Cairo - Ezbekiya Gardens

Another focal point of the city's life, now superseded by the Midan el-Tahrir, was the beautiful Ezbekiya Gardens (formerly a lake) on the edge of the old Arab town, which are now traversed by Sharia 26 July. The gardens, laid out in 1870 under the direction of M. Barillet, a landscape gardener from Paris, contain a profusion of exotic bushes and plants, including an Indian banyan (Ficus bengalensis) whose aerial roots constantly form new trunks.