Trip to the Ancient World

28 Days in Greece, Turkey and Venice

Well, we’ve been back from our European trip for a few days, so we’ve caught up on our sleep, unpacked, sorted everything out and taken some time to review our adventures. During the 28 days we hiked 198.75 miles (419,757 steps – an average of 7+ miles each day) – seeing marvelous sights every step of the way.

We visited 5 of the 13 Greek peripheries (e.g. provinces/states) - which included 7 different islands:

• Attica (Athens, Piraeus)
• Peloponnese (Corinth, Mycenae, Nafplion, Pylos)
• Crete (Heraklion, Agios Nikolaos, Kritsa)
• Southern Agean (Syros, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Patmos)
• Ionian Islands (Corfu)

 
We visited 9 cities in Turkey where we saw a wide variety of “Classical” Greek, Roman and Ottoman sites:

• Kusadasi
• Ephesus
• Cesme
• Kepez
• Troy
• Istanbul
• Priene
• Miletus
• Didyma

 
And we got to end our trip by spending three action packed days in Venice where we visited all sorts of fabulous sights to include:

• Grand Canal
• Teatro La Fenice
• Rialto Bridge
• Doge’s Palace
• Saint Mark’s Square
• Murano
• Burano

 
Needless to say every day was filled new wonders. To me some of the most amazing were:

• Seeing the marvels of Athens to include the Acropolis, Parthenon, Temple of Hephaestus and Lycabettus Hill
• Standing at Troy where King Priam, Hector, Paris, Helen of Troy and Achilles stood 4,000 years ago - then standing in "The Palace of Agamemnon" in Mycenae and "King Nestor's Palace" in Pylos; the palaces of two of the Greek Kings who waged the Trojan War.
• Visiting the Palace of Knossos; the center of the Minoan Civilization dating to 1,900 BC - the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably Europe's oldest city.
• Seeing the initial piece of a tablet that had “Linear B” writing on it; the writing system used by the Mycenaean civilization.
• Marveling at the ongoing excavations of the “Terrace Houses” in Ephesus.
• Standing above the Corinth Canal
• Standing where the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation, where the Apostle Paul spoke to the Corinthians, and where the Apostle Mark is interred.
• Visiting Delos - the mythological birthplace of Apollo
• Seeing the actual pottery "ballots" that were cast to ostracize Themistocles from Athens in 471 BC.
• Sitting in the Roman Amphitheaters in Ephesus and Miletus.
• Seeing the internal expanse of the Hagia Sophia and the beauty of the Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
• Standing in the Temple of Apollo in Didyma.
• Wandering through all the Venetian Forts in the Aegean Sea.
• Wondering how much gold there is in the Doge’s Palace in Venice.
• Seeing the actual Antikythera mechanism; a celestial navigation “computer” dating from 205 to 100 BC.
• Visiting the Ancient site of Akrotiri; which was covered in ash by the volcanic eruption of volcanic eruption of Santorini (Thera) in 1,600 BC.
• Roaming through the cobbled streets of the Medieval city of the Hospitilar Knights in Rhodes.
• Visiting the bedroom of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Villa Pisani.

​There was so much to see that it was almost overwhelming.......
 
Here are a few photos from our trip. As always, I'll post more photos on the “Adventures/Europe” page when I have a chance to review and edit the 4,700 photos that I took. 

Athens, Greece ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Syros - Agios Nikolaos - Patmos, Greece ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Corinth - Mycenae - Nafplion - Knossos - Heraklion, Greece ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Delos - Mykonos - Santorini - Rhodes, Greece ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Pylos - Corfu, Greece (click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Turkey ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Venice, Italy ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):