Athens National Garden
Shaded royal-era park of winding paths, ponds, a duck lake and a small zoo behind the old palace.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Athens National Garden traces Queen Amalia, a young German-born queen who in 1838 set out to turn the muddy ground behind Athens's new royal palace into a garden of her own. She brought in a Bavarian agronomist and a Prussian gardener who carted in hundreds of plant species along with peacocks, ducks and turtles, many of which withered in the Greek sun before hardier stock took root. For years the garden was her private retreat, opened to ordinary Athenians only a few afternoon hours at a time. Somewhere beneath its paths, workers later uncovered a Roman-era villa, mosaics and all.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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