(Click here to view complete map of 2009 Study Tour)

"Greece is still a sacred precinct—
and my belief is it will remain so until the end of time."
                     —Henry Miller

April 18 – May 1

• Greek tour guide will lead tour
• Team leaders and Greek Study Fellows will participate in occasional evening seminars and gatherings
• EST + 7 hours = time in Greece

April 18, Saturday, Depart Boston
April 19, Sunday, Greek Easter, Arrive Athens

• Overnight flight to Munich. Dinner and breakfast onboard.
• Short layover in Munich on Sunday morning, then depart for Athens
• Arrive Athens mid-afternoon. Greek Fellows will be met by a representative of our travel agency and will travel by private motor coach to our hotel, conveniently located within minutes of Plaka, the old quarters of the city, and near the new Acropolis Museum.
• Dinner on your own.
• Overnight stay in Athens.

April 20, Monday
Athens

• Breakfast.
• Group will take a guided tour of Athens. During this tour, the motor coach will drive by Temple of the Olympian Zeus; Hadrian's Arch; the Parliament; the Presidential Palace; the Olympic Stadium where the 1896 games took place; the National Library; Schliemann’s house; and the University of Athens.
• The tour continues with a visit to the National Archaeological Museum, well known for its excellent collection of artifacts from different periods and regions of Greece.
• Dinner at local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Athens.

  Notice: In case the National Archaeological Museum is closed, we’ll visit the Acropolis and new Acropolis museum. We’ll visit the National Archaeological Museum on April 29th.

April 21, Tuesday
Delphi

• Breakfast.
• The group will drive to Delphi, stopping at Ossios Loukas, 11th century Byzantine monastery, and Arachova, a small town on the steep slopes of Mt. Parnassus.
• Dinner at local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Delphi.

April 22, Wednesday
Delphi, Litochoro

• Breakfast.
• We will tour Delphi, site of the Delphic Oracle, including visits to the Temple of Apollo, the Castalia Spring, the Treasury of the Athenians and the local museum housing the famous bronze statue of the Delphic Charioteer.
• The group will head north to the town of Litochoro in the foothills of Mt. Olympus
• Dinner at local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Litochoro. 

April 23, Thursday
Mt. Olympus, Vergina, Metsovo

• Breakfast.
• Short hike on Mt. Olympus, home of the gods.
• Tour of Vergina, the site of the royal tombs of Alexander the Great’s family, discovered in 1977.
• Continue through several villages to arrive in the evening in Metsovo, designated a traditional settlement by the Greek National Tourist Organization.
• Dinner at local restaurant
• Overnight stay in Metsovo.

April 24, Friday
Zagoria, Ioannina

• Breakfast.
• Drive northwest to the picturesque villages of Zagoria.
• Following this visit, we will drive to the historic city of Ioannina, a city on the western side of Lake Pamvotis. There will be time to explore the city in the afternoon.
• Dinner at local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Ioannina.

April 25, Saturday
Dodona, Lefkada, Ithaka

• Breakfast.
• Drive to Dodona, ancient sanctuary and oracle of Zeus (some say oldest oracle in Greece).
• Following the visit, we will drive south for an afternoon arrival in Lefkada to meet a chartered yacht to take us to Odysseus' island of Ithaka in the Ionian Sea.
• Dinner on your own.
• Overnight stay on the boat.

April 26, Sunday
Ithaka, Kefalonia

• Breakfast on the boat.
• We will visit Ithaka, the purported home of Odysseus, off the northeastern coast of Kefalonia. There may be an opportunity to swim in the Ionian Sea, perhaps to Ithaka!
• Return to Kefalonia.
• Dinner on your own.
• Overnight stay on the boat.

April 27, Monday
Olympia

• Breakfast.
• We will cruise to the port of Kilini and board the bus to go to Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games.
• After touring Olympia, which includes visits to the stadium and the museum, we will go to our hotel in Olympia.
• Dinner at local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Olympia.

April 28, Tuesday
Mycenae, Epidauros

• Breakfast.
• We will drive to Mycenae to visit Agamemnon’s palace and the Tomb of Agamemnon.
• Continue on to the ancient theater of Epidauros, well known for its excellent acoustics.
• Drive to Nafplion
• Dinner at a local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Nafplion.

April 29, Wednesday
Corinth, Athens

• Breakfast.
• We will head for Corinth. There will be a stop at the Corinthian Canal and then we will continue on to Athens.
• Once in Athens, the group will take a walking tour of the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum.
• Dinner on your own.
• Overnight stay in Athens.

April 30, Thursday
Athens

• Breakfast.
• Day of leisure to complete your visits to such museums as the Benaki, the Byzantine, the Cycladic and the National Gallery of Art; to wander through the ancient cemetery of Keramikos on the edge of Plaka or visit Monastiraki, the flea market adjacent to Plaka; to stroll through the National Gardens, next to the Parliament Building, and visit Lycabettus Hill.
• Farewell dinner at local restaurant.
• Overnight stay in Athens.

May 1, Friday
Depart Athens and arrive in Boston

• Breakfast.
• Transfer from hotel to airport.
• Depart early afternoon for Munich
• Short layover in Munich, then depart for Boston
• Arrive Boston early evening.

Useful Words and Phrases

• YIA-sou — Hello, goodbye (general greeting)
• Ef-ha-ri-STO — Thank you
• Ka-li-MER-a — Good morning
• Pa-ra-ka-LO — Please
• Ne-RO, pa-ra-ka-LO — Water, please
• En-DA-xi — Everything’s okay
• Ti KA-nis? — How are you?
• Ka-LA, ef-ha-ri-STO, — Fine, thank you
• Kai-e-SIS? — And you?

Share a Poem

Plan to share a poem or prose passage on the trip. We will have ample time — several days on the bus, occasional evening gatherings over wine — to bring to the attention of others a poem or prose passage that speaks to Greece and Greek aspirations and ideals. In 5 minutes or so, introduce the poem and the poet, read the poem aloud, and briefly comment on why you chose it, and what it means. You might choose a passage from something we’ve read in class, the Iliad or the Odyssey, for example, or one of the ancient plays, or from Herodotus or Thucydides. You might read from Hesiod’s Theogony or Works and Days, or from the lyric poets Pindar and Sappho. Or you might select a poem from Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Byron; or from the modern Greek poets C.P. Cavafy, George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis, Yiannis Ritsos; or from poets who have drawn from classical themes such as Seamus Heaney, Irish Nobel Prize winner, or Rita Dove, former American poet laureate. Please bring copies of poems for others.

Recommended Reading
(see also Examined Life course list of required reading)

Modern Greek Poets

• C.P. Cavafy Collected Poems. Revised Edition (1992). Edited by George Savidis. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992. pb
• Oysseus Elytis The Sovereign Sun Selected Poems. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Kimon Friar. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974. pb
• Yiannis Ritsos Selected Poems. Translated by Nikos Strangos with an Introduction by Peter Bien. Athens: Efstathiadis Group pb 1988.
• George Seferis Collected Poems. Revised Edition. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Phillip Sherrard. NJ: Princeton 1995. Pb

Writers on Greece

• Laurence Durrell’s Prospero’s Cell (Faber) /Corfu
• Louis DeBernieres’s Corelli’s Mandolin /Cephalonia
• Henry Miller’s The Colossus of Maroussi (New Directions)
• Patricia Storace’s Dinner with Persephone /Athens
• Austen Kark’s Attic in Greece /Nauplion
  

2009 Study Tour

2008 Study Tour