It is true that some tourists feel they are not getting their money's worth if every minute of their tour isn't packed with as many tourist attractions as possible. This type of traveler should probably look elsewhere for a tour of Greece. Several days on the mainland might do it.
Our philosophy includes a belief that
travelers should have opportunities to personalize their experience
by having time and freedom to explore Greek culture on their
own. Still, we understand that visiting a foreign country can
be intimidating, so we take measures to minimize the intimidation
factor. At
the beginning of the tour in Athens, most ac Travelers may opt to strike out on their own or to join the tour leaders for meals and other activities. We want our folks to feel as though they helped shape their own Greek experience. We hope that by the end of the journey everyone in our group will be a confident traveler who feels at home in a foreign culture. Know your place We employ several strategies to help our traveling companions avoid the heartbreak of becoming lost in time. Our travelers will be provided with a handy graphical timeline developed specifically for this tour that places major sites and important artifacts in their proper locations along the historical continuum. When visiting a new site, travelers can refer to this timeline and quickly identify its period of history and its relationship to other sites on the tour. In addition, the tour itinerary is designed
to follow an understandable progression through time. We begin
with the Greek classical age in the 5th century BC in Athens
and travel back in time to Homer's age of myth and heroes before
arriving at the first Greek civilization on the island of Crete,
also the first civilization of Europe. On occasion we will be
obliged to move about in time, as when visiting the National
Archeological Museum in Athens, but the general trajectory of
the tour will take Meanwhile, the tour will follow an understandable pattern of movement through space. That is, the journey begins in busier places primarily on the Greek mainland and progresses in a southeasterly direction to less-visited and more pristine areas on islands of the southern Aegean Sea and on Crete. -Mike Maxwell |
Our
philosophy is different. If a traveler makes only one trip to
Greece in a lifetime, that trip would, of course, be incomplete
without a visit to the Parthenon in Athens. But we believe the
trip would be equally incomplete without a simple Greek salad
made with freshly picked tomatoes, olives plucked from trees
growing in a nearby grove, and topped with creamy Feta cheese
from goats whose bells are softly tinkling on the hillside. All
the better if you can eat this salad under the veranda of a seaside
taverna watching a few small boats cast their nets for the evening
dinner. This too is essential Greece, but you won't find it on
a standard package tour that stops only at the big tourist spots
and requires you to eat the same meal at the same time as fifty
other people.
tivities and
meals are planned for the entire group. Later, as we move into
smaller communities and become more familiar with Greek customs,
our travelers will have increased opportunities to choose for
themselves.
Too
often travelers become confused by the constant shifting back
and forth across historical time periods as they visit various
tour sites. Unfortunately, travelers may be left with a mental
mishmash of disconnected facts and impressions, rather than a
useful understanding of how places and events relate to one another
and how they fit within the bigger picture of Greek and world
history.
us
ever deeper into the roots of ancient Greek culture.