ENTERING THE LABYRINTH: TENTATIVE ITINERARY
NORTH ISLAND COLLEGE: EXPANDED STUDENT ITINERARY
May 25-June 23, 2011
DATE | ACTIVITIES |
| May 25 (Wednesday) | Leave Comox at 4:00 pm on Pacific Coastal Airline. Please be at the airport by 2:30 pm. We will leave Vancouver on British Airways 84 at 8:40 pm |
| May 26 (Thursday) | Travel Day We arrive in London at 1:40 pm We leave London on British Airways 634 at 9:00 pm |
| May 27 (Friday) | Arrive in Athens at 2:35 am Free Day in Vravrona |
| May 28 (Saturday) | Transfer by Bus and Ferry to Skyros Island
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| Expanded Comments: | Having had a day to recover from our flight, we will set out for Skyros Island via the port town of Kymi on Evia. We will visit a number of sites on the way to the ferry, including the Battlefield at Marathon and the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. |
| May 29 (Sunday) | Free Day in Skyros |
| Expanded Comments: | Skyros is famouth both as the last home of Theseus and as the hiding-place for Achilles on the eve of the Trojan War. Skyros town sits on the side of a bluff the rises sharply from the sea, and our hotel is located at the base of this rock. According to myth, King Lykomedes pushed Theseus to his death from its summit. The Kastro – a Venetian fortress – is on the acropolis today, where once stood the ancient fortifications said to have housed Achilles. It is reached through a tunnel underneath the monastery Agio Georgia. In 476 BCE, the Athenian statesman Cimon unburied the giant “bones of Theseus” and brought them back to Attica at a time when the cult of Theseus as the patron hero of Athens was being further solidified. The British poet Rupert Brooke died off Skyros on his way to fight in Gallipoli during World War I. The controversial 1930 memorial statue of a naked man stands at the northern edge of the town. The Archaeological Museum is just below the Brooke statue (Tues. – Sun., 8:30 am – pm, 2 Euros). Nearby is the impressive private Faltaits Museum (Daily 10 am – Noon and 5:30 - 8 pm, 2 Euros), devoted to the folklore and mythology of the island. Palmari, northwest of Hora, was the site of an early Bronze Age settlement. Rupert Brooke’s Grave is in a grove inland from Tris Boukes Bay in the south of the island. |
| May 30 (Monday) | Transfer By Ferry and Bus to Meteora |
| Expanded Comments: | We will stop at the monument to Leonidas at Thermopylae on our way to Meteora. |
| May 31 (Tuesday) | Visit to Monasteries of Meteora in Morning with Guide Transfer by Bus from Meteora to Delphi |
| June 1 (Wednesday) | Day Tour of Delphi with Guide
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| June 2 (Thursday) | Free Day in Delphi Possible Optional activity: Unguided hike up Mt. Parnassus to Corycian Cave. This is a very strenuous but interesting hike. |
| June 3 (Friday) | Transfer by bus from Delphi to Nafplion |
| Expanded Comments: | Nafplion, the one-time capital of Greece, is regarded by many as the nation's most pleasant town. It should serve both as a nice resting spot and as a convenient gateway for exploring the nearby archaeological sites of the Argolid. |
| June 4 (Saturday) | Argolid Day Tour
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| Expanded Comments: | Nafplion itself can probably best be enjoyed by self-directed walking rather than by organized tour. The Palmidi Fortress dominates the sky-line (3 Euros; M-F 8 am - 7 pm and Sat-Sun 8 am – 3 pm). It can be reached either by taxi or by ascending the some 800 steps to its entrance. The well-regarded Nafplion Archaeological Museum (2 Euros; Tues.-Sun, 8:30 am – 1 pm) is located on Plateia Syntagma in the old Venetian arsenal. The Castel da Mar rests some 400 meters offshore in Nafplio’s harbour. Small boats ferry tourists back and forth. |
| June 5 (Sunday) | Tour Troezen in morning |
| Expanded Comments: | Troezen, Theseus’ reputed birth-place is sixty kilometers east of Nafplion. Euripides chose it as the setting for his tragedy Hippolytus, which includes as its main characters the virgin son of Theseus and Phaedra (the wife of Theseus, sister of Ariadne and step-mother to Hippolytus). Troezen is a site of not only mythological but also historical importance, being a place to which Athenians escaped during the Persian invasion of 480 BCE. We will look for the rock under which Theseus found the sword and pair of sandals, as well as explore the ruins of old Troezen. |
