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  The National Gardens or The Kings Gardens and the Zappion RegionBehind the tomb of the unknown soldier on Amalias street, at the top of constitution square is what my brother says is "Athens greatest treasure". The Kings Gardens, or the National Gardens is like a tropical paradise right in the middle of the concrete jungle of Athens. You can spend hours wandering around. There are two duck ponds and a duck population that has gotten completely out of control. We always save our bread from lunch to bring here, or you can buy doughnuts (koulouria) from a little man near the large pond.There is also a small zoo featuring wolves from Bulgaria, strange antelope like creatures, monkeys, peacocks, hawks, buzzards, a lion, parakeets, canaries and goats, all sharing their cages with ducks. You can walk along the paths admiring the exotic fauna and the ducks. 
There is even a small cafe near the Irodou Atikou street called O Kypos where you can get a
nice frappe, an ouzo and mezedes, and enjoy the afternoon while you feed your leftovers to the
ducks who come to your table begging for food. There is also a playground for kids!
If you walk out to Irodou Atikou Street on your left is the camp for the evzones, who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and what was once the Palace across the street. It's now the home of the Prime Minister, though they say he prefers his apartment. If you walk downhill you will pass Zappion on the right where in the summer you can see puppet theater (Karagiosis) and other forms of entertainment at the large outdoor cafe. This area is a popular place for Athenians to stroll and sit when the weather is nice. Henry Miller wrote in 1939: 
"It remains in my memory like no other park I have known. It is the quintessence of a park, the thing one feels sometimes in looksing at a cnvas or or dreaming of a place one would like to be in and never finds. Seeing lovers sitting there in the dark, drinking water, sitting there in peace and quiet talking in low tones gave me a wonderful feeling about the Greek character. The dust the heat, the poverty, the bareness, the containedness of the people, and the water everywhere in little tumblers standing between the quiet, peaceful couples, gave me a feeling that there was something holy about the place, something nourishing and sustaining" -from Inventing Paradise:The Greek Journey 1937-47 by Edmund Keeley The dust and the poverty is gone and unless you are there in July or August, the heat may be missing as well. But the cafe at Zappion is a wonderful place to be any evening or day. Further ahead is the Olympic stadium built in 1896 out of marble for the first modern Olympics. If you walk to your right, past the Zappion building you will come back to the Plaka.If you go back up Erodou Atikou and cross Vassilias Sophias street (if you are able), you can go to the Benaki Museum which has recently re-opened after a major renovation and sounds well worth a visit. Or if you can't cross the street take a right and visit the Byzantine Museum and the War Museum next door to each other on Vas. Sophias. From there you can walk up to Kolonaki and Lykavitos.
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