Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
- a prettified version of traditional mountain costume - change their guard at regular
intervals before the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
. On Sundays, just before 11am, a full
band and the entire corps parade from the tomb to their barracks at the back of the
National Gardens to the rhythm of innumerable camera shutters.
Hotel Grande Bretagne
Vasiléos Yeoryíou 1 •
W
grandebretagne.gr • Metro Sýndagma
Along with the Voulí, the vast
Hotel Grande Bretagne
- Athens' grandest - is just about
the only building on Sýndagma square to have survived postwar development. Past the
impressive facade and uniformed doormen, the interior is magnificently opulent, as befits
a grand hotel established in the late nineteenth century. It's worth taking a look inside or
having a drink at one of the bars; recent renovation included a new rooftop pool, bar and
restaurant with great views across the city. The hotel has long been at the centre of Greek
political intrigue: in one notorious episode, Winston Churchill narrowly avoided being
blown up here on Christmas Day, 1944, when saboteurs from the Communist-led ELAS
movement placed an enormous explosive charge in the drains. According to whom you
believe, the bomb was either discovered in time by a kitchen employee, or removed by
ELAS themselves when they realized that Churchill was one of their potential targets.
The National Gardens
Entrances on Amalías, Vasilíssis Sofías and Iródhou Attikoú • Sunrise-sunset • Free • Metro Sýndagma
he
National Gardens
, spreading out to the south and east of the Voulí, are the most
refreshing acres in the city - not so much a flower garden as a luxuriant tangle of trees,
whose shade and duck ponds provide palpable relief from the heat of summer. They
were originally the private palace gardens, a pet project of Queen Amalia in the 1840s;
supposedly the main duty of the minuscule Greek navy in its early days was the
fetching of rare plants, often the gifts of other royal houses, from remote corners of the
globe. Despite a major pre-Olympic clear-out there's still something of an air of benign
neglect here, with rampant undergrowth and signs that seem to take you round in
circles. It's a great place for a picnic, though, or just a shady respite from the city
streets. There's a children's
playground
(on the Záppio side) and a tiny
zoo
(signed
Irattikou
) with ostriches and some exotic fowl, though most of the cages these days are
occupied by chickens, rabbits and domestic cats. The
Botanical Museum
occupies an
elegant little pavilion nearby; closed for refurbishment at the time of writing.
The Presidential Palace
Iródhou Attikoú, cnr Vasiléos Yeoryíou B • Metro Sýndagma
Across the road from the far side of the National Gardens is the
Presidential Palace
, the
royal residence until King Constantine's exile in 1967, where more
evzónes
stand on
sentry duty. Next door, the slightly more modest
Mégaro Maxímou
is the official
residence of the Prime Minister.
The Záppio
Grounds open 24hr • Free • Metro Sýndagma
On the southern side of the National Gardens are the graceful crescent-shaped grounds
of the
Záppio
. Popular with evening and weekend strollers, they're more open and
more formally laid out. The Záppio itself, an imposing Neoclassical edifice originally
built as an exhibition hall, is not open to the public. Although it has no permanent
function, the building has taken on prestigious roles such as headquarters of the Greek
presidency of the European Union and of the 2004 Olympic bid.