| June 6 (Monday) | Transfer by Bus and Ferry to Tinos Island |
| Expanded Comments: | Tinos remains a distinctly Greek island and is the nation’s most important modern pilgrimage site. It’s also next door to both Mykonos and Delos and is very well-integrated into the Cycladic ferry scheme. |
| June 7 (Tuesday) | Free Day on Tinos |
| Expanded Comments: | The Church of Panagia Evangelistria in the centre of Hora is probably modern Greece’s most important modern pilgrimage site. According to tradition, a local nun named Pelagia received visions from the Virgin Mary in 1822 just as the Greek War of Independence began instructing her as to the location of a buried icon. Acting on the vision, she helped to uncover a millennium-old Byzantine icon, the Megalochari (“the Great Joy”), a talisman that is credited by many with great healing powers. The icon is housed today inside the church, buried beneath a mass of votive offerings of gold, silver and other precious metal. Almost any day one can witness pilgrims, particularly older women, crawling on their knees from the port to the church. Tinos is characterized as one of the best islands in the Cyclades for walking. A number of the recommended walks centre around the Exobourgo mountain, a large hill 10 kilometres from Tinos. Crowned by the remains of a Venetian castle, it is circled by a number of stone villages with winding streets. We may investigate group transportation possibilities here. Sister Pelagia’s embalmed head is at Kechrovouniou, one of the largest convents in Greece. The chest in which it is held can be viewed. The island’s small Archaeological Museum (Tues. – Sun: 8:30 am – 3 pm, 2 Euros) includes a sundial from the nearby Sanctuary of Poseidon and Amphitrite. |
| June 8 (Wednesday) | Day Tour to Delos and Mykonos |
| Expanded Comments: | We will organize a day trip by ferry first to near-by Mykonos and then to Delos, the ancient sacred isle of the Cyclades. The cost of this excursion is not included in your tour package (estimated cost 30-40 Euros). |
| June 9 (Thursday) | Transfer by Ferry to Naxos Island |
| Expanded Comments: | Naxos is the largest and most fertile of the Cycladic islands. It is also Ariadne’s Isle, the place where, according to myth, the Cretan princess was abandoned by Theseus before being rescued by Dionysus. It signature landmark is the marble Portara gateway on the unfinished sixth-century Temple of Apollo, located on the very islet where Theseus is said to have left Ariadne |
| June 10 (Friday) | Day Tour of Naxos with Guide |
| Expanded Comments: | We will have a guided tour of the island which will include time for an extended lunch and exploration of one of Naxos’s in-land villages. |
| June 11 (Saturday) | Free Day in Naxos |
| Expanded Comments: | We will be staying very close to the ocean but just a few kilometers out of Naxos Town. Most of you will probably want to spend part of the day exploring the town. The Archaeological Museum (8:30 am – 3 pm, Tues. – Sun.; 3 Euros) is in the Kastro. Within the Mitropolis Museum (8:30 am – 3 pm; Free) are below-ground fragments of the Mycenaean city of the 13th-to-11th centuries BCE. |
| June 12 (Sunday) | Transfer by Ferry via Santorini to Heraklion and then bus to Piskopiano |
| June 13 (Monday) | Heraklion Area Day Tour
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| Expanded Comments: | The Palace of Knossos was the largest centre of Minoan Civilization and the mythic home of the Labyrinth and Minotaur. Heraklion’s Archaeological Museum contains the world’s finest collection of Minoan artifacts, including the famed Snake Goddess. We may stop at Phourni, which has a necropolis that combines Minoan graves with Mycenaean-era tholos tombs (8:30 am – 2:30 pm, Tues. – Sun.; Free). It is the most extensive Minoan cemetery on Crete. |
| June 14 (Tuesday) | Eastern Crete Day Tour
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| Expanded Comments: | The Byzantine church of Panayia Kera (daily 8:30 am – 5:530 pm; 3 Euros) is located 1 kilometer outside of Kritsa. Its frescoes depicting the life of Anne and the early life of the Virgin Mary are the most famous in Crete. The Palace of Zakros, located on the far southeastern shore of Crete, was the smallest of Crete’s four major palatial complexes. It is a remote site that remains quite undisturbed by tourist development. It is reached via a 8-kilometer walk from Upper Zakros, itself the site of a Minoan settlement, through the Gorge of the Dead. The Gorge of the Dead is named after the Minoan funereal caves lining the enclosed valley. |
