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Day 1- Wednesday

| Arrival

You will be greeted at the airport by our local
representative and transported to your hotel.
Along the way, enjoy your first taste of the sights
and sounds of this remarkable city, birthplace of
the West.

Day 2 - Thursday

| Athens

Don’t skip breakfast. Our guide today will take us
through three thousand years of history and sights
that will leave you breathless. Under the towering
Acropolis – impossible to ignore from anywhere
in the city – we travel back in time. First, you’ll
marvel at the sheer scale of the Olympieion, the
Temple of the Olympian Zeus, the largest temple
in Greece; the project started in the sixth century
BC and said to have taken 700 years to complete.
You’ll get a sense of the direct transmission of
Greek culture to Rome (and from Rome to all of
us) when we view the Arch of Hadrian, erected
to mark the boundary of the city in 132 A.D.
Inscriptions here make clear that one side is the
“city of Theseus (Athens)”, but the other is that of
Hadrian (or “Hadrianopolis”). Appropriately, as we
leave the ancient for the modern, we pass by the
Panathinaiko (Panathenaic Stadium), built on
ruins of an ancient stadium to host the first modern
Olympic Games in 1896. Café -lined Syntagma
(Constitution) Square, really the center of the city,
is our next point of orientation. To our east is the
Old Royal Palace, fittingly now the Parliament, and
the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier.

The National Library is but a few blocks to the north
and we will make a stop at the New Royal Palace
(now Presidential Mansion), sited along one of the
most beautiful streets of the city and directly across
from the National Gardens. Our tour to this point is
really a preamble for our next stop, the Acropolis.
You’ll enter the Acropolis by the same steps as did
Pericles, Hadrian and Lord Byron, past the charming
Temple of Athena Nike, through the Propylaea and
find yourself in the shadow of that most famous of
ruins, the Parthenon. In its life, it has been a temple,
a church, a mosque and a store room (sadly, for
gunpowder) yet it still stirs the soul and fires the
imagination of generation upon generation. It is,
quite simply, the soul of Greece. This afternoon
is yours to enjoy as you wish – a siesta, maybe

shopping or a visit to one of the many museums (the
new Acropolis Museum is stunning). Tonight you’ll
stay in Athens and enjoy one of the most compelling
views anywhere. (B)

Day 3 - Friday

| Cruise to Mykonos

Today we celebrate the sea. After breakfast you’ll
board the cruise for Mykonos, a dazzlingly - bright
island with a sophisticated“jet-set” atmosphere.
Stroll at your leisure through white-washed, flower-
draped alleys, visit the church of Paraportiani or
perhaps just enjoy a glass of wine on the promenade
and savor the views. Tonight we’ll sleep aboard
ship.(B, D)

Day 4 - Saturday

| Rhodes

Morning will find us in Rhodes. You’re welcome to
explore the island on your own, but for those who
wish, we have an optional excursion to the Temple
of Athena and the associated ruins found on the
rocky acropolis of ancient Lindos. Once again, we’ll
spend the night shipboard.(B, L, D)

Day 5 - Sunday

| Kusadasi • Patmos

This morning’s port of call is Kusadasi, (Turkey).
We highly recommend an optional excursion to
Ephesus – no finer example of a Greco-Roman city
exists. This afternoon we’ll set sail for Patmos, a

rugged island, pivotal in the early years of Christianity
and home to the beautiful and tranquil Monastery of
St. John. Again, we’re on board for the night. (B, L,D)

Day 6 - Monday

| Athens

Your Aegean cruise ends this morning at the Port
of Piraeus. The day is yours to spend as you
wish -- Athens won’t run out of things that inspire
exploration. We’ll spend our last night here. (B)

Day 7 - Tuesday

| Departure

After breakfast, we’ll bid farewell to the friends we’ve
made, exchange some numbers and transfer to the
airport for our flights. No doubt you’ll spend the flight
home going through countless photos and reliving
moments of this remarkable trip. (B)

Aegean Experience