A Greek Odyssey

May 9-20, 2002

Sam Chafetz and
Professor Ken Happe
along with W.I.S.E. and Assumption College
Invite you on…
A Greek Odyssey

$2,499 per person/double occ.
Plus air tax of $75. Add $500 for single.

Our daily itinerary (subject to change):

DAY 1: DEPART
We depart Boston on our overnight flight to Athens. Meals and snacks served aboard.

DAY 2: ATHENS
Our World Cultural Tours representative will greet us at the airport in Athens. The remainder of the day will be touring the ancient city of Athens. Our visits will include the Acropolis with the Parthenon, a Doric style temple to Athena, the patroness of the city; and the theatre of Dionysus where the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripidus, and Aristophanes were first produced. Then we will travel on to the national Archaeological Museum to view its collection of art from the Stone Age to the Classical. Three other museums (the Benaki, the Byzantine or the Cycladic) offer art lovers attractive alternatives. Later this afternoon we will check in to our hotel and enjoy a welcome dinner there.
(B, D)

DAY 3: ATHENS - ANCIENT CORINTH - NAFPLIO
Following breakfast, we will depart Athens en route to Corinth, the city that inspired many of the Apostle Paul's most familiar letters. We will visit this Greco-Roman site, extensively excavated in the 20th century by the American School of Archaeology. We will tour its museum and view the remains of the ancient marketplace, a 6th century B.C. temple of Apollo, and a 4th century B.C. theatre. This afternoon we will travel to picturesque Nafplio, which is as lovely today as it was 2,400 years ago. The ancients believed a son of Poseidon, the god who most detested Odysseus, founded Nafplio. We will check in and enjoy dinner at the hotel this evening.
(B, D)

DAY 4: NAFPLIO – MYCENAE – NEMEA - NAFPLIO
This morning we will travel to Mycenae, whose "beehive tombs" date back to about 1500 B.C. In Mycenae we will view the beauty of Agamemnon’s (Late Bronze Age) Greece as we enter the Acropolis through the famous monumental Lion Gate. We will discover the legendary grave circle where Heinrich Schliemann, in 1876, excavated an extraordinary treasure of gold, which is now on exhibit in Athens. At Nemea we will visit the site where Herakles performed his first labor – killing the invulnerable Nemean Lion. We will also see the stadium where the Nemean Games were held every other year. We will return to Nafplio for dinner and overnight.
(B, D)

DAY 5: NAFPLIO – TIRYNS – ARGO – EPIDAVRUS - NAFPLIO
Today’s journey takes us to Tiryns, an impressive cyclopean fortress, older even than Mycenae. Here, according to legend, ruled King Eurytheos, who ordered the twelve labors of Herakles. Also included in our travels today will be Argos, which is considered the oldest city in Greece, where we will visit the 20,000 seat Greco-Roman Theatre. Then we will travel to Epidaurus, the sanctuary of Asklegias, a Greek god of healing, where we will tour a fascinating museum and the best-preserved Greek Theatre in the world, which has extraordinary acoustics. We will enjoy dinner at our hotel in Nafplio.
(B, D)

DAY 6: NAFPLIO – LERNA – SPARTA - PYLOS
After breakfast we will depart Nafplio and travel to the ancient site of Lerna, a place of marshes, springs, and lakes, settled as early as 3000 B.C., where Herakles decapitated the Hydra, a many-headed monster. We will continue on to Sparta, a simple town built in the middle of the Evrotas River Valley, where once the Homeric hero Menelaos and his charming wife Helen are said to have lived. After viewing the scanty classical ruins here, we will take a side excursion into the late medieval world of Byzantine Greece and visit the majestic ruins of Mistra, a walled hillside town housing priceless frescoes. Later this afternoon we will continue to Pylos for dinner and overnight.
(B, D)

DAY 7: PYLOS
This morning we will explore the quaint seaside town of Pylos, the scene of a major rural battle in 1827, which climaxed the Greek Revolution and won them freedom from Ottoman supremacy. We will later visit the remains of the palace of another Homeric hero whom Odysseus’ son, Telemachos, visited in his search for his father. Dinner is included this evening.
(B, D)

DAY 8: PYLOS - OLYMPIA
Following breakfast and check out, we will travel to Olympia and learn about the history of the ancient Olympic games, the most renowned festival in Greece. We will visit the many sites of this great and historic city as we stroll through the sacred grove of Olympia and examine this early 600 B.C. temple of Hera and the later 450 B.C. temple of Zeus, before viewing the fascinating remains of the Stadium, Gymnasium, and Palaestra. Enjoy dinner at the hotel.
(B, D)

DAY 9: OLYMPIA – DRIVE TO KYLINI - FERRY TO KEPHALONIA
This morning we will travel to the port of Kylini and board a ferry to Kephalonia, which is characterized by its varied landscape, smiling terraces by the sea, and mountain slopes, which support cypresses among the olives. We will marvel at Mount Ainos, covered by spruce particular to the island, which is the setting for the popular novel and movie, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Arrive at the hotel for dinner.
(B, D)

DAY 10: KEPHALONIA - EXCURSION TO ITHAKI - KEPHALONIA
Today’s journey will take us across a two- mile channel to Ithaki, the legendary island home of Odysseus. We will visit the Bay of Dexia, Homer's harbor of Phorkys, where the Phaeacians left the sleeping Odysseus on the beach. We will tour the Cyclopean Walls (Alalkomenai), a ruined site known locally as Odysseus' Castle. On the Plateau of Marathia, Odysseus’ loyal servant Eumaeus kept his swine. This afternoon we will return to Kephalonia for dinner and overnight.
(B, D)

DAY 11: KEPHALONIA - DELPHI
Today we will depart Kephalonia and travel by ferry to Astakos, a picturesque bay on the coast of Western Greece. We will then drive to Delphi, an ancient city of fame and wealth, which was considered by early Greeks to be the center of the world. Our visit to Delphi will take us along the sacred way to the Athenian Treasury, the Theatre, and the Temple of Apollo, of which six columns have been restored to be similar in design to the Parthenon. We will check in to our hotel and enjoy a farewell dinner.
(B, D)

Here are a few photos from this recent trip to Greece:

On the beach in Greece. Somewhere in this crowd,
perhaps, is the face that
launched a thousand ships.

Why build an ordinary column when you can use a statue to hold up the front porch?

Now where did they put that Acropolis? It was around here somewhere...

You can guess that, even then, it was the rich folks who had the homes with the view.
Some things never change.

Brought to you by World Cultural Tours, 10 River Road, Suite 205, Uxbridge, MA 01569

Back to Travel & Study