Greece/Turkey
The Greek Isles & Istanbul: A Voyage Through History & Culture
Program No. 25369RJ
Explore ancient ruins, vibrant islands and the beauty of Istanbul on this Floating Campus voyage from Athens through the Greek Isles and Turkey’s storied coastlines.
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13 days
12 nights
30 meals
11B 10L 9D
1
In Transit to Program
In Flight
3
Istanbul, Topkapi Palace
Istanbul
7
Kusadasi, Ephesus
At Sea
13
Program Concludes
Athens
At a Glance
Embark on an exclusive Road Scholar Floating Campus voyage through history, culture and timeless landscapes. Beginning in Athens, explore the iconic Acropolis and delve into ancient Greek civilization. Then, set sail across the Aegean to Greek’s unique isles. Explore Syros’s distinctive Neoclassical architecture. Discover Delos, antiquity’s most sacred island and the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. On Chios, savor mastiha, a unique resin harvested from the mastic trees and known as the world’s first chewing gum. In Turkey, explore the ruins of ancient Ephesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where emperors once walked the streets. Your voyage concludes in Istanbul with time to immerse yourself in iconic landmarks like Topkapi. Throughout your voyage, enjoy access to onboard instructors and get to know other Road Scholars who love learning as much as you do!
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Best of all, you’ll…
- Enjoy exclusive access to experts who will be with you throughout your journey and learn from them as you take in onboard lectures and educational activities.
- Climb the iconic Acropolis with an expert guide, exploring this home to some of Ancient Athens’ most iconic monuments: the Parthenon, Erechtheon and temple Athena Nike.
- Experience Chios, an island renowned for its mastiha resin, famed for its healing properties and centuries-old traditions — it is only in certain villages that this special kind of mastic tree is cultivated.
- Delve into the history of Istanbul with two overnights, exploring its vibrant streets, iconic landmarks and the blend of cultures that shape this dynamic city.
Suggested Reading List
(14 books)
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You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
The Greek Isles & Istanbul: A Voyage Through History & Culture
Program Number: 25369
Eyewitness Guide Greek Islands
Color photography, excellent local maps and an island-by-island synopsis of attractions make this book the one to carry with you. Includes a chapter on Athens.
The World of the Ancient Greeks
Featuring hundreds of illustrations and invitingly short chapters on topics from the first Greeks to the Heroic Age and classical Athens. With modern color photographs of great Greek cities from Athens and Delphi to Knossos, Ephesus, Pergamum and Priene.
The Parthenon
A lively tale of the construction, significance and uses of the 2,500-year-old architectural marvel.
The Greeks, An Illustrated History
This accessible photographic history of ancient Greece pays special attention to Greek innovations: great literature and architecture, war tactics, democracy, the Olympics, Socrates and much more. Cline laces the gripping story of the Greek empire with archaeological discoveries.
Homer the Classic
Harvard classics scholar Nagy considers how Homer’s poetry was greeted in its own day and in the centuries immediately following the great bard.
Greece, A Traveler's Literary Companion
In this terrific anthology, 24 modern Greek writers offer a flavor of their nation, its culture and people, beautiful landscapes and rich history.
A Traveller's History of Greece
A nicely written survey from prehistory through the 1990s: wide-ranging, accessible and necessarily condensed.
Turkey: A Modern History
A revised edition looks at Turkey's modern day changes and continuations into a capitalist and modern world. Focuses on the 1950s and forward, Zürcher focuses on politics, military, human rights issues, Turkey's relationships with Europe and the West and their ambivalent relationship with the Middle East.
The Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems about the Greek hero Odysseus in his long journey back to his native land Ithaca after the fall of Troy.
Ancient Greece: Art, Architecture, and History
This informative handbook traces Greek art and architecture from the third millennium to the first century B.C.
Istanbul: The Imperial City
Whether you call it Byzantium, Constantinople, or Istanbul, the “old Turkish hand” John Freely tells the story of each creation and decline up to today’s Istanbul under the Turkish Republic. Spirited and colorful, Freely gives his readers a lively account of the turmoil each incarnation brought. In addition to “page turning history”, Freely gives a complete listing of monuments & museums in the city - he has lived there for decades. This is the one to read on Istanbul if you have a short list of books and limited time to get into its history.
Greek Mythology, A Traveler's Guide
This informative, literary traveler's guide introduces Greek mythology geographically through 22 chapters dedicated to specific destinations, from Mount Olympus and Delos to Athens and Mycenae, illustrated with beautiful color drawings.
Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey
As the Western world struggles to comprehend the paradoxes of modern Turkey, Tales from the Expat Harem reveals its most personal nuances. This illuminating anthology provides a window into the country from the perspective of thirty-two expatriates from seven different nations—artists, entrepreneurs, Peace Corps volunteers, archaeologists, missionaries, and others—who established lives in Turkey for work, love, or adventure. Through narrative essays covering the last four decades, these diverse women unveil the mystique of the “Orient,” describe religious conflict, embrace cultural discovery, and maneuver familial traditions, customs, and responsibilities. Poignant, humorous, and transcendent, the essays take readers to weddings and workplaces, down cobbled Byzantine streets, into boisterous bazaars along the Silk Road, and deep into the feminine stronghold of steamy Ottoman bathhouses. The outcome is a stunning collection of voices from women suspended between two homes as they redefine their identities and reshape their world views.
Modern Greece, What Everyone Needs to Know
A primer on Greek history from the 19th century on, with an in-depth look at the government debt crisis of 2010 and a consideration for the far-reaching implications of the country’s current economic instability.