Pure Tourism

 The Garden's history: 

 The Botanic Garden that exists in the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, in Brazil, was inaugurated in 1991, and today is one of most know and visited tourist attractions of the city; It is also one of the postcards of Curitiba. Its space has a ​collection of attractions, like the Municipal Museum, sports courts, from small to big trails, a velodrome, and the main attraction, the greenhouse.

 The greenhouse, also called as The Crystal Palace, is made by metal and glass. Its construction was inspired in the London's The Crystal Palace, from the 19th century. Inside of it, botanical species of the Atlantic forest - native biome of the region - are being reserved. And in front of the Palace is the Sensations Garden (Jardim das Sensações in Portuguese). 

 Close from the greenhouse, there is a cultural area dedicated to the environmentalist, and artist, the Polish (but naturalized Brazilian), Frans Krajcberg, with a permanent exposition of 114 of his sculptures.

 The Gerdt Guenther Hatschbach's Municipal Museum  was created before the Botanic Garden, in 1965. Its first founding was in the Passeio Público (another tourist attraction in Curitiba), and just late was transferred to the Botanic Garden, one year after the opening of the garden (in 92). The museum tells the environmentalist's journey of Hatschbach and exposes some of his articles. 

 

 My experience: 

 When I was a kid, I used to go to Curitiba almost every year, and even tho, until today, I only visited the Botanic Garden twice. My first time in there was with my aunt who lived in the city. She used to love taking pictures of absolutely everything, and she wanted me to appear in each one of the photos. So, I didn't really paid attention to the Garden. But in my second time, I was traveling with a friend of mine, Iara, as a celebration trip, because we had just finished high school.

 In Curitiba, we stayed at my cousin's house, Priscila. All the other places we visited, was just me and Iara, but my cousin asked us to let the Botanic Garden to our last day in the city, because she and her husband, Daniel, wanted to go with us.

 Iara and I looked like two silly kids walking through the Garden, we were enchanted with every plant that were there. We took some photos in a lot of spots in there, and we were anxious to take some photos at the Sensations Garden, but when were close from it, it started to rain - I wasn't even surprised, because Curitiba's weather is very instable. So we ran to the Crystal Palace - to get away from the rain -  and didn't get our so expected photo in the Sensation Garden. The Crystal Palace filled with people in a blink of an eye because of the rain, so we couldn't walk comfortably in there. So, even in the rain, we followed to the Botanic Museum (Municipal Museum) and I was fascinated inside there. I admit that, when I see other people's lifetime work exposed to the world, I get emotional. I always think about the effort they had to get to the final result. And thinking about it, I looked every inch of the things that were exposed in the Museum.

 As soon as we stepped outside the museum, the rain stopped, but then we were already tired and we just finished our tour getting outside the Botanic Garden.

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 Accessibility and extra information: 

  The Botanic Garden is accessible to people with special needs, the trails have signaling to wheel chair users and the bathrooms are adapted to them. On the Crystal Palace, the wheel chair users have to enter by the back part, because it's there where it has a ramp. If you're a wheel chair user and you are at the side of a small bridge, esse é o lado errado, circule mais um pouquinho o Palácio e você encontrará o acesso.  

The entrance of domestic animals is prohibited, because the Garden is a place of environmental preservation. Inside there are many endangered species and many scientific research is also done there. After all, the place was originally made through the research work of an environmentalist. So, please, follow the rules and be a conscious visitor.

  Other prohibitions:

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 Curiosity: 

  The region where today is the Botanical Garden, was once a farm, called Chácara Capanema, but its gardens were already known. The farm belonged to Guilherme Schüch, who is considered a really important man to the Brazilian politics. Dom Pedro II, second and last monarch of the Brazilian imperial period, when he was passing in the city of Curitiba in 1880, he visited the Chácara Capanema and considered the garden as something of the first greatness and considered it one of the most beautiful of the imperial period.

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 How to get there: 

  By bus:  

Lines Expressos Centenário/Campo Comprido e Centenário/Rui Barbosa, ends at the side of the Botanic Garden.

The lines Cabral/Portão e Alcides Munhoz (no ponto da rua Alameda Dr. Muricy), ends in front of the Botanic Garden.

 By touristic bus: Time and places of loading updated in the site (clink in the USA flag to translate the site) http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/portugues/linhaturismo .  

  By car: Taxi (To call it, you can use the Táxi99 app), Uber, Cabify and Urbs apps. 

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 Prices and operating hours: 

FREE  

During Brazilian Summer: From 6 A.M. to 8 P.M.; 

During Brazilian Winter: From 6 A.M. to 7:30 P.M.;

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 How to get more information: 

 Botanic Garden phone number: (55 41) 3264-6994 

 Botanic Museum phone number: (55 41) 3362-1800 

 Curitiba's official site, about tourism (click in the USA flag to translate the site):  http://www.turismo.curitiba.pr.gov.br/  

Curitiba's Tourist assistance center: (55 41) 3362-3831 and turismoserv@turismo.curitiba.pr.gov.br  

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 Bibliography (all in Portuguese): 

http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/portugues/linhaturismo/jardimbotanico - accessed in 24/04/18 

http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/curitiba/jogar-bola-pedalar-caes-por-que-o-jardim-botanico-tem-tantas-proibicoes-4bptzbwh1obqs9ob8sxa0hvqy - accessed in 24/04/18 

http://www.diaadiaeducacao.pr.gov.br/portals/roteiropedagogico/recursometod/2333_DPedro.pdf - accessed in 24/04/18 

FENIANOS, Eduardo Emílio. Jardim Botânico – Só pra não dizer que eu também não falei das flores. Curitiba. UniveCidade, 1999 

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