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Start planning now for next spring. We have an
exciting trip planned that will take us first to
Greece, then on a three-day cruise to the Greek
islands of Mykonos, Rhodes, and Patmos. We will
stop at the legendary city of Troy and travel
through Turkey to Istanbul where we will cruise
on the Bosphorus Sea before we leave for home. |
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Here’s what you can expect to enjoy on this
11-day excursion to the world of the ancient
Greeks and the home of the Ottoman Empire: |
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Day #1:
We’ll spend the first day flying across the
Atlantic to Greece. |
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Day #2:
We’ll touch down in Athens, the cradle of
Western democracy and the
birthplace of Western civilization. We will
take a walking tour of Athens, strolling past
Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus,
which was constructed in the 4th
century BC. |
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Day #3:
We’ll do more sightseeing in Athens, including
climbing the famed Acropolis to view the
Parthenon, perhaps the world’s most famous work
of architecture. We’ll visit the stadium where
the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
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Then we’ll have free time to explore other sites
in Athens, like the Agora or the Athenian
cemetery, which is a who’s who of ancient
Athens. That evening we will experience the
traditional entertainment and cuisine of
Greece. We will sample the typical Greek dishes
at a taverna in the old Plaka district of Athens
while we enjoy a belly-dancing performance and
traditional Greek dances, accompanied by the
bouzikis, the stringed instruments unique to
Greece. |
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Day #4:
This morning we will embark on a three –day
cruise, sailing the waters traveled by the
legendary Odysseus on his ten-year journey home
from the battle of Troy. Our first stop will be
Mykonos, one of Greece’s Cyclades Islands; it
was ruled by the Venetians and then the Turkish
before returning to Greek control. Here we can
walk the winding streets of the Old Town and
visit the Mando Mavrogenous Square, named for
the woman credited with saving the island from
the Muslims during Greece’s war of independence. |
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 Day #5:
Rhodes is the cruise destination on this fifth
day. According to ancient myth, Rhodes erupted
from the sea to appease Helios, the sun god,
after Zeus overlooked him while distributing the
earth among the other gods. Rhodes was a center
of Hellenistic culture and later became the
territory of the medieval knights of St. John.
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Day #6:
On this last day of our cruise, we will be off
the west coast of Turkey at the island of
Patmos. We can choose to visit St. John’s
monastery on Patmos; this is a fortress-like
retreat named after St. John the Evangelist who
came to Patmos in the first century; near the
monastery is a grotto where St. John wrote the
Book of Revelation. We will disembark from
the cruise ship at the picturesque Turkish
village of Kassadasi on the Aegean coast. In
the afternoon, we will travel to Ephesus, one of
the Mediterranean region’s best-preserved
classical cities. During the Roman Empire,
Ephesus was the greatest city in Asia Minor, and
we will see its Forum, Thermal Baths of
Scolastika, the Temple of Hadrian, and the Great
Theater. If we visit the Archaeological Museum,
we may see the nearby house where the Virgin
Mary is said to have spent her last days.
Day
#7:
We will travel north along the Aegean coast to
Pergamon, once a stronghold of an ancient Greek
dynasty and one of the world’s most magnificent
cities. Here we’ll visit the Acropolis. Then
we will travel on to Canakkale, whose shores
touch both Asia and Europe, making it a very
strategic area to control. The city is known
for its crucial role during the eight-month
Battle of Gallipoli in World War I when Turkish
soldiers defended the Dardanelles Strait and
prevented the Allied forces from entering the
country. |
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#8: Today
we will journey to the site of the ancient city
of Troy, where the legendary Achilles battled
with Hector, where the Greek armies fought for
ten years to return the beautiful Helen to her
husband Menelaus. Here the Greeks ended the
conflict with the ruse of the colossal wooden
horse. After our tour of Troy, we will have
free time on the beach.
Day
#9:
On our way from Troy to Istanbul, we will stop
in Bursa, the very first capital of the Ottoman
Empire. Here we will tour the city, which is
well known for its Ottoman art and architecture
and its bubbling Turkish baths. We will end the
day in Istanbul. |
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Day #10:
In the morning, we will have a guided tour of
the major sites of this ancient city. We will
visit the Hippodrome, which was once the public
center of the Byzantine Empire for more than a
thousand years; the breath-taking Blue Mosque,
which was built by Sultan  Ahmer
and decorated with exquisite blue Iznik tiles;
the Topkapi Palace, once the residence of the
Ottoman sultans; and, finally, the Grand Bazaar,
where we can browse and barter for all kinds of
treasures. In the afternoon we will take a
half-day cruise through the Bosphorus Straits,
the waterway that separates Europe and Asia.
Day #11:
We are on our way home with enough pictures and
memories to last a lifetime. |
If you are interested in this exciting travel
experience, you have a couple of ways to make
this trip. You can enroll in Hs373 Landmarks in
Human Experience for Spring, 2009. This course
serves as a core course in either Humanities or
Human Culture as well as a cultural diversity
course for all baccalaureate-seeking students.
If you have already completed all your necessary
core requirements, you could audit the course at
a lesser tuition rate.
To ensure a place on this trip, fill our an EF
Tours Registration form (see accompanying file)
and send it, along with $95, to Annette Hoines
at Presentation College. The earlier that you
reserve your spot for this trip, the better
prices we will be able to secure for the tour
cost. We are estimating that the fees for this
course will be between $2,900 and $3,300. This
course fee covers all travel costs – flights,
hotels, meals, tours, etc. You will need
spending money for snacks, shopping, and any
optional tours that you might want to take while
we are cruising the islands. |
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If you have questions, call Annette Hoines at
(605) 229-8437. |
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