The beautiful purple jacaranda trees in Athens!!

Hello, my friends. Today I will talk to you about a tree that I saw for the first time in my life, about a month ago and it fascinated me so much with its beauty that I immediately decided to go back with my camera to the spot I saw them, and capture a lot of photographs in order to write a post about it and share with you its incredible charm.

It was about a month ago, on a sunny May afternoon, where I was having a leisurely walk with my dog around the Zappeion in Athens. During this walk, I saw for the first time this beautiful purple tree and I was fascinated by its beauty and the scenery it was creating which was making the atmosphere very sensual and romantic.

A purple path was emerging in front of my eyes. The walkway was full of purple blossoms and the loaded branches of the trees seemed to be embraced like they wanted to touch the sky. Perhaps one of the most beautiful places in Athens in May is here.

As I wrote above I have never seen this tree before and I did not even knew its name but thankfully google very quickly, with a simple search gave me all the answers I was seeking about this tree. Its name is Jakaranda and, it belongs to the Bignoniaceae family and it originates from the subtropical regions of Latin America and the Caribbean.

It can spread its branches like an umbrella up to a height of 20 meters, maybe even 30. In Athens, it blossoms the last days of the spring that's why I have never seen it before, because the previous years, this time of the year, I was always at greek island working.

The day I went to photograph these special trees, the place was very crowded and everyone seemed to enjoy the purple atmosphere created by the jacarandas trees. A gentle breeze was blowing and the flowers falling from the trees made up a magical landscape as you thought purple snow was falling on the ground. Everybody was trying to capture this wonderful scenery with their cell phones and cameras which its beauty was making them feel that they are not in the urban jungle of Athens but in a beautiful exotic place.

The Nobel Prize-winning Greek poet George Seferis also spoke about the jacaranda trees in 1841 in one of his poems as he admired this tree from his window on Kerk street in South Africa. The name of the poem is KERK STR. OOST, PRETORIA, TRANSVAAL and is written in the Greek language, but fortunately, I found its English translation by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard in the book "Collected poems"

So that was it for today. Unfortunately, when I went to photograph these wonderful trees, most of their flowers had fallen to the ground, but they were still very beautiful. I hope with some of my photos I managed to convey to you, the feeling I felt the first time I saw this tree. If you ever find yourself in Athens, don't forget to take a walk from Zapio, I promise you that the atmosphere created by this tropical tree will fully compensate you.
Thanks for stopping by see you at my next post.

Refferences: wikipedia, George Seferis: Collected Poems - Revised Edition