Athens National Gardens, a Beautiful Historical Park

Athens National Gardens, a Beautiful Historical Park

[Music] This is the beautiful and historical National Garden of Athens. [Music] [Music] Kala, have a good day from Athens. It is September 24th. It is about 28° C right now or about 80 fah. Uh it’s quite warm. It’s a beautiful sunny day today. And today we are going to walk to the National Garden of Athens. H it is located I you can see behind me the Greek parliament, the Helenic Parliament because the park is located right next to it and extends all the way to the uh up to the Temple of Olympian Zeus to the south and a little bit uh to the the other side is at the Panathos Stadium Panath Stadium as you may know it better. Um, and this is where the marble stadium of Athens where the first Olympic games uh were held. Uh, the first modern Olympic games in 1893. So, I’m heading now to the one of the seven entrances of National Gardens in Athens. So, National Garden of Athens, it’s a quite a large area. I don’t remember exactly how many thousand square meters, but um it was uh founded by Queen Amalia in 1839, right after Ottomans uh were defeated and had left Greece, at least some part of the Greece that we know today. Um the we there was a king and queen ruling uh the country and queen Amalia uh decided that she wanted um um her own retreat, a big garden right next to the palace that today serves as uh the parliament. designed this um garden with uh the criteria of an English uh garden and um three years later she brought those huge trees that you see today. So those trees are almost 200 years old and there is a yeah there is a sign here that it says filifera uh from the US. So what I want to do today, I don’t want to give you too many information about the National Guard, which I don’t know anyway all the details, but I want to take you for a walk so I can show you what kind of hidden gems this garden uh has. This is not a garden with just uh trees, bushes, and animals. It has a lot of um archaeological spots. There is a a Roman villa with uh uh with a mosaic and there’s um a botanical uh museum, um a small uh uh library for children, uh a few pawns, and wildlife. Well, I’ll tell you all about it. So, [Music] The building that you see there is the Hellenic Parliament. So this is u Yanis Capodistrias that was the first ruler of uh Greece. Uh he was assassinated in Nafpio in the Felipon by two political opponents, two siblings. Um, so this is a this is a unique garden in Greece because it has uh as um I already said already said this is built um according to the English uh garden design. It’s it has uh and it has retained its originality. It hasn’t changed all those years. Although it has been a lot of renovations, but nothing that uh has changed his um style. There are in total here uh 7,000 trees, 40,000 bushes uh of which uh um 519 species uh flora species and um in total of which 102 are Greek all the rest are all from all over the world. There are six pawns in total, but this one is my favorite. And I think we have uh come to the right now there’s a a bride over there. Yeah, I think so. This is the biggest pond of the garden. Uh, but there are five more. Um, some of them contain golden fish. Yeah. Can you hear that? That’s parrots. Big green parrots that were not supposed to there. We’re not supposed to live in Athens. There. Oh, there there’s another one. But uh what happened was uh a few years ago some uh released a couple of them not here uh but in in another park of Athens, the treatis park and they have reproduced in massive numbers and now there are all over um Athens and I hear Talonik also has um a lot of those parrots. So this is another pond. A lot of turbines here. Um I’m not sure who feeds them, but um I know that they are being fed. There must be otherwise they there there would be a problem. Yeah. Look at them. Oh, this is a small one. Okay. I’m um I’m not sure which ones are the ducks and which are the geese. Are the small ones the ducks and the big ones the geese. Oh god yeah. And look at this island with uh the fig tree in the middle. So where does the park find all this water? You may uh ask yourself. So you see there’s the pawn here. There’s little cute bridge and more water here and there are more pont as I told you. So, believe it or not, the park takes all its water from a sixth century aqueduct from Pistratos, one of the first um long before um the templates of Acropolis were built. uh let’s say roughly 200 years before that there was Pistra who um uh made a 6.5 km long aqueduct conducting um all the all the central Athens. So uh the water still comes from that time still working. Amazing. There is also a little zoo here, but don’t imagine uh anything spectacular. It’s just uh ducks, uh geese again. Um here maybe there are some goats there. And then the other side. When I was very young in this uh one of those cages, I can’t remember which one. Well, now we’re talking about more than 40 years ago, there was a poor lion living here and in a in a terrible terrible situation. Um yeah, goats and they you can smell them before you see them. Hello. Oh my god, the smell. Oh, so there’s water there coming, but um Oh my god, there’s the smell. It’s terrible. Oh wow. It’s not that it’s dirty. No, it’s just maybe, you know, it’s their the time of the year and they get more hormones. I don’t know. So this goes all around. And there was also used to be donkeys here. So those were the their pens. Uh but uh it hasn’t been replaced. And uh to be honest, I’m thankful for that because I don’t like zoos at all. I understand that some level that they do um preserve some species, but that’s most of the time an excuse so that they can trap endangered species. and um sell them to the crowd to the public for a good price. So, no, I’m not happy about that. So, ah that’s the terrible cage where the poor lion used to live. This one I think now they have at