Queen Amalia planted the National Garden in 1838 with imported subtropicals, and her washingtonia palms and Aleppo pines now form the densest canopy in central Athens — routinely 10 degrees cooler than Syntagma Square a hundred meters away. During heatwaves the city literally directs people into it.
These picks use the garden as the connector it was designed to be — between Syntagma, the Zappeion, Plaka’s lanes, and the Panathenaic Stadium — so the exposed crossings shrink to a block at a time.