature of the garden is the creatively designed rock structures. The rock structures are used to create caves, bridges, pathways and viewing areas. The plants along the rock structures are well established making some of the structures seem natural. This area of the garden has palms, ferns and moss covered rocks that made me feel like I was in a remote jungle and not in the middle of a city.

Paths and Tunnels

The garden has many paths and trails that crisscross. Some of the paths are paved and look like most city park that I have visited but most are very natural with gravel or dirt trails.

Some of the paths pass through tunnels that are actually archways with stairs allowing people to cross over the path that is going through the tunnel.

Ponds

There are some small ponds in the garden that follow the theme of making you feel like you are in nature.

Flowering plants

A large portion of the park is true green space with large old growth trees and grass but there are lots of flowering plants spread throughout the park giving the park a pop of color. Some of the flowers that I saw are shown in the following photos.

Ancient Trees

There are lots of big trees in the garden but two ancient trees really stood out. Both of these trees gave me the feeling that they were around long before the park was built in 1858. These two trees were dramatically different, one tree (I think a Banyan Tree) had large mats of aerial roots hanging down from the branches and the second tree is a giant Ficus Tree with an impressive root system. It is rare to see trees like these but it is a real treat to see two trees like these so close together.

The Dust on My Shoes

The Jardim Antonio Borges is one of the most unique public gardens that I have visited in my travels primarily because of the natural environment and the creative rock structures. An unexpected bonus was seeing the ancient Banyan Tree and Ficus Tree.

Most big city gardens are places where people can relax and escape the activity of the city and that is also the case for the Jardim Antonio Borges but it also has places to explore and there is an anticipation of the things that will be seen around the corner or on the other side of the tunnel.

Visiting the garden was a wonderful experience and it is one of my favorite public gardens that I have visited in all of my travels. If you like beautiful flowers, lush vegetation, ponds and places to explore all in a tranquil setting then I am sure that you will enjoy the Jardim Antonio Borges as much as I did.

Visiting a public garden is about more than looking at a bunch of pretty flowers. Public gardens are places where people can go to see some of nature’s most beautiful and unique plants in a tranquil environment.

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