Toño in Montaza

In order to get some kind of exercise today, I went for a walk to the gardens of Montaza palace here in Alexandria, Egypt. I did not have to go far since they are right across the Corniche from my hotel. Though crossing the Corniche equals half an hour of jogging if one measures the amount of (cold) sweat the body evaporates while doing so. The car drivers here behave like I normally cycle. Whatever, this is the palace I'm talking about:

Btw, these pictures get so much bigger when you click on them.

Montaza Palace was one of the palaces of the former Egyptian royal family. It was built in 1892 by Abbas Hilmi Pasha, the last khedive of Egypt, and it is surrounded by a lovely park. I more kind of strolled through the park since the exercise was at the beginning and the end. And so I had time to enjoy all the plants, which kept reminding me of Toño.

Like the five-petaled hibiscus, which is the national flower of Malaysia. A place to which Toño sent me numerous poems when I had to travel there regularly.


Or the delonix regia, which so flamboyantly displays flowers in Toño's favourite colour (and the Lada reminded me of Russia).


Of course, each bougainvillea I see anywhere in world reminds me of Toño, and there were plenty of them in the park. The bugambilia (as spelled in Mexican Spanish) is his favourite flower.


Who can look at an agave without thinking of Mexico? And Mexico is the place Toño was born and raised.


It was really worth crossing the Corniche twice.