Tracing Athens Through The Ages

DAY 2 / ATHENS RIVIERA

Tutor: Moschos (Dr)

We start our day with a short drive to the church of St. George at the ancient port of Faliron, where St. Paul first set foot in Athens.

Our next stop will be at the floating Museum of Neraida, which offers a glimpse of the life of Greek shipping tycoons and their dominance of the world shipping industry in the 20th century. You will be also guided through the century long history of this beautiful passenger boat and the transformation it underwent to become a seaworthy floating museum.

Lunch will be served at a picturesque fish tavern by the sea where you will try traditional Greek delicacies.

Our next stop will be one of the city’s most celebrated modern buildings, the Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. Designed by the world renowned architect Lorenzo Piano, it houses the new National Library of Greece and the new Greek National Opera. It is the first cultural project of such scale to earn the LEED Platinum Certification in Europe. You are guaranteed to take amazing pictures of the Saronic Gulf and the city of Athens from both its rooftop and stunning gardens.

However, this is not the only rooftop that shall sweep you off your feet today. Next stop is the world-famous Acropolis Museum, built to honor the spirit and former grandeur of the Parthenon. You shall spend the evening being guided by our expert Professor through its halls and exhibits, and you may perhaps then share the PanHellenic aspiration to repatriate the Parthenon marbles currently on display at the British Museum. The Museum’s terrace is the perfect venue for our dinner tonight as we promise you that the night view of the Parthenon will be imprinted on you for the rest of your life!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 3 / THE SACRED ROCK OF THE ACROPOLIS

Tutor: Stoufi (Dr)

Seeking refuge from assailants or perhaps for Goddess Athena’s favor in your quest? Whatever the purpose of your visit, you will definitely fall in love with the view from Europe’s prime landmark and UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, the Acropolis.

We will spend the morning touring Acropolis’ sacred rock in the expert company of our NKUA Professor and immersing ourselves in the site’s changing architecture through the ages with the help of Augmented Reality (AR). Goddess Athenas’ statue in the Parthenon may be missing nowadays, but you shall still be able to see it in its grandeur through AR on the iPads we will provide you with.

A short walk will take us to the western hills where the Assembly of the city of Athens met and exercised their democratic rights. You shall have the privilege to stand at the exact spot where Pericles addressed his fellow Athenians and St. Paul preached Jesus’ word.

Lunch will be taken at a traditional Greek taverna in Plaka before we all head off to explore the byzantine churches on the slopes of the sacred rock of the Acropolis.
Through our evening walk you shall have the opportunity to purchase whatever memorabilia suit your taste, from ancient Greek masks to olive branches, and blue-eyed jewelry to little tsoliades!

Our dinner shall just as majestic as the rest of our day - mouthwatering journey of Mediterranean cuisine!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 4 / BYZANTINE ATHENS I

Tutor: Stoufi (Dr)

We shall start our day by visiting Moni Petraki, an 11th century monastery in the heart of Athens that developed to become one of the city’s greatest benefactors through the course of centuries. Our next stop will be the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens where we will be also having lunch before we head off for a beautiful walk through the National Gardens, Zappeion Megaron and the Panathenaic Stadium, all of which were major venues of the first modern Olympic Games of 1896. Be prepared to be amazed by their architecture and history before we proceed to visit some of the major byzantine landmarks of the area, such as the Basilica of St. Leonidis and the churches of St. Marina and St. Filothei.

Our last stop for the day shall be at Lalaounis Jewelry Museum, which exhibits the development of Greek jewelry design and manufacturing techniques through the millennia. You may not be able to buy any of the exhibits, but you will have your chance to discuss your favorite pieces over a three-course dinner in a beautiful Greek restaurant!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 5 / BYZANTINE MONASTARIES I

Tutor: Michalaga (Dr)

We start our day by exploring Moni Dafniou, a Byzantine Monastery at the Athenian suburbs and an UNESCO World Heritage Site! First erected in the 6th century AD on the Athenian Sacred Road to ancient Eleusis, it is world famous for its exquisite 11th century mosaics, perhaps the best surviving examples of Byzantine mosaic craftmanship.

We shall then proceed to St. Ierotheos Monastery, dedicated to the first bishop of Athens. Its current abbot and his monks will welcome you to their handmade treats and the monastery’s story of how Virgin Mary saved its monks from the pirates back in the 15th century. However, this is not the only fascinating story you will hear today – Gorgoepikoos Monastery, your next stop, has another great story to offer concerning Virgin Mary’s icon and how it ended up there.

