Right at the beginning of our "British Iceland trip", we get the tip to definitely stay in the Eden Project to drop by.
Attention: many pictures, I couldn't really decide on a smaller selection.
Now the time has come, we are standing over punctually in front of the fabled and huge art garden project in Cornwall, waiting for the doors to open.
But let's start differently: archaeologist Tim Smit wanted to turn a disused pit into a huge garden. In addition to the open-air garden, giant greenhouses were to simulate different vegetation zones. And above all: to make clear what our earth is, what it needs and what it doesn't need.
So there are a couple of large, glass-like (but plastic) giant domes that blend into a now verdant southern English plant world.
In the tropical-humid, subtropical-dry and Mediterranean "worlds" we first enjoy the warmth and then the variety of plants.
A guide leads us through the exhibition, but not according to the motto: here a coffee plant, there a banana palm. No, he is an environmentalist, nature lover and sustainability-conscious at heart. So it's exactly our thing!
He talks about what makes the difference, for example, between Fairtrade coffee and conventionally produced coffee. He reminds us in an incredibly charming way that we can make choices. Each and every one of us, several times every day. And that we can make the difference. And then he calculates: how many people times how many coffee cups times how many days and so on. Already our small group is in the boat: alone we can achieve so much.
We stroll on, looking at plants, observing little animals and hearing how long it takes for this or that palm tree to produce a yield. Learning once again the extent of our own consumption, henceforth considering several times how often we should have fruit flown in or how important regional and/or organic fruit and vegetables are. How "sad" every single plant and later our bodies are about pesticides. How little natural it all is and above all: what consequences it has on the earth.
But he also mentions that the Earth doesn't really care. The sooner we disappear, the sooner it could recover. But if we want to think about future generations, yes, it would be important to rethink our own behaviour and, most importantly, to change it!
We already consider ourselves to be living in an ecologically sustainable way, but we can also improve our behaviour. Later, when we are impressed by the Eden Project and drink Fairtrade coffee at our Felix, we let what we have heard sink in and promise ourselves to pay more attention.
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
By the way, we are travelling through Iran. It's possible that we won't be writing posts at all or will be late. We first have to see if it works for us. And whether we can even manage to write down all the fantastic impressions in good time.
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Hach, such a great place too! It must have been 20 years ago when I took a short bus from London (where I lived for a few months) to Cornwall, visited my sister and we visited Land's End and the wonderful Eden Project. Probably one of my first botanical gardens.
I am curious to see what happens next.
Oh, this Eden Project has been around for so long? Brilliant, I didn't know that at all.
I guess Land's End was less touristy then than it is now. But we didn't care, because we were there after opening hours and marvelled at the coast.
Very dear greetings
Heike