Lycabettus Hill

According to myth, Athena was carrying this entire limestone hill to use as fortification for the Acropolis when a raven brought her bad news. She dropped the rock in surprise, and it landed here — 277 meters above sea level, the highest point in central Athens. The name might derive from "lykos" (wolf), because wolves once roamed its slopes. Either way, nobody else offers a better origin story for a hill.

At the summit sits the tiny white Chapel of Saint George, built in the eighteenth century and visible from half the city like a bright white dot against grey rock. Below it, the 3,000-seat Lycabettus Theatre, carved into the hillside in 1964, hosts summer concerts with arguably the most dramatic backdrop of any music venue in Europe — the Acropolis lit up below and the Saronic Gulf glittering in the distance.

You can walk up (about 30 minutes of steep switchbacks through pine forest), or take the funicular railway that burrows through the inside of the hill in a tunnel. The funicular has been running since 1965, and the ride through solid rock feels like something out of a Bond villain's lair. Either way, sunset from the top is non-negotiable — on clear days you can see all the way to Aegina, Salamis, and the mountains of the Peloponnese.

The hill was largely barren until the 1880s, when a massive reforestation campaign planted the pine trees that now cover its slopes. Before that, it was rocky scrubland that Athenians mostly avoided. Now it's the city's favorite escape — close enough to walk to from Kolonaki, far enough above the noise to feel like you've left Athens entirely.