Lycabettus Hill, the omissions and the bad texts

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For the beautiful view from Lycabettus with the chapel of Agios Georgios I have written and uploaded photos in this article. What I didn’t write there and what I noticed very strongly from last year and this year, is how abandoned in time and fate the whole place is. That is, from where the steps of Loukianou in Kolonaki end and the uphill path begins that will lead you up to the highest point to the chapel of Agios Georgios, the restaurant, the two cafes and of course the panoramic view of the Attica basin.

I will refer to the bad texts, which unfortunately are quite a few but must be said, regarding access and staying on the rock of Lycabettus, one of the most touristic places in Athens.

I’ve been climbing Lycabettus since I was a little kid. I used to go with my parents for the view from the chapel of Agios Georgios and later more for the concerts and hanging out in the surrounding areas with the view of Athens at night.

Restriction of space for the public and tourists

Photographically, I climbed 2-3 times in the early 2000s-2010s to try out my new digital camera and tripod, photographing the view of the Parthenon and the Acropolis rock with the beautiful Plaka at its feet. Most of these shots were taken from the public or communal space that has been occupied for several years by a cafe.

This space gave access to many people who wanted to enjoy the view of the Saronic Gulf and the Acropolis (the best view from Lycabettus, since it includes the sunset, the sea, the archaeological sites of the Acropolis and Kallimarmaro, the Constitution) and who now are literally forced to squeeze into the “balcony” of Lycabettus, the space in front of the church.

Above I write “squeezed” and I honestly don’t know if the squeezing is due to the deprivation of the formerly public space from the café or simply from the ever-increasing number of tourists in Lycabettus. It could be both. And I’m talking about increasing without having looked at visitor statistics, if any, but purely empirically. So after the last visit in the 00s, I returned to the rock in 2016 and my next visits were in 2022 and this year. So both in 2016 but especially in 2022 I was very impressed by the number of tourists all along the climbing path to the rock.

Especially in the hour before sunset when most people go up to relax until the sun goes down completely, and which is usually the most beautiful time of the day, the path and the balcony of Lycabettus are a hive of activity, especially if you want to sit on the perimeter of the path.

Social Media or is it just time?

What has made Lycabettus so popular in recent years? Is it just the panoramic 360° view of the whole basin? Probably not because that was there before. Is it the general increase in tourism in Greece? I don’t think so since all the years Athens has had enough tourists anyway to fill the small path and limited space at the top of the hill and enjoy the unique view of the Acropolis and Parthenon as the sun sets and the city lights slowly come on. So, for me, a clear role in the increase in popularity of Lycabettus has been played by social media and especially Instagram through which the hot spots (to speak Greek :) ) of any tourist destination like Athens are highlighted.

The night photo below is taken from the former public space, now you will find Canteen #2 (in green on the floor plan here)

All this about the beauty of the spot and the panoramic view I have written originally in the photo tribute to the hill of Lycabettus that you can find here.

I will divide the text by talking in the first part about the access to the hill of Lycabettus on foot, following the path that begins where the steps of Lucianou end. In the second I refer to the area at the top of Lycabettus, which I describe as the balcony of Lycabettus, with the church of Agios Georgios and the unique view.

Discarded garbage bins on the path of Lycabettus

As far as the trail is concerned, you will notice the haphazardly turned green garbage cans in various parts of the trail. Moreover, if during the walk to the top, and especially in the upper parts where the view has begun to be seen, you want to rest for a while, you won’t find a single bench or chair.

There is a wooden one but it’s so beat up that it’s best not to risk it. I was really terribly surprised that they have left this bench, you will see pictures, in this perhaps dangerous condition for the public. It would have been better if they had removed it completely. So if you don’t want to sit in the Green Tent cafe, with the mixed juice at 8 euros, located at the start of the route with a very, very nice view, then your only option is to sit down on the concrete.

Continuing along this route, you will find almost half of the plants and trees either dead or fallen. It is obvious that the beautification and care of the plants does not belong to anyone from the municipality or the EOT or I don’t know who else. If there is a responsible agency then they simply do not deal with this particular site. I found a marble inscription stating that the trail was completed in 1948 and it seems that, even as a joke, no one has bothered since then! Talking and signage and information signs, you won’t find anything relevant.

