Les arbres de l'Impératrice Eugénie : lorsque Histoire et botanique se rencontrent

Lecture by Jean Touyarou, forestry engineer.

Most of the time they go unnoticed on the way to Eaux-Bonnes, yet some are huge, while others gaze down at us from their 54m heights. But where do these trees come from? Who planted them?

And why plant when beech, fir, lime and ash trees naturally number in the thousands?

We'll be taking a closer look at these trees from four continents; they're remarkable, though less fortunate than their "forest brothers". They have their secrets, but are in danger of extinction.

This is also an opportunity for us to retrace the history of the Eaux-Bonnes thermal baths, traces of which date back to the 16th century, but which reached their apogee under the Second Empire, and to look back at the Darralde garden and the Horizontale and Impératrice promenades.