Athens National Garden

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.