CLASSICAL GREECE
   
  ARMENIA

  ATHENS TO CORFU

 MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN GREECE

  BYZANTINE PELOPONNESE

  EPIROS

  ALBANIA

  ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE

  ODYSSEY

 SOUTHERN ITALY

 SICILY

  TUNISIA

  TURKEY

  SYRIA

  
This is a tour which focuses on the earliest civilisations of Greece and and will take you to Athens, the Peloponnese and the islands. The Minoan civilisation was centred on Crete and held sway in the Aegean, including on the island of Thira, while the Mycenaeans who followed came from the north and settled mainly in the Peloponnese. The monuments and art they left behind are both spectacular and mysterious.

Day 1 Arrive in Athens in the afternoon. Walk up Philopappou Hill at sunset for a view of Athens and the Acropolis. Dinner in Plaka, the old town of Athens below the Acropolis. Stay in Athens.

Day 2 Visit the Acropolis, the National Archaeological Museum and the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art. Watch the changing of the guard outside the Parliament building on Syntagma Square. Stay in Athens.

Day 3 Visit the Acropolis Museum in the morning. Drive across the Peloponnese to Pylos, the legendary home of king Nestor. In the afternoon swim at Voidikilia beach where Odysseus’ son Telemachus arrived in The Odyssey and climb up to the castle above the beach in the afternoon to look down on the bay of Pylos. Stay near Pylos.

Day 4 Visit the so-called Palace of Nestor in the morning, where the bulk of the tablets containing Linear B script were found. Have a picnic lunch and swim at local waterfalls, then drive to the Argolid. Stay near Nafplion.

Day 5 Early in the morning visit the theatre at Epidavros, the biggest and best-preserved theatre in the Greek world. Picnic at the Argive Heraion overlooking the plain of Argos and spend the afternoon at Agamemnon’s citadel at Mycenae and nearby Tiryns. Stay near Nafplion.

Day 6 Drive to Piraeus for the ferry to Thira, or fly from Athens airport. Arrive in the afternoon and stay in Oia, overlooking the caldera of the volcano.

Day 7 Visit the museum of prehistory in Thira town, which houses the finds from the Minoan site at Akrotiri, then take a boat trip to the volcano. In the late afternoon catch the ferry to Heraklion in Crete. Drive west to stay near Rethymno.

Day 8 Visit nearby Arkadi monastery, the Minoan necropolis at Armeni and the Rethymno museum. Lunch in Argyropolis. Drive to Elafonisi beach for afternoon and sunset. Stay near Rethymno.

Day 9 Drive through the Amari valley to the Minoan palace at Phaistos, a beautifully located and evocative site. Visit the Minoan villa at Agia Triada nearby, then go on to the beach on the south coast. Stay near Rethymno.

Day 10 Visit the site at Knossos, the huge palace which is the legendary home of Minos and the Minotaur. In the afternoon go to the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, the finest Minoan museum in the world. Fly out on a late afternoon flight.

Get in touch if you’d like to discuss or plan this tour at info@theeviaschool.com