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The Mediterranean

Highlights: the grand Renaissance gardens of Villa D' Este and Villa Lante in Italy, as well as the Roman Emperor Hadrian's palace garden: the oldest continuously worked Arabic garden in Morocco, as well as the painter Jacques Majorelle's Marrakech garden; and the Alhambra in Granada, Spain

Monty Don continues his journey with a trip to the Mediterranean - cradle of European civilization. In Italy, he visits some of the elaborate high Renaissance gardens which have hugely influenced western garden design. But he also travels to Marrakech to visit the oldest continuously maintained garden in the world and on to Spain to visit the Alhambra, thought by many to be the most perfect garden in the world.

Gardens:

47. Italy - Villa D'Este , Tivoli
48. Italy - Villa Adriana, Tivoli
49. Italy - Elio's vineyard, Tivoli
50. Italy - Villa Lante, Bagnaia
51. Morocco - The Aguedal, Marrakech
52. Morocco - The Majorelle , Marrakech
53. Spain - The Alhambra/Generalife, Granada
54. Spain - The Patios of Cordoba, Southern Spain
55. Spain - Casa Caruncho, Madrid

Official tourism sites

Italy
Morocco
Spain

South Africa

Highlights: the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens in Cape Town, some native treasures in the Drakensberg Mountains, plus a school vegetable garden in Johannesburg

Monty revels in the amazing flora that we've inherited from one of the most plant-rich zones in the world, including the strange King Proteus, South Africa's national plant. He also takes a journey to the Drakensberg Mountains to see some botanical treasures in their natural environment and traces the garden-story of the Dutch colonists who settled in South Africa in the nineteenth century.

Gardens:

56. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town
57. Henk Scholtz's garden, Franschhoek near Cape Town
58. The Company Garden, Cape Town
59. Stellenberg, Kenilworth, Cape Town
60. Donovan's L'il Eden, Hout Bay, Cape Town
61. Kirklington, Ficksburg, Free State
62. The Savanna Rock Garden, Magaliesberg, Johannesburg
63. Brenthurst, Parktown, Johannesburg
64. Thuthuka School Garden, Tembisa Township near Johannesburg (supported by Food & Trees for Africa)

Official tourism sites

South Africa
Cape Town and the Western Cape