You won’t believe your eyes easily when you come up to this spot. You cross some of the busiest avenues of the city, where the biggest museums, hospitals, and hotels are located. And suddenly the traffic and the bustling crowds give way to the first (and only) Japanese garden in the city. In 2022, the garden opened to the public, after being constructed according to a biophilic design, serving as a green, calming 3.500 sq m zone in the center of the city.

According to Wikipedia zen gardens were intended to imitate not the actual appearance of nature, but its very essence, and to serve as an aid for meditation. I will read more about the symbolisms of every element in zen gardens before my next visit; for example, rocks may either symbolize mountains or living creatures such as turtles. The Japanese garden boasts plants indigenous to the Mediterranean climate as well as characteristic trees of the Japanese flora. There are carefully designed pathways and benches, along a small pond and a torii. You can cross the garden and let yourself in the Japanese culture after visiting one of the museums and before heading to the heart of Pagkrati.