Behold The Top Of Athens!

Yes, you are looking at Lycabettus Hill, which towers on the left of the picture over Athens Greece, even higher than the majesty of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis!

The Acropolis is the large, fortified hill in the center of Athens, and it houses several ancient structures, including the Parthenon. The Parthenon is located on top of the Acropolis and is one of the most prominent and iconic buildings on the hill.

Walking through the Acropolis is an incredible experience: history all around you – so close as well…while this is the centerpiece of Athens, and just a few miles away is Lycabettus Hill, which looks like this when you are at The Parthenon:

Time For “Food With A View!”

I’m starting a series that marries my love of food with my passion for travel, and what better way to start than with a trip to the top of Athens!

Lycabettus Hills is a cretaceous limestone hill, rising 908 feet above sea level – the highest point in Athens with pine trees covering its base.

While it looks far away, it was actually only a half hour walk up a gradually rising elevation, and it allowed us to see some of the city’s neighborhoods!

Riding The Funicular!

You can walk the 900+ feet up to the top of the hill, but it’s even more fun to take this Funicualr!

The Lycabettus Cable Car was opened in 1965, and takes more than 300,000 people a year up to the top – and guess what? They have advertisements flashing in the tunnel during your trip! Here’s the trip up Lycabettus Hill:

Here is your gorgeous view from the top of the hill!

You have a 360 degree of the city, which is spread out all around you. More than 10% of the entire population of Greece lives within view!

At the top of the hill you will find the Greek whitewashed church of Agios Georgios (St.George) and all are welcome to enter. 

The viewing platform in front of the church provides sprawling views of Athens, with a gorgeous shot of The Acropolis and beyond, stretching out to the coastline – and the Aegean Sea!

As you can see, we rally are high above the Acropolis! You can see the remains of one of the early Olympic stadium below:

As you can see, there are amazing images everywhere you look, especially as the sun began to set.

We came up for a terrific dinner at the restaurant Orizontes Lycabettus – and yes, we got an incredible sunset as well…but first, time to eat!

This was our view from our table at the restaurant – phenomenal…we ordered a bottle of wine, and I got a picture of it so I could remember to order it again!

Once someone helps me translate, that is!

Alex says on her Instagram that she is a “lover of potatoes”, so I had to have the greek “patatas bravas” with parmesan cream and homemade Florina red pepper jam!

This was just the beginning of a delicious meal – all served with this incredible backdrop around us…what a way to enjoy “food with a view!”

Next up was a Sea Bass Ceviche with citrus – light, refreshing and delicious! Of course, we also had to have grilled Squid as well:

They are served with “Horta”, the greek word for any sautéed green leafy vegetable…we ate a lot of “Horta” on our trip to Greece and loved it!

Alex had grilled Sea Bream and vegetables for her main course, and for some reason, I was in a pasta mood and got the Lobster Pasta:

The Lobster pasta was lightly coated with a creamy red sauce, and fresh diced tomatoes as well – a really terrific Lobster dish!

We were stuffed, but they were not going to let us finished the night without their special Baklava dish – and I’m glad they put it on our table:

That is one delicious Baklava tower! As we ate the sun went down and the view got better and better:

As you can see, as the sun sets the city lights up spectacularly, especially the Acropolis…it was a terrific night – so much fun that we decided to walk down the hill and back to our hotel!

While it was well lit and not dangerous at all, my attempt to capture it created this surreal look, like we were talking in a dream….it was beautiful out and again, very well-lit…but did we have any idea where we were headed?

Look how easy it was to find our way home! The Parthenon was a well lit marker for us to follow, and a thirty minute walk home finished our magical night high above Athens:

That’s the Acropolis shining bright – Athens at night is one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve experienced….here’s a closeup look at our tour:

Also, some of you know I love funiculars…so much so that I’ve taken them many many times…

In Sicily, these go high in the air above the town of Taormina…check it out here!

And finally, I took a “sky high” trip across Barcelona once as well:

Here is more of that tour and some great food too!

And of course, the food in Greece just kept getting better and better throughout our entire trip!

Check this out:

On the morning after Alex found out she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Talk Show, the terrific restaurant Mykonos Social surprised her with a special dessert!

See our entire meal with a view here:

While we ate, I spotted a Surf Glider speeding across the water, with only the small rudder in the back touching the water – check it out!

We just kept getting magical moments like this!

Oh, and keeping with the “food with a view” theme, this was our sunset that night in Mykonos:

Magical! Greece was a spectacular place to visit and we will be back!

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Categories: Exotic Travel, Food, Food Review, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, Restaurants, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Wacky Food, wine

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