8 days from £799

SUGGESTED ITINERARY

Day 1 UK to Athens
Scheduled flight to Athens where we are met by our guide and private executive coach for the transfer to the 4* Omonia Grand Hotel for a four night stay on bed and breakfast basis.

Day 2 Acropolis & the Parthenon
This morning with our guide and coach we visit the world famous Acropolis and the temples of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. After an included lunch in Plaka, the oldest part of the city, we visit the Agora, the market place that formed the political heart of ancient Athens in 600BC and the site of Socrates’ imprisonment and execution.

Day 3 National Archaeological Museum& Keramikos Cemetry
This morning we have a guided tour of the National Archaeological Museum. Founded in 1891, the museum brought together a wonderful collection of ancient artefacts, art and sculptures that were previously stored all over the city. We then visit the ancient burial ground of Keramikos, the principal cemetery of ancient Athens where the earliest burials date back to the 12th century BC.

Day 4 Epidaurus & Mycenae
Epidaurus is our destination this morning. The birthplace of Asklepios, the god of healing, and set in the peaceful green foothills of Mount Arahneo, Epidaurus was renowned for the unique spa medical facilities and healing treatments of its sanctuary. We then travel on to the fortified city of Mycenae to wonder at the massive ruins of the cyclopaean walls and the palaces on its acropolis that were built a thousand years before the monuments of Classical Greece.

Day 5 Delphi & Psathopyrgos
We leave Athens today and travel with our guide to Delphi, revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the universe, and of the oracle of Apollo. After a guided tour taking in the Temple of Apollo, the Treasury of Athens and the Tholos at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, we continue on to the 3* Florida Blue Bay Hotel in the coastal village of Psathopyrgos outside Patras where we stay three nights on half board basis.

Day 6 Olympia
Our guided tour of the World Heritage archaeological site of Olympia explores the history and myths of the birthplace of the Olympic Games which for 2,000 years was celebrated as a sporting and religious centre. In the afternoon we have free time to relax.

Day 7 Patras
Today you can choose between a day of relaxation or our optional train trip aboard the unique Odontotos train. The narrow gauge tracks of the little train follow the Vouriakos River through 22km of streams, forests and tunnels climbing the narrow gorge up into the mountains. The end of the line is the beautiful little town of Kalavryta where we have free time. We then board our coach for a guided tour of Patras, the 2006 European Capital of Culture, taking in St Andrew’s Cathedral, the Roman Odeon and neoclassical buildings such as the Apollo Theatre, the Town Hall and the Courts of Justice.

Day 8 Corinth Canal
En route to Athens, we stop at the Corinth Canal. Built between 1881 and 1893, the canal is 6.3 km long and connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea. We then transfer to Athens airport for our return flight to the UK.

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