| June 15 (Wednesday) | Free Day in Piskopiano |
| June 16 (Thursday) | Possible Excursion to Matala |
| Expanded Comments: | The central plane tree of Gortyn was reputed to be the spot where Zeus raped Europa after transporting her in his bull form from the Phoenician shore. Gortyn became the most important city in Crete after the Dorian invasion. It later became the Roman capital of their province of Cyrenaica, despite the fact that it had once provided refuge to Hannibal. Today Gortyn is best remembered for its printed law code of the fifth century BCE that remains carved into a wall in the Odeion. The Palace of Phaestos is commonly identified as the second-most important archaeological site on Crete. The beach at Matala is said to be the spot where Europa came ashore after riding across the oceans on Zeus. I am intrigued by the coastal town of Agia Galini. Locals claim that this is where Icarus and Daedalus launched themselves when making their escape from Crete. There is not only a modern statue of the pair in the town, but a shallow fenced-off ancient “Cave of Daedalus” and two ancient columns as well. |
| June 17 (Friday) | Transfer by Bus from Piskopiano to Chania |
| Expanded Comments: | At the moment, stops at Rethymnon Castle and Melidoni Cave are listed on our itinerary for this drive. The Melidoni Cave was the mythic home of the bronze giant Talos, the gift of Zeus to Europa and the guardian of the island who was killed by Medea. It was also the site of a massacre during the Greek War of Independence in the early nineteenth century. |
| June 18 (Saturday) | Free Day in Hania |
| Expanded Comments: | One nice Hania walk follows the sea wall out to the Venetian lighthouse at the entrance to the harbour. The Archaeological Museum (Euros 5; 8:30 am – 3 pm -- T-Sun) is located in the 16th century Church of San Francisco and is described in guidebooks as having a superb collection. Samaria Gorge is approximately 46 kilometers from Hania. The longest ravine in Europe, the gorge was made a national park in 1962. The path drops 1,000 metres in its first two kilometers. At the famed Iron Gates, the width of the canyon narrows to three meters. At 18 kilometers long, this is a strenuous day-long hike. The popularity of the site complicates the transportation issues. The end point of the hike is the sea-side village of Ayia Roumeli. Boats take hikers from here to the small port of Hora Skafion, from which it’s a two-hour bus ride back to Hania. Most guidebooks heavily recommend reserving buses as part of a package deal rather than relying upon public transit. The Katholiko Monastery (Monastery of Saint John the Hermit) and the Cave of Arkoudospilios are down the paved footpath behind the Gouverneto Monastery and down into the Avlaki Gorge. This is 19 kilometers to the west of Hania. |
| June 19 (Sunday) | Free Day in Hania Transfer by Bus and Overnight Ferry to Piraeus |
| June 20 (Monday) | Morning Visit to Sounion Transfer to Athens Free Day in Athens |
| Expanded Comments: | The Temple of Poseidon is located at Sounion. In myth, it is often identified as the spot where Aegeus jumped into the sea upon the return of Theseus from Crete. The Foundation for the Hellenic World offers a virtual reality trip to the days of Ancient Greece (http://www.fhw.gr/ ; M,T, TH, F: 9 am – 4 pm, W: 9 am – 8 pm, Sun.: 1a am – 3 pm; Phone 210 483 5300; Pireos 254, Tavros; about 2 kilometers from downtown; free). The centerpiece of the show is the Kivotas time machine, which offers a 3D show on giant screens that transport the visitor back to the ancient Agora. We may organize an optional expedition here. |
| June 21 (Tuesday) | Athens Day Tour with Guide
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| June 22 (Wednesday) | Morning Tour of National Archaeological Museum Free Afternoon and Evening |
| June 23 (Thursday) | Depart Athens at 2:05 pm on British Airways 639 Depart London at 5:15 pm on British Airways on British Airways 85 Arrive in Comox at 9:05 pm on Pacific Coastal Airlines |
