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Anatolia:
Crossroads of Europe and Asia
Beginning in Ankara, this superb
tour takes us to the Hittite capital of Hattusa, the oldest
Neolithic site excavated in Anatolia at Çatal Höyük,
the fanciful rock formations and hidden rock-hewn churches
in Cappadocia, the Hellenistic cities on Turkey's southern
and western coasts and the lovely tiled mosques and mausoleums
of Ottoman Bursa. Tour highlights include the ongoing excavations
at Aphrodisias, Sardis, Ephesus, where we will see one of
the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Pergamon, famed
for its theater and library, and legendary Troy. Our adventure
ends with a three-day visit to Istanbul's magnificent mosques
and museums.
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Italy:
Byzantine to Baroque
As we travel from Assisi to
Venice, this spectacular tour will offer a unique opportunity
to trace the development of art and history out of antiquity
toward modernity in both the Eastern and Western Christian
worlds. The tour begins with four days in Assisi, including
a day trip to medieval Cortona. It then continues to Arezzo,
Padua and Ravenna, where we will see churches adorned with
some of the richest mosaics in Europe. Our tour ends with
three glorious days in Venice. Throughout we will experience
the sources of visual inspiration for a thousand years of
art while sampling the food and drink that have enhanced
the Italian world since it was the center of the Roman Republic
and Empire.
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Ancient
Rome
This
in-depth tour divides our program into historical segments.
We will be visiting the monuments of each period as a unit:
the Early Republic; Early Rome and the Etruscans; Republican
