Eden Project

Editor’s note: Crystal is contributing some pictures, which accounts for my mug showing up here and there (including some “adds” to the first 2 blogs for this trip).

Monday’s grey skies and drippy forecast made the Eden Project a natural choice. We set off from our Safe Harbour on the #25 bus, first exploring another repurposed telephone box.

Fowey is located in an advanced country, so we had free WiFi and USB charging stations on the bus – plus lessons in Cornish.

We transferred to the 101 Eden semi-express at the St. Austell train/bus station.

The Eden Project is an enormous reclamation project, transforming an abandoned china clay quarry pit into a sustainability Disneyland focused around plants. There are two biomes, Mediterranean and tropical, hosting plants from those latitudes around the world, plus a host of vegetable and ornamental outdoor gardens.

We began at the microscopic level.

I especially enjoy how Eden uses art to explain science. Below is Blue, a 35’ high smoke-ring belching sculpture which perfumes the air with the aromas of ancient atmospheres. It celebrates the don’t-get-no-respect Cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae) who started to Earth on the path to life as we know it by inventing photosynthesis. The oxygen unleashed resulted in the production of CO2 and the first mass extinction of life on earth (said Cyanobacteria, not relegated solely to the ocean floor), but hey, them’s the breaks. Six additional mass extinctions later, here we are today. Is there maybe a lesson here?

The Mediterranean biome was next, featuring plants from South Africa, California and – yes – the Mediterranean.

A fuel stop was necessary before tackling the tropical biome. One of the advantages of visiting a tourist spot dedicated to plants is a really scrumptious grown-on-site food buffet.

Get your baobob smoothie here, with or without rum. African proverb written ‘round the base of the tree: “Wisdom is like the baobob tree – no one individual an embrace it.”

En route home, we stopped at the St. Blazey Co-op for essential supplies to deepen our appreciation of the evening views.