The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
The
National Garden
Behind
the parliament you will find the 15,5 hectares
big and magnificent National Garden This beautiful
park used to be the garden of the Royal Palace
created by Queen Amalia and her German gardener
Schmidt in 1839. It is now owned by the City of
Athens.
The
garden has become public and it is open all day long. It is one
of the places in Athens where one can find an agreeable retreat
with shade, flowers and the song of the nightingales. The garden
also encloses some ancient ruins, tambours and Corinthian capitals
of columns, mosaics. etc. On the south-east there are the busts
of Capodistrias, first governor of Greece and of the great philhellene
Eynard. On the south side there are the busts of the celebrated
Greek poets D. Solomos and Aristotelis Valaoritis.
You
can spend hours wandering around and if you are a cat lover, you
will. There are two duck ponds, a children's playground, a small
zoo and a cafe (called O Kypos) near the Irodou Atikou street
where you can get a nice frapé, an ouzo and mezedes and
enjoy the afternoon while you feed your leftovers to the ducks
who come to your table begging for food.
The
garden is irrigated by a channel initially laid by the tyrant
Peisistratos as an aquaduct in ancient times. Its serpentine walks
boast peacocks and waterfowl. The public toilet you will see used
to be the cold storage facility of Queen Amalias larder.
Behind
the parliament building, but inaccessible for
security reasons, are the remains of Roman baths
and remnants of Hadrian’s city wall. Behind
the National Garden are the Royal Palace (Vas.
Georgiou II Street) and the Presidential Residence
(Irodou Attikou Street).
The
Zappeion Garden, a wooded space crisscrossed by broad alleys,
actually is a continuation of the National Garden. The Zappeion
structure, built in 1874-78 by Hemophilia von Hansen, was funded
by the Greco-Rumanian cousins Zappas as an exhibition hall. It
was remodeled in 1959-60.
There
is a nice marble statue of Pan to the left of the entrance.
In the center is a statue of Varvakis, founder of a high school.
There are various events connected with worldwide trade that
take place from time to time within and around the Zappeion.
It also is used for international conferences. Because of
these events and conferences, the Zappeion may not always
be open for a visit. Even more, when a meeting of the European
heads of State takes place in the Zappeion, you will have
a hard time even getting close.
The
greenery around the Zappeion, known as Parilissia, was
planted in 1886 and took its name from the Illissos
river. The former riverbed now is the Vassileos Konstantinou
Avenue. The 35-acre Zappeion Garden is a favorite place
for Athenians to walk in. Together with the nearby National
Garden, it represents the two green belts in Athens.
The
Zappeion Garden is adorned with interesting sculptures.
Among them is the statue of Ioannis Varvakis, a benefactor
from Epirus, made by Leonidas Drossis (1870-86). Other
sculptures are the Woodcutter (1872-75), the Harvester
(1870) and the Fisherman (1874) by Dimitrios Filippotis.
On
the corner of Amalias Avenue and Olgas Avenue is a statue
made by the French artists Henri-Michel Chapu and Alexandre
Laguière showing Greece crowning the poet Lord
Byron. Opposite the Panathinaic Stadium (Kalimarmaro)
is the statue of the Freedom Fighter of the 1821 War for
Independence. The statue shows Georgios Karaiskakis on
horseback. It is made by Michalis Tombros. Close to it
is the statue of the Discus Thrower (Diskovolos) by Konstantinos
Dimitriadis.