A Birthday Meal With The Best View In Athens

Birthdays have been a little strange since my family moved to Athens. There's no breakfast in bed, I don't open presents in the morning and the number of people I book a table for has rapidly depleted. Of course I plan things with my friends but never usually something on my actual birthday, I like to drag it out as long as possible ha! This year I decided to take matters into my own hands and book a flight out to Greece, taking my best friend along with me.
There's been a restaurant in Athens that I've been dying to try for absolutely ages. Orizontes, a large glass building perched on top of Mount Lycabettus (one of my favourite spots in Athens). It has THE best view of the city. I was pretty stoked when I found out that my mum had managed to book us a table and knowing of my love for sunsets, she picked the perfect time.

The cable car whizzed us up to the top and after climbing a few sets of stairs we were bathed in a golden light as the sun began to sink below the mountains.

After watching until the sun's glow faded, we were seated at our table with a pretty good view of the Acropolis. We looked carefully at our menus, peeking over every now and then to watch Athens light up as dusk became night. 

White wine was poured and we placed our orders. A bowl of potato soup was brought out to us, followed by a beautiful greek salad in a bread bowl. I miss the salads like crazy! You just can't get tomatoes like it back home! 

For my main I chose a dish filled with delicious seafood, rice and a really tasty sauce. It came with a little shell that led me to dub it "Mermaid Stew" which of course wasn't the real name. I stupidly forgot to take a photo of the menu and can't seem to find it online. Bad blogger. 

I've read quite a few reviews on TripAdvisor about Orizontes and although most of them say that you're paying for the view and not the food, I actually really enjoyed my meal! My only complaint would be that there was too much food as I was stuffed halfway through my main course. The service was excellent and our waiter was very attentive, answering any and all questions we had about the food which was handy as we had a gluten-free'er in our midst. If the menu is a little too pricey then I'd recommend getting the furnicular up there anyway (it's about 7 euros per person), even if it's just to watch the sunset. You won't get a better view anywhere.