In and around the National Garden

We like to visit the National Garden which is in the centre of Athens, usually as a shortcut to wherever we are going. The park is located behind the Greek Parliament which used to be the royal palace, and the park was its gardens. It opened to the public in the 1920s.

These palm trees are so tall, and consequently so majestic

The vegetation is lush

A lot of work was done to it recently

and the paths are so new and clean

The statue of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece after the liberation from the Turks

lots of seating areas around which are always taken when the weather is good

Not sure who that is

On the day when I took these photographs we were on our way to Pagrati, to the Goulandris Museum to see an exhibition, so we left the garden and entered the area of Zappeio

We reached the Zappeio building, built in 1888, the first building to be erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern world, designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. It was used during the 1896 Summer Olympics as the main fencing hall. In 1906 it was used as the Olympic Villa. Currently it's being used as a conference and exhibition center for both public and private purposes.

Art Athina, the Athens arts fair takes place here every September. You can see some of my posts here , here , here , here and  here

 

In front of the building is this wide, open space - various outdoor fairs occur here, including an excellent book fair

One can see the Acropolis from here

zooming in

Here, we also find Aigli, Athens' oldest open air cinema which opened in 1903

The gate was open so I went in

The huge screen

the projection and bar area.





Also, Aigli, the cafeteria/restaurant which has recently re-opened. It used to be one of the most fashionable places in the last century, and I was very pleased to see it's opened again, as it's very pleasant sitting here - my photograph does not make justice to the place.

We moved back into another area of the garden

We reached a small square on Agiou Konstantinou Avenue

Across the road, the Panathenaic Stadium

The stadium, is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. It was originally built in 400BC by statesman Lykourgos for the Panathenaic Games. It was rebuilt in marble by Herodes Atticus, an Athenian Roman senator and by 144 DC it had a capacity of 50,000 seats. 

After the rise of Christianity in the 4th century it was largely abandoned. The stadium was excavated in 1869 and hosted the Zappas Olympics in 1870 and 1875. It also hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896. It was once again used as an Olympic venue in 2004. It is the finishing point for the annual Athens Marathon. It is also the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place.

We continued on Vasilisis Sofias Avenue,

past the Irish Embassy

eventually turning right to get to the gallery we wanted to visit

a statue in one of the side streets commemorating Spyros Louis, who got an Olympic medal in 1896

and we'd arrived at the Goulandris Foundation

which is next to the Agiou Spyridonos Stadiou church.

 

We enjoyed the exhibition and then we retraced our steps

back to Zappeio

and into the Garden

but a different part of the Garden

Looking through the railings we saw people in front of

 

the Presidential Mansion on Irodou Attikou Avenue and left the garden

because we knew that the hourly sentry change was happening. 

The Evzones provide a 24-hour honour guard in front of the Presidential Mansion and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is in Syntagma Square below the Greek Parliament.

The evzones do this complicated walk which is carried out in slow motion, that some say is to allow their circulation to resume after standing absolutely motionless in front of their sentry boxes for so long. If you look closely the one on the right has his right leg lifted up high.

One may smile at the ceremonial uniforms and the pompoms on the boots of these soldiers, but these men are part of an elite light infantry unit who are highly disciplined. Their discipline is best portrayed by an incident in 2001 when a molotov cocktail was thrown at a sentry box. The Evzone standing there did not blink or move until ordered to do so.

We stayed until the change over was finished and then went back into the Garden

past some antiquities that are to be found here

The cafe was closed for some reason

We got to the pool, which is always a pleasure 

and then a parakeet landed on the side of the lake. They seem to be everywhere these days, singing along, but never visible on the trees - I don't know how they manage it. 

We then moved on to the small pond to see the turtles

and here they are - I always love watching them, on the rocks, without moving

or swimming

we stopped again

to marvel at the ginormous trunk of this tree

and then continued on our way, past this cave

and this clearing

and reached the tall palm trees which is where we had started from

We waited for our bus opposite the Greek Parliament building. The crowd of people one can see are standing in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, observing  the sentry change as it's being completed.