Roman

One of the most beautiful places to visit in Athens is the National Garden of Athens (Ethnikos Kipos). After visiting the park recently I decided to do some research and I found out some interesting facts about this enchanting place. The parks’ original name was ‘The Royal Garden’ . It was designed by Queen Amalia (Greece had a monarchy at the time) and constructed in 1836 by the architect to the royals Friedrich von Gaertner . There is a small zoo containing different species of birds and a duck pond. Also, there is a closed off section with Roman baths and pieces of Adrians’ wall. Another remnant of antiquity is the canal that dates back to the time of the Greek tyrant Peisistratos. It surprised me when I discovered that American writer and painter Henry Miller visited the park in the 1930’s and wrote that “It remains in my memory like no other park I have known. It is the quintessence of a park, the thing one feels sometimes in looking at a canvas or dreaming of a place one would like to be in and never finds.”