least in the past they had a lot of little um birds. Today is empty but this is where a lion used to live. Can you imagine how crazy that animal must have been? Terrible. Um here, how about here? Nothing. No, they they used to have uh little birds, but um now they don’t. Might not be a lot of animals in the cages, but there’s there’s some wildlife here because of the water. There’s this habitat, and you will see various um species. Well, one of them you can see is those terrapins here which um here you see um I believe they are trying to mate but uh or they are fighting. Oh, you see it’s biting each other. Um yeah, I don’t know why they’re doing this. Okay, they’re mating. And yeah, the little guy looks very It’s funny that the male is the smaller one. Yeah. Although that was a little bit uh interesting with the turtles. Uh so here we have uh pigeons. Oh no, those are parrots. Those are pigeons. Yeah. Anyway, you you get the idea of the zoo how it is. It’s not uh on the And there is a Oh, look at the Oh, sweet. The park is open from sunrise to sunset. Uh so the fact that they close the park during the night and it’s all quiet here. Uh this allows the animals to to have their normal life reproduce. Although those turtles didn’t mind our as humansh. So let’s see where we are. Uhhuh. Yeah. Another very nice um place that you can visit is the the the coffee shop here. You see? So, how do you get here? Let me show you. Um the park has um uh total seven entrances. Uh one is from Amalia’s Avenue. Uh there are three from Erodatiku. Uh that’s the that’s one street very close to the parliament and the other entrances from Basilis Sophias Avenue and there are two from Zapio and Zapio is the the other garden that um actually in the minds of Athenians it’s one park it’s not two but there are two separate gardens. Anyway, uh I’m going to show you now the entrance for this coffee place which is very beautiful as you can see. So this is Robot straight down. It’s the Greek white house. That’s why all those uh policemen and here you see the uh the white um ch with the blue this is uh this is a camp of the zones the special guards that are in front of the helenic parliament. So, if you come over here to the National Garden, it’s worth uh it’s worth visiting this street as well to see to go to the coffee shop, to see the the Greek um um White House, which is down the street, but I’m not sure if they’re going to allow me to film, so I’m not going there. I’m going to continue with the National Park. Okay, so we are here. Adipus Street this one. That’s the coffee shop. And this is the presidential guard their camp. This is the other entrance from Basilicis. We will go there. We have already been I entered this way. So we have been to the big one pond. We went to the animals here. So, I’m going to wander a little bit here. Or maybe I go to the Roman BS so we can see it. Yes. And I think we are lucky. I can see the presidential guard here. [Music] That was that was very interesting. I don’t see them very often. So, we’re not going to the cafe. We’re going to walk a little bit and go around and see the Roman baths. [Applause] [Music] [Music] And look what the beautiful cat I discovered here. There with a strange mustache. There she is. Hello. Hello. Hey. Hey. And um they told me that uh she’s about 2 or 3 years old, so she’s quite young and pretty and fat to be honest. While we’re walking to the Roman baths uh to see the mosaic and the the remains of the villa, I’m going to tell you what happened to me um last weekend. Uh I took my mom uh who is 91 and my aunt who is 81 and my cousin um my aunt’s daughter and we all went to the monastery. There’s a very nice monastery right um about 15 or 17 kilometers out of Athens. It’s called Aayos Ciprianos Santa Cyprien. And uh I we also we often go there because uh my mother wants to participate in um religious uh rights and um I go there because I love their honey. So, we got all in my car and um we drove for about 45 minutes and here is the another pond I’m going to show you and I’ll continue with my story. And there’s a lot of uh fish and smallfish here. Maybe it’s baby fish. Yeah, they’re all together here. So, the whole trip was quite uneventful until we reached uh about 500 m before we get to the final uh destination, the monastery. uh there it’s a it’s a very it’s it’s it’s built on the slopes of Parna which is very very um uphill. So I started uh driving uphill. Um I forgot to tell you that I had the air conditioning on because it’s still quite warm in Athens. do um because my mother and my uh my aunt they all that they want all the time to have the air con on. Uh so and also take into consideration that uh my car is a bit old. Well, it’s quite old. It’s 19 years old. Um it’s um Volkswagen Polo car. Um, so combine all those things together, four people in the car, old car, uphill, air conditioning, and uh then as I was going up, it stopped and it didn’t turn the engine off. It wasn’t the the engine was going, but Justin wouldn’t go up. So, I thought, uh, okay, I change the gears, try it again. No. We were stuck on on uphill, not uh not going anywhere. Uh so I was like, “Oh, shite. What what am I going to do now?” So I went a little bit um further down and started uh again nothing. So I thought, “Oh my god, what am I going to do?” Uh so uh another idea, we turn the air con air con off. And uh I went downhill completely on an even ground and started again slowly slowly slowly we reached the monastery safely. Uh what I had also forgotten is that on my in my boot in my trunk I had about 80 kilos of stuff. I had bought a lot a lot of litter for my cats. I had found um a discount, a big discount. So, it was poor car. Anyway, I’m slowly unloading now the the car. And I I will keep it that in mind that in uh in Greece uphill, hot weather, a lot of weight and old cars is not a very good combination. So, we’re here says antiquities in National Garden. So