Athens City Guide - What you need to know about Athens !

Sightseeing > Lycabetus Hill

Athens has a couple of vantage points besides the Acropolis, from which you can get superb views of the city. Lycabettus Hill is really a limestone rock reaching almost 1,000 feet into the once-crystalline Athenian sky. In the evening, the top half is floodlit, and from the Acropolis it looks something like a giant souffle. By day, it’s a green-and-white hill toppoed by a tiny, flaringly white church, Aghios Georgios. It’s a nagging challenge, and sooner or later you’re to want to climb it. Don’ t try to walk up (pilgrims used to, but it’s an Everest for the faithless), and don’t try to take a cab, because it only goes half-way and you still have quite a hike to get to the top. Take the two-minute funicular up the southeast flank. To get there, follow the “telepherique” signs to the corner of Kleomenous and Ploutarchou Streets, between Kolonaki Square and the Athens Hilton. The panorama from the top is priceless – all the way to Mount Parnes in the north, west to Piraeus and the Saronic Gulf, with the Acropolis siiting like a ruminative lion half way to the sea. There ‘s also a cafe/restaurant up there.