And bad movies from the 1960s, no less

The guidebooks say not to attempt the climb up Mount Lycavittos (Lycabettus Hill on our Streetwise Athens map) unless you’re in “good shape.” Right. If two 50-somethings with only a dim memory of what the inside of a gym looks like can make it, then anyone can.

Lycavittos (or Lycabettus), which commands the best view of all Athens, is just just a 15-minute walk from our hotel. But factor in the climb, which is like climbing 50 stairwells at once, and you can add another 20 minutes. Or more.

(And let me be honest here. The guidebooks, as other Web sites, say that a funiculat serves the mountain. But WE couldn’t find it. And you can believe that we were looking. So we hoofed it. The whole way. Can you say “Ibuprofen”?)

But the view is worth it. Especially at sunset, which is when we were at least three-quarters of the way up. We would have been disappointed had a, believe it or not, full moon not come up over the opposite horizon at almost exactly the same time.

And they say that such things happen only in movies.

Below: As seen from the Acropolis, Mount Lycavittos stands as the other high point in Athens.