Palm trees tower above flower displays in the National Garden of Athens.  The Athens Gardens Festival is being held here from June 15 to 18.

 

Culture in the Garden: The National Garden of Athens is one of my favourite must-see attractions in Central Athens — a beautiful, soothing space where I like to escape the hustle and bustle of the busy downtown area during a day of visiting monuments and museums.

I wish I could be in Athens this weekend, because the annual Athens Gardens Festival — underway from June 16 to 18 — would give me a chance to enjoy the 15.5-hectare oasis behind the Greek Parliament building in an entirely new way.

For the next four days, classical music, jazz, urban acoustic music, Greek art music and various European music genres, along with interactive performing arts and visual performances, “will turn the National Garden into a magical place of artistic expression and creativity,” according to the event’s organizers.

The Festival is part of the annual Gardens of Athens program which aims to promote the city’s gardens as “meeting points of art and culture.”

According to the Breathtaking Athens website, the festival is hosted by the Athens Art Network in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, OPAN (Athens Municipality Cultural, Sports and Youth Organization), the Athens Traders Association, the Directorate of Greenery and Environment and Athens “Technopolis.”

Further details are available in the breathtakingathens.com post about the Festival, while the complete program is presented on this page of the Athens Art Network blog.