Arrive in Athens on suggested flights and make your way to the hotel. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including travel insurance (a condition of travel), a private hotel transfer, and accommodation before or after the tour.

At 18:00, join your tour leader Paul Donnelly and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing followed by dinner at the hotel.

(D)

Today, explore the Agora, the ancient hub of the city where shopping, business and politics were conducted, and see the well-preserved Temple of Hephaestus and Temple of Ares. Then, discover artefacts spanning millennia, from Neolithic pottery to Roman portraits, at the Museum of the Ancient Agora in the Stoa of Attalos.

After lunch, visit the nearby Kerameikos cemetery, a significant burial ground for ancient Athens, revealing layers of history – from its origins as the potters’ quarter to Greece’s largest necropolis with tombs, monuments and exquisite Attic vases.

(BL)

Start the day wandering through Athens’s famous Acropolis, where numerous famous edifices were constructed during a golden age of public works in the 5th century BCE under the leadership of the Athenian statesman Pericles. Explore the Sanctuary of Athena, the city’s patron goddess, and the magnificent Parthenon, Erechthion, Temple of Athena Nike and the Theatre of Dionysus.

Following lunch, visit the state-of-the-art Acropolis Museum, a repository and interpreter of ancient Greek civilisation featuring a stunning art and architecture collection. Discover aspects of daily life in an ancient neighbourhood at the newly-opened Excavation Museum, featuring 1,150 artefacts from over 4,500 years of history.

Return to the hotel in the mid-afternoon. The remainder of the day is at leisure.

(BL)

After a morning talk by Paul, the rest of the morning and early-afternoon is at leisure to relax or further explore Athens at your own pace.

In the late-afternoon, travel down the coast of Attica to Cape Sounion and gaze at the stunning 5th century BCE Temple of Poseidon, perfectly situated on high cliffs surrounded on three sides by the Aegean Sea. Admire the sunset before returning to Athens.

(B)

Depart Athens and travel to the Corinth Canal. This man-made canal was completed in 1893, cutting 6.4 kilometres across the Peloponnese peninsula and stretching only 24.6 metres wide, making it extremely difficult for ship operators to navigate.

Continue to Epidaurus and visit the ancient theatre with its near-perfect acoustics and the ancient healing centre which was the most famous in the ancient world – the Sanctuary of Asclepius, the god of healing. Arrive in Nafplio in the late-afternoon.

(BD)

Today, travel to Mycenae, the centre of the Mycenaean civilisation that spread throughout the Greek world in the late Bronze Age. When Heinrich Schliemann excavated the site in 1876, he thought that the cache of golden treasure he discovered belonged to King Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. In fact, it turned out to be from a glorious period 300 years earlier.

Continue to Olympia, in the west of the Peloponnese, arriving in the late afternoon. Enjoy dinner at the hotel restaurant, with views of the Alpheus River Valley.

(BLD)

This morning, visit the site of the ancient Olympic Games. First held in 776 BCE, the Olympic Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games, attracting athletes from all over Greece. Competitors and spectators travelling to the games were protected by the sacred Olympic Truce.

Then, continue to Delphi, crossing the gulf via the elegant white 2.8 km-long cable-stayed bridge that was constructed to coincide with Greece hosting the Olympic Games in 2004.

(BD)

In the morning, visit the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi, the centre of the world according to the ancient Greeks. It was believed that Zeus released an eagle from each of the two ends of the earth and the birds met at Delphi, thereafter declared the omphalos (navel) of the world and a cultic site of Apollo. Walk the Sacred Way through the sanctuary, exploring the Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the ancient stadium, and visit the Sanctuary of Athena.

Later, transfer to Athens Airport for a late-afternoon flight to Heraklion (flight included in tour price).

(BD)

After a morning talk by Paul, embark on a walking tour of Heraklion including the Old Town and Venetian harbour, and visit the Church of Saint Catherine, established in the 10th century.

After lunch, marvel at the outstanding collection of artefacts from the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces of Crete at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Exquisite frescoes, the sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, the Knossos snake goddess and the Phaistos Disk are among the museum’s many treasures.

(BL)

This morning, visit the famous Minoan palace complex of Knossos. Inhabited from the Neolithic period until Roman times, this fascinating site was the seat of the legendary King Minos and was where Theseus slew the Minotaur.

The remainder of the day is at leisure to relax or further explore Heraklion at your own pace.

(B)

In the morning, travel to the Minoan town of Malia, where excavations have been ongoing for over a century and new discoveries continue to be made. Stroll along the paved streets of the archaeological site and see the well-preserved areas of the ancient city and the Minoan palace.

After lunch, visit the picturesque village of Kritsa, including the Byzantine church of Panagia Kera, the walls of which are adorned with 14th-century frescoes.

(BL)

Depart Heraklion in the morning and drive through the scenic countryside to the south of Crete and the ancient sacred centre of Phaistos, a Minoan royal palace complex on a dramatic hilltop site overlooking the Messara Plain. The mysterious Phaistos Disk was discovered here.

After a stop at the beautiful Matala beach, continue to the harbour city of Chania, founded in the Bronze Age by the Minoans as the city-state of Kydonia, and subsequently fought over by the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Genoese, Turks, Egyptians and, finally, the German Army in 1941.

(BL)

This morning, explore the Greco-Roman ruins of Aptera. Founded around the 7th century BCE, it became one of the most powerful city-states and commercial centres of Western Crete.

Then, stop at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Souda Bay, the final resting place of 1,527 Anzacs killed in the last 10 days of May 1941 during the Battle of Crete.

The afternoon is at leisure to relax or explore the fortified Venetian harbour and wander through Chania’s Old Town.

Tonight, enjoy a special farewell dinner with Paul and fellow travellers.

(BD)

Tour arrangements conclude after breakfast.

For those returning home today, make your way to Chania Airport for suggested flights to Australia or New Zealand. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including a private airport transfer, additional nights’ accommodation either before or after the tour and travel insurance (a condition of travel).

(B)