No information or signs in English

So many people come up every day, so many tourists who obviously don’t speak Greek, and no one has been found to put up an information board in English, not even the name of the site. There are 2 signs, one is completely covered by various mostly advertising stickers that no one has bothered to clean up and another one shows that the chapel of Agios Georgios is that way, in Greek. Personally I didn’t see anything else and anyway if there is one, the point is that it should be in a prominent place and not for the tourist to look for it.

“Movement” during peak hours at Lycabettus

Climbing even higher, you will find that during peak hours, an hour before sunset and up to an hour after, the path becomes blocked. You may even have to wait a few hours for those coming down to pass before you can climb up. And it’s not so much due to the tourist crowds as it is to the fact that the plants, which nobody bothers with, have taken over half of the trail in several places. So where 5 people could go up and down, there’s barely room for two (one of the many places where people are blocked can be seen in the photo below). Small harm you might say. But in some places at night, at the edge of the trail where there is no guardrail, it can be a little dangerous to slip and fall into the small gap.

Rusty balustrades and rusted grills

Further up and just before we reach the top, there are two or three points with really gorgeous views and …rusty railings with a surreal look! Honestly, we can’t understand the point of their existence, They’ve been there for decades, and if they had a protective role surely something more practical could have been put in place that would fit the whole landscape and not make it look like a prison!!!

Just before the top, there are some broken steps, pillars with metal parts sticking out, cables in plain view and other small details… Of course, the image of the small mounds could not be missing, places with a lot of rubbish that no one bothers to clean up…

Hanging out on the balcony of Lycabettus

And we managed to reach the viewpoint, the top or the balcony of Lycabettus. A real 360° view, with several columns of course that don’t quite fit. It’s mobile phone, TV/radio etc, check out the photos and let me know. Could they be somewhere else, 5-10 meters further back and not face card to the mossra, where we see the Acropolis? I don’t know, let the experts look into it better.

In one place they’re tossed and in another they’re cornered

On the balcony of Lycabettus we found that just before and just after sunset there is a crowd of people crowding around in order to enjoy the view of the Parthenon, the ships coming and going from Piraeus and the Saronic Gulf.

This effort of the tourists is certainly not facilitated by the two garbage cans that are stuck to the marble benches where people sit, stealing from them 1-2 meters that could instead of accommodating garbage cans accept the crowded tourists.

I am referring to the narrowest and most popular spot, because of the view of the Acropolis, the balcony of Lycabettus. Surely these two bins could have been placed 5 metres further back, leaving valuable space for people trying to enjoy the view while sitting.

In fact, one of them, installed in 2020, has an open ashtray at the top. A little kid at the height where the ashtray is located got some ash on his face! Of course, it happened to blow while he and his parents went to see the view. The unfortunate moment!

All this made such an impression on the first day that the next morning I went there, in order to take a photo of it, so as to capture the extent of the indifference for such a tourist spot in the centre of Athens, the capital of the country, one month before the start of the tourist season for 2023.

Enjoy responsibly and write me your opinion. Have you visited Lycabettus recently during rush hour? Could things have been done to highlight the uniqueness of the spot in a different way?

The bonus

I liked so much the duct tape on the Lycabettus binoculars that I tried to describe and analyze how and why. As you will see, I did not succeed …

This is a work of art. What is? But that one there, under the coin slot that says how much to throw to see Athens.

We start with perhaps the most important one. How it is mounted with duct tape! As if you’ve cut and pasted the numbers and letters with your own hand, but just to be sure you’ve cut and pasted the duct tape on top to keep the wind from blowing it away.

Let’s move on to the euro (€). It is present in 3 of the 4 numbers, in the second 1 is missing.

We proceed with the equal. The first one is in the middle, the second one is off to the left, the third one is in the middle, and the fourth one is just not an equal, it has been transformed into something else. If it were a human being it would have become an insect, because it’s a mathematical symbol it became something like a minus.

We continue with the number showing how many minutes. It goes without saying that there is no alignment but this time the 2 are crooked, as if they are dancing. One is “facing” left, the other right.

And we close with the best, the epsilon in the word minutes. What epsilon? That’s right, it’s also been transformed into three.

And let’s not forget the duct tape, a very important element in the work as it is the medium that connects all of this.

How so much art could fit into something so simple, only the artist can explain.
Wanted, uh, wanted…

(In general, a walk to Lycabettus and a hike to the top will bring you closer to surrealism, don’t miss it.)

Photo Wallery… she’s the one who’s got us all starved.

text/photos: Yannis Tsouratzis