Andante Travels

Introduction

This is the land of Homer’s heroes and the great Bronze Age citadels from which they came. The home cities of Agamemnon, Menelaus and Nestor help us to put the Trojan War into its Greek context as a meeting with the world of the Hittites of Asia Minor, at a time when Greek colonists were hungry for land, and introducing their way of life to new territories across the sea.

Perhaps this was the memory immortalised by Homer in his epic poems. Certainly many aspects of the Mycenean culture rediscovered by Heinrich Schliemann clearly echo the world described by Homer.

In later times the Peloponnese was also home to major cities and sanctuaries of Classical Greece and, once again this part of Greece took centre stage in ancient world politics as the Peloponnesian War of the late 5th century BC brought the power of Athens to an end, and changed western civilisation forever.

Starting with the oracle at Delphi, as all great journeys should, we cross to the Peloponnese by the remarkable Rion-Antirrion bridge - a 21st-century work of art to arrive in Olympia, home of the first and greatest pan-Hellenic games. Then travelling through a beautiful countryside of mountains, plains and seascapes, your journey follows the course of Greek history through the coming of Rome, and then early Christianity, visiting the impressive Byzantine and Frankish city of Mistra.

We finish in Athens where the National Museum displays the objects which illustrate smaller aspects of daily life and religious belief, putting the final pieces into the picture.

Itinerary

 

Day One
Arrive in Athens and drive to hotel in Delphi.

Day Two
The panhellenic sanctuary of Apollo and the site museum at Delphi. The oracle was operated by a priestess called Pithea who sat on a tripod over a chasm in the inner sanctum of the temple and, inhaling the vapours which issued from it, uttered prophecies in a trance. Continue across the new Rion-Antirrion bridge to the Peloponnese peninsula and our hotel at Olympia. 

 

Day Three
Explore the site of Olympia, home of the first and greatest Panhellenic Games and the most important religious centre in the 8th century BC (as Greece became prosperous and politically aware). The major festivals here provided opportunity for the meeting of representatives from the Greek states all over the ancient world. The site remains today one of the most beautiful in Greece. Drive to Pylos (Navarino).

Day Four
The Palace of ‘Wise King Nestor’ is situated on a hillside overlooking the sea. Reconstructions based on relatively recent excavation of the ‘throne room’ and the interior court depict large open spaces with painted walls, upper storeys supported on wide columns, and coffered ceilings painted on geometric designs. This is where Telemachos is said to have slept whilst searching for Odysseus. Museum at Khora with finds from Pylos and the surrounding area. Free afternoon. (Optional late afternoon boat trip in the bay, or excursion to Methoni by coach).

Day Five
Via Kalamata, over the Taygetus mountain range to Sparta. Perched on the northern and eastern slopes of the hill, the ruins of the Byzantine town of Mistra have some of the finest examples of 14th and 15th century architecture in Greece and some of the finest views. Continue to Mycenae.

Day Six
The site of Mycenae lies on a hillside with views out over the surrounding countryside, sited to control the area. This was the centre of the great Late Bronze Age civilisation of mainland Greece and, according to Greek tradition, capital of King Agamemnon. Homeric epithets describe Mycenae as ‘rich in gold’ and ‘well-built’, both borne out by archaeological discoveries. Many of the fine objects of the Shaft graves are either imported or strongly influenced by the Minoan civilisation of Crete, where a palatial system with correspondingly sophisticated art forms had developed much earlier. Mycenaen art has distinctive features of its own, howeer, and these are reflected in the strikingly different layout of the mainland palaces. The famous gold found here by Schliemann will be seen in the National Museum when you return to Athens.

In the afternoon the excellent museum at Nafplion, recently reopened after restoration, and the Argive Heraion, a sanctuary of Hera, built on three terraces into the hillside, with wonderful views across the Argive plain. It was here that Agamemnon was said to have been chosen to lead the Achaean forces in the Trojan War.

Day Seven
Epidaurus, sanctuary to Asklepios, god of healing, with its magnificent theatre. It was much endowed by wealthy visitors who came, hoping to be healed and there was a quadrennial festival here including drama in the theatre. The sanctuary area is considerable and includes the rows of rooms in which patients slept, hoping for a dream, the interpretation of which would lead to their cure.
Drive to Corinth which owed its prosperity to the isthmus which joins the Peloponnese to the mainland. The ancient city had two harbours, one to the east and one to the west, but the narrow strip of land between was cut into the Corinth Canal in 1882. Prior to this ships were winched across it on a paved way. Continue to Athens hotel.