Roman mosaic. These mosaic floors were discovered during the construction of the garden in the 19th century. They consist the remains of a villa of the Roman period 5th century AD. The gardener Louis Franis Bau incorporated those floors into the design of the garden as object object creating a space for the palace’s blankets. So here we are all that is a mosaic. See I think we can reach it from the other side. Oh from here [Music] So you walk from here all around there in here between those uh building and yeah and there is there Yeah, the steps. And here we are there. Look at that. [Music] [Music] [Music] And I believe Those are the remains of the pillar. And here [Music] this is the villa that we the Roman villa ruins. And I’m gonna show you how you can get here. That’s the other entrance from a Vasil Sophia. Ah, crazy, huh? But all big cities um sound like this. And here we have another pond with very quiet fish or some very large. Oh, look at that. Hello. Oh, especially this white is very big. Oh, where are you? It’s gone. So, I’m going to walk a little bit now. I’m going to go to the end of this uh road, this path uh to the other side where the Parathanos Panath Stadium is. So, you you go around the the park and you see all the sites as well. and then turn a little bit and see so you can show you the Zapio mansion and um and then that’s it. Um as I told you there is a it’s free entrance of course and it’s open during the whole day. Um, I think it’s a it’s a lovely place to to go around and to see a different side of uh Athens. So, okay, let’s go and find the stadium. Cool place for your children. You see, there are a lot of big construction all around, especially this one. Um, yeah, nice setting here. I’m still walking to the Panathine Stadium. I’m trying to find an exit. I know there are two exits. Yeah, there is an exit in front of me to Zapion Park, Zapion Gardens. And from there, I can walk uh to the stadium. So, I can show you a little bit of that. Uh I have uh my plans for this weekend uh this Saturday. So today is 24th uh September. Uh it’s Wednesday. So on Saturday it’s going to be 27, right? Yes, I think so. Yeah. 25 26 27. Yeah, there’s an exit here. And uh this weekend if you happen to be in Athens uh there’s um the museum uh international day and you have free access to museums and archaeological sites uh all over Greece. Um I’m going on Saturday. I’m going to Kamiko archaeological site. It’s uh Athens necropolis. This is where all the mighty heroes and politicians of Athens were buried. Uh there’s that pigeon. And uh since I’m going to be in the neighborhood, I’m going to also show you the Kamikos or Gazi because a lot of uh visitors in Naples choose to stay there. So I want to show you how the area looks like. Okay. And I’m al almost there. So, you get out of the park and the stadium is right over there. [Music] So this is the stadium that the first modern Olympic games were held 1896. It’s all marble. It was built then. It’s not ancient. Okay. But it was built exactly on the position of the old one or the ancient one uh using the same um design. Um I’m not going in there today because I would like to have um another video dedicated just to that. And there were there have been quite a few uh concerts here uh the last past weeks. Maybe there’s more to come. That’s why it’s still there. And uh another thing that you need to know here is that um it’s the finishing uh area of the authentic marathon that is held in November uh in Athens. And there’s I know that there is a very cool um uh site underneath the stadium. It’s uh like a tunnel. I haven’t been there. I really really would like to do that uh and videotape it uh for you guys um to see it and uh see it live when you come next to Athens. next uh stop and probably final will be the Zapion Gardens and Zapion Mansion so that you have a complete idea and maybe a little bit of the temple of Zeus. So you can combine and see the whole thing in one go. That’s the Zapion. That’s Eggly Cafe, the restaurant that has been going through and don’t know if you can see in the back background the Labetus with the church. So, this restaurant opens and closes every 5 years. Now, I see it’s open. So that’s a nice place to have a coffee. So here this is the Zapion Garden which is dominated by this uh beautiful and impressive building. So Zapas Costino Zapas uh was a national benefactor. He actually gave the money to have this built. So we named the area after his name. And of course if you come a little bit like that you will see the acropolis between the path and between the trees. But uh let’s try and go in. [Music] There must be some kind of exhibition going on here or some uh event. You see it’s a it’s a round uh maybe unfortunately we cannot go further in but [Music] it’s quite impressive. [Music] My first time here was uh when I was 9 or 10. You see very big um rooms and um this was built to support the Olympic Games. Oh, look at that. That’s the temple of Olympian Zeus. Right across from me is the Zapion Gardens. And uh somewhere here uh the walk around the gardens and the sides of Athens um has come to an end. Uh I hope you enjoyed uh the video. If you’re interested uh if you’re coming for first time in Athens and you don’t know which is the best entrance to the Acropolis, uh choose this video. Yeah. Heat. [Music]

Take a chilled walk with me through Athens’ National Garden — we’ll see shady paths, little ponds, the small zoo with some naughty turtles, and even the Presidential Guards.

Along the way, we’ll stop at the ruins of a Roman villa with its mosaic and pass by the Panathenaic Stadium.

📍 Location: Athens, Greece
📅 Filmed: 24 September 2025
☀️ Weather: 28°C / 82°F

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Music during the video (in order):
One for the Books by Kevin Dailey
Time Zones by Gavin Luke
Akropolis by George Prokopiou

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