The last full day in Athens before I fly, and there is still 1 place which I have yet to visit on the itinerary… Lycabettus Hill – said to be the place to go to get a good bird’s eye view of the whole of Athens.
The trip to Lycabettus was a tough one to find. There was hardly much signage and could only count on a trusty map (same one which got me lost a couple of times yesterday ! :P) to get me to the foot of the hill. The decision was between taking the funicular or walking up a windy road which was supposed to take 30 minutes of walking.
Thinking that I would probably not be able to survive the walk in the hot sun, I took the easy way out. The funicular turned out to be just a 3 mins ride up (vs the 30 mins walk?!?) with no view along the way since it was enclosed in a tunnel. I felt cheated to have paid Euro 7 for the short and viewless 2-way trip. But it is either that, or to be a lobster ready to baked!
Upon reaching the top, the view was indeed spectacular, with the Parthenon and the Temple of Olympian Zeus in the distance.
Headed home to get out of the hot sun, before preparing to head out to the beach for a night swim (no kinky thoughts! Sun does not set till 9pm!). It was when Konstantinos asked if it was my 1st swim in Europe waters, that I realised that I have never been in the right weather in Europe for the beach! So Greece now hold another special place in my heart for taking my maiden swim in Europe waters!
We stayed on for a while and about 8-ish, Konstantinos got on a call and while speaking in Greek with my name mentioned a couple of times, subsequently turned to me and said, “ Would you like to go to the city centre or the cape”. Not knowing what is at the cape, Konstantinos said on the cape sits the Temple of Poseidon, and offers one of the most beautiful sunset in Athens with the Aegean Sea in the backdrop.
How could anyone say “NO” to that! So the decision was made. It was only after that we got into the car that Konstantinos mentioned that he was not sure if we would be able to catch it in time as it is located about 50km away. As a tease, I said “It’s ok. You’ll just have to fly!”, and laughed.
I didn’t expect that the words were taken seriously, as he zoom-ed past beaches after beaches in an attempt to catch the sunset over Temple of Poseidon. We finally arrived just as the light was about to fade and took a couple of pictures before darkness crept in.
As I looked at the Temple of Poseidon in the distance, I can only imagine the beauty of it in the red hues of the setting sun. It was a pity, but I was glad to be given the opportunity to see the beauty of this historic site in Athens that is less known to tourists.
We left the cape and made our way to dinner in town at Aleria, which was another 50km and more back in the opposite direction! I heard dinner reservations were initially made for 9.30pm, and it was close to midnight when we got there (LOL). This is probably the latest that I ever had dinner in a restaurant!
And the food was AMAZING! Each dish came with accompanying ingredients to the main featured ingredient, that created different layering and textures that burst with flavours with each mouthful!
The night didn’t end there, as we headed further into the city centre near Syntagma to “Galaxy” a cosy old-style bar for a drink, and tried Metaxa – a greek cognac, for the 1st time.
We left after 1 drink and just as about the bar was to close at 3am. What a memorable evening to end off my stay in Athens!
Thank you Konstantinos for all the little (and the not so little things) that you have done for me and making my stay in Athens special! *Hugs*
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