Day Eight
No visit through the Peloponnese is complete without a visit to the incomparable National Museum, with finds from many of the sites we have visited. We will spend a day in the city climbing to the Acropolis in the morning, to see not only the monuments on the hill but the whole layout of the city. This is where much of the root of western civilisation lies - the Golden Age of the 5th century BC was brought to an end by the Peloponnesian War, which crippled the city and was instrumental in the waning of her power. We also visit the excellent, newly opened Acropolis Museum, and, in the afternoon, the National Museum.

Day Nine
Fly home from Athens.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Flights Scheduled flights from London to Athens.
• Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
• Local Travel Private a/c coach; off-road vehicles & motor launches.
• Meals All meals included (dinners with wine & water) except lunch on Days 4, 8 & 9.
• Guide Lecturer (also local guides where these are compulsory)  Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"!  The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards.  There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that. They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you.  After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them.  If you would like to know more about Professor John Prag, please click his name.
• Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour.  They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
• Local Guide
• Fieldnotes written for the tour
• Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme (camel ride is optional extra); tips included.

Flights & Visa

Airline: Details be to advised

Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)

Note: Passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the period of your intended stay.

Hotels

Hotels
1 night in a hotel close to the site at Delphi;

1 night in a small friendly hotel near Olympia;

2 nights in a simple hotel in central Pylos;

2 nights in a rustic family-run hotel near Mycenae;

2 nights in a good hotel close to the Acropolis in Athens.

 

Map

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Comments

What Did You Enjoy Most About This Tour?

Fine weather, spectacular scenery and amazing classical sites all experienced within knowledgeable guides and in good company made this another enjoyable Andante experience.

The good fellowship of other tour members and the lecturer and guides - who were ‘unflappable'. Dr Muskett wore her knowledge and expertise lightly but communicated her enthusiasm excellently and self deprecatingly - which was charming.

Returning to Delphi and Mycenae with our lecturer, as we had been many years ago on our own. It was good to visit new sites too. I loved the ride through the mountains. The group were great fun and some very interesting people in it as usual.

I enjoyed it very much, especially the less obvious & less crowded sites such as the Argive Herion.

Clearly, the places, but as novices on cultural tours we were especially happy with the pace, and the way in which the leaders pitched their talks and explanations. It was also good that the whole trip was very well organised, so we always knew what was happening, and when. There was very little sitting around. Hurrah.

This tour really brought my years of study together. To see sites previously only pictured was wonderful and quite emotional. An additional factor was travelling through the challenging topography of Greece, which clarified for me factors such as Mycenae's dominance, Spartan isolationism and Athenian sea power. As always it was a joy to travel with a congenial group and like minded people.

I am not particularly interested in archaeology, but I came along with my husband. However, the trip was so enjoyable and Gina so enthusiastic and informative, I got carried along and found the whole experience very interesting.

Reading List

(«« = Guide lecturer's choice)

Guide books - General

Barber, R., Blue Guide to Greece (A&C Black, 6^th ed., revised reprint, 2001: later editions - not by Barber - are much sketchier).

Mee, C. & Spawforth, A., Greece (Oxford University Press, 2001) (Prehistoric and Classical only).

For Byzantine and later periods: Paul Hetherington, Byzantine and Medieval Greece (London 1991)

The Rough Guide to Greece (London 2006), though less academic, is lively and generally reliable.

Raymond V. Schoder, S.J. Ancient Greece from the Air (London 1974): out of print, but very helpful because it combines air photos of the sites with explanatory plans and notes.

A.R and Mary Burn, The Living Past of Greece (London 1980) is an interesting variant on the theme: "not another guidebook ... we describe sites where what is to be seen best illuminates Greek history, adding brief accounts of what ... happened there, with maps and plans."

Some specific sites

French, E., Mycenae:  Agamemnon's Capital (Tempus, Stroud 2002)

R.E. Wycherley, The Stones of Athens (Princeton 1978)

Jeffrey Hurwitt, The Athenian Acropolis (Cambridge 1999)

Steven Runciman, Mistra: Byzantine Capital of the Peloponnese (Thames & Hudson, 1980)

The Greek Ministry of Culture is bringing out a growing number of very good guides to individual sites and museums written by professional archaeologists (with English versions), generally available on site:  they can be identified by their dark red covers with a colour photograph on the front.

2. Maps

The best maps of Greece are the 1:250,000 series published by Road Editions (Ilia Iliou 41, Athens 117 43) with the Hellenic Army Geographical Service: obtainable from good bookshops in England.

3. General

The literature about Greece, her history, art and archaeology is enormous and growing rapidly, and everyone has his or her favourites.  The following are only intended to serve as pointers.

