Greece 2011: 7/6/2011 Flight Olympic Air from Rhodes to Athens, Athens/Sofitel Athens Airport Hotel, Lycabettus Hill, dinner at Orizontes

Breakfast same as most days! I'm a creature of habit. Check out no issues-360€/$516.52 for 3 nights. Had a lovely stay but I wish I would have added at least 1 more night here. There's so much to see here. Would stay here again as its location is what made our stay such a great experience. Breakfasts had plenty of variety and were good. All the staff were helpful. Our room was excellent.

Returned car at the Budget office airport no problems, no extra charges. This car got good gas mileage, was easy to drive, and big enough for the 2 of us.

Chevy Spark rental car

AIRPORT. Had to check our carry on bag but no extra charges. Got some tea at airport cafe 3.50€. We are on Olympic Air #707 to Athens. Departs 12:10 pm and is scheduled to arrive in Athens at 1:10 pm. Uneventful and short flight. Cost 130€/$182.08.

Leaving Rhodes

Getting close to Athens

Arriving Athens

SOFITEL ATHENS AIRPORT HOTEL. I had reserved this hotel back in May 2011. We will be here for one night only as we fly home tomorrow. Because this hotel is right across from the airport it's convenient for our flight home. Superior room already paid for was 160.55€/$228.71. Pricey but that's because it's right at the airport. Check in easy as everything paid. I'm told there is a metro stop right at the airport that will take us into Athens. I have the hotel make us dinner reservations at Orizontes, railing table for 7:00 pm tonight. Our room is #339. Large bedroom area, desk and chair. TV. Bathroom has separate room for the toilet. There is a bathtub and a separate shower. I like that. Our view is to the airport. This is fine for the one night. We decide to check out the hotel a bit. There's an indoor pool and a fitness center. I decide to have a nice soak/bubble bath in the tub. We get dressed for dinner. We dress up a bit because this place is supposed to be nice and it's our last night in Greece!

Reception/lobby

Indoor pool

Comfy beds

View to the airport

Shower

Bathtub

The directions I got from the front desk of the hotel are spot on. We get tickets for the metro round trip 28€ for us both. We are to get off at Evangelismos stop. Then we have a walk. I had been told the taxis are on strike so we'll have a rather long walk that I wasn't planning on having to do. We finally make it up all those steps to the funicular. Unfortunately the funicular is in an enclosed tunnel so no views. This will take us up to the top where the restaurant is located. Funicular round trip 14€ total.

Metro ticket

Steps to the funicular

Funicular

LYCABETTUS HILL. Summit is the highest point in Athens. We arrived here at 6:30 pm and our dinner reservations are at 7:00 pm so time to wander around. Time to take pictures of this amazing view. I can see the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, and so much more.

Views

Acropolis

Temple of Zeus

St. George church

ORIZONTES. Dinner. Our reservations are for 7:00 pm and it's only 6:30 pm. Our table is right next to the railing so our views are unbelievable. What a great way to end our time in Greece! For starters we were given complimentary tomato gazpacho soup. Delicious. We both ordered the porterhouse steak with fries. There was a spicy feta sauce for the fries. Bread. Coke and Amstel beer. For dessert we shared the mousse with dark chocolate and ice cream. Great service. Steak was cooked as we each requested. Tender and juicy. Our dinner was fabulous. Cost without tip 84€. We left around 8:45 pm. In hindsight we should have stayed on the hill longer to get some pictures after sunset when all the lights of Athens would be there to see! However that didn't diminish the enjoyment we had for dinner our last night in Greece.

😀🇬🇷

Our table

Complimentary soup

We both ordered the steak

Dessert

View from our table!

Back down the funicular. Walk to the Evangelismos station to return to our hotel. Back at the hotel we request a wake up call for 4:00 am. Ouch!!! Then we pack for the last time. Tomorrow we return home after this time in Greece-over a month-and then almost a month in Egypt. Wonder how tall the grass will be in our yard!