Public park gone private

If someone told me that I could have a garden or even a small park of my own in a city center, I would not easily believe them… By the way, I don’t have that much money to buy a park. Probably neither do you, that’s why I’m suggesting you to read this story and see if it’s possible to change your opinion! I certainly changed mine.

Some time ago the Municipality of Thessaloniki invited its citizens to adopt green corners, arrange them and take care of them. This idea was interesting to Vitaverde and the owners of Local espresso bar right across a park, so they decided to adopt the space, renovate it and let all the visitors experience moments of relaxation.

Back then the park was just another surface in need of a serious makeover and still it offered so many opportunities to become a lively and green environment! We were enthusiastic to redesign the space and wanted our example to encourage others to participate actively in greening the city, to care about parks like their own gardens. Suddenly the crisis knocked on the door, not as a visitor, but with the intention to stay for a while. That is when the things got more complicated… No matter the circumstances, we decided to go on and let our believes lead us to the creation of something extraordinary. It just took a little more time till the park could become a green oasis of the city.

This spring was the moment for that idea to come alive and turn from paper into reality. The center of Thessaloniki got a brand new park and we are proud that we gave that contribution to our co-citizens and the city. Now that you can have a full park experience while having a drink at your corner café, you can say that it was worth the effort.

So if you take a walk down Pavlou Mela Street, you will stumble upon this park which we are sure you will like and enjoy. Don’t forget to send us your photos from there!