The Bronze Age

Chadwick J. The Mycenaean world. Cambridge University Press, 1980 (reprint)

Chadwick, J. The Decipherment of Linear B. Cambridge University Press, 1970

Dickinson, O. The Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press, 1994

Fitton, J L . The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age. British Museum Press, 1995

Higgins, R. Minoan and Mycenaean Art. Thames and Hudson 1997 (revised edn.)

McDonald, W & Thomas, C. Progress into the past: the rediscovery of Mycenaean civilisation. Indiana U. P. 1990

Taylour, W. The Mycenaeans. Thames & Hudson, 1995 (reprint)

Wood, M. In search of the Trojan War. BBC Books, 2001 (reprint)

Fitton, J L. The discovery of the Greek Bronze Age. British Museum Press, 1995

Classical Greece

Roger Ling, Classical Greece (Oxford 1988).

Brian Sparkes (ed.), Greek Civilisation: an Introduction (Oxford 1998).

W.R. Biers, The Archaeology of Greece: an Introduction (Ithaca NJ/London 1996)

P.A Cartledge, The Greeks: a Portrait of Self and Others (Oxford 1993)

Architecture, Town-planning:

R.E. Wycherley, How the Greeks Built Cities (London 1962)

R.A. Tomlinson, Greek and Roman Architecture (London 1995) or Greek Architecture (Bristol 1989)

Richard Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture (4th ed.: Harmondsworth 1986) (chapters on church architecture in Greece).

Art:
John Boardman, Greek Art (London 1964, with more recent revisions). Any book by John Boardman will be worth consulting:  he has written a very useful and comprehensive series of books on the different periods of Athenian vase-painting and Greek sculpture (including the Parthenon), all published in hardback and paperback by Thames & Hudson.  Especially interesting is his The Archaeology of Nostalgia: How the Greeks Recreated their Mythical Past. ««

There are also very good introductions by Brian A. Sparkes such as Greek Art (Oxford 1991) and Greek Pottery: an Introduction (Manchester 1991).

A good standard handbook covering the whole range of Classical Greek pottery is R.M. Cook, Greek Painted Pottery (latest edition: London 1992)

For the art and archaeology of post-prehistoric Greece see also the introductory chapters the guidebooks by in Barber and Mee & Spawforth, above.

Landscape and History:

Very difficult to give a selection; the following have been recommended:

R. Osborne, Greece in the Making 1200-479 BC (London 1996) and also his Classical Landscape with Figures (London 1987)

Jonathan M. Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World ca. 1200-479 BC (Oxford 2007)

P.J. Rhodes, A History of the Classical Greek World 478-323 BC (Oxford 2006)

Simon Hornblower, The Greek World 479-323 BC (London 1991)

James Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens (London 1998) - the title speaks for itself, but a very readable and very scholarly work.

F.W. Walbank, The Hellenistic World (London 1992)

Robert Browning, The Byzantine Empire (London 1980): not specifically about Greece, but describes this very important period in her history; similarly Averil Cameron, The Byzantines. (Oxford 2006).

Molly Mackenzie, Turkish Athens (Reading 1992): covers several neglected centuries of Athenian history, and has a good bibliography of writings by early travellers to Greece.

4. Some Ancient Texts

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey. There are many translations: those by R Fagles (Penguin 1998, 1997) are recommended, and Christopher Logue's adaptations War Music, Kings and Husbands (Faber) make interesting reading.

"The English Patient" brought Herodotus' Histories into the bestseller lists - rightly so:  there is no better person to introduce one to the ancient Greeks, or to revive old friendships.  There are many translations, of which the Penguin edition by Aubrey de Selincourt (revised 1972) and the Oxford Worlds Classic by Robin Waterfield (1998) are probably the most accessible. ««

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (e.g. transl. Rex Warner, revised by M.I. Finley: Harmondsworth 1972): where Herodotus describes everything that may be of relevance to allow the reader to make up his own mind about the cause and course of the Persian Wars, Thucydides is highly selective in his account of the war that ended with the defeat of Athens by Sparta.  Pericles' funeral speech in book II sums up the ideals of classical Greece.

Pausanias' Guide to Greece, written in the second century AD, is still used by many antiquarian travellers in the Greek countryside. The handiest translation is the Penguin by Peter Levi (Harmondsworth 1971), but the 6-volume translation and commentary by J.G. Frazer is a masterpiece of scholarship into the byways of Greek history and mythology (London 1913).

5. And finally

We all have our favourite books about Greece.  If you have not read them, try the following:

Peter Levi, The Hill of Kronos (London 1980).

For the darker side of modern Greece, Kevin Andrews, The Flight of Ikaros: Travels in Greece during a Civil War (Harmondsworth 1984).

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