You shall be treated to lunch in the company of the monastery’s nuns, who will have prepared it in true monastic tradition just for you! Our last stop of the day will take you to another picturesque byzantine monastery – Ossios Meletios, hidden in the woods up on a mountain slope.

Tonight's dinner will take you through a culinary journey of Greece!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 6 / BYZANTINE MONASTARIES II

Tutor: Panagiotopoulos (Dr)

Few places in the world are more energetically charged than the little byzantine Monastery of Kesariani, built on the ruins of an ancient Greek temple overlooking the city of Athens.

We will start our day with a short hike on the same trail up the hill as the endless worshippers of Rea, Cybele, Demeter and our Lord Jesus have taken through the ages!
Next, we will visit Moni Asteriou, a byzantine monastery waiting to treat you to the secrets of fasting and monastic cuisine. You will participate in a delightful outdoors cooking class during which you will be asked to follow the monks’ lead in preparing a monastic meal! Today’s lunch we be also prepared and served according to the monastic traditions.

Last stop of the day will be St. John’s Monastery, right on the city border. Dinner will be enjoyed in a beautiful Greek taverna favored by locals for its tasty mezzes.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 7 / ROYAL ATHENS

Tutor: Panagiotopoulos (Dr)

Her love for gardening and her exquisite taste in wine, helped decorate the city of Athens with not just one, but two amazing gardens!

Today we take a short drive to Queen Amalia’s Summer Palace at Tatoi, instructed to be erected no more than an hour of riding her horse from the official palace in the city center of Athens – now the House of Parliament of the Hellenic Republic.

Home to a breathtaking olive grove sheltering the remaining few indigenous Athenian olive trees, and to a fully restored state-of-the-art winery, it is the perfect venue for a proper Greek feast with wine tasting, traditional Greek dancing and plenty of food!

You shall be guided around the premises, go horse-riding, walk shoeless on one of the three rarest wooden floors surviving the world today and be inspired by the history of this hidden gem that is interweaved with the nation’s struggle for independence.

Dinner will be served upon your return to Athens, should you still have an appetite after all the preceding dancing and feasting!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 8 / AEGINA

Tutor: Michalaga (Dr)

Our day may be starting with a short bus ride to the port of Piraeus, but you are in for a treat! We shall board the ferry to Aegina island, the gem of the Saronic Gulf just an hour away from the city of Athens.

Aegina is known for a number of reasons, but on this daytrip we shall focus on its Christian landmarks. We will start our tour of the island at Paleochora, known for its 565 churches of which just 28 have survived the ravages of time. We will then proceed to St. Nectarios Monastery that is dedicated to a Saint beloved by locals and all Christian Orthodox believers alike for his numerous miracles. Pilgrims pray to his holiness and place their ear over his grave in hope to listen to his beating heart, a sign of true faith.

We will have lunch at a fish tavern by the beach, before we proceed to pay our respects to Chrisoleontissis Monastery, the church of St. Theodores and the metropolitan church of the island.

Prior our departure to Piraeus, we will stroll around the modern town of Aegina where we shall be given the chance to taste local desserts and the island’s famous pistachio nuts prepared in every form imaginable!

Dinner shall be enjoyed in Athens upon our return to the city center.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 9 / BYZANTINE ATHENS II

Tutor: Moschos (Dr)

We start our day with a visit to the Museum of the City of Athens where we shall be guided through its numerous collections of artifacts, books and musical texts, utensils, paintings and fabrics, just to name a few, covering millennia of Athenian history.

We will then proceed on foot for the rest of the morning to explore the exceptional byzantine churches in the historic center of Athens and our let NKUA professors illuminate the secrets of their architecture and crucially their iconography. We shall visit five churches overall before we stop for lunch in one of Athens’ coziest neighborhoods, Psyri, where modern Athenians gather for traditional mezzes and folk music in its picturesque tavernas scattered on paved pedestrian streets and squares.

Our walk in the center of Athens will continue in the afternoon as we follow the steps of St. Philothei, a 16th century nun loved for her humanitarian and patriotic work. We will visit six churches in total, including the recently restored Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens and NKUA’s very own church of Kapnikarea in the heart of Athens’ busiest shopping street. In-between our stops, we will also pass by the Roman market and visit the famous Benizelos Mansion, a rare treat for the eyes and living proof of the city’s long and diverse history.

Our farewell dinner is a surprise - the best way to end a most unforgettable Greek experience!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

---

DAY 10 / DEPARTURE

All good things must come to an end. After 9 days of cultural and perhaps personal exploration, it is time to part our ways until the next time we meet again!

One thing is certain - your heart and mind will have been filled with new knowledge, stories, images, thoughts, sounds and flavors, and the abundant Greek kallos!

 

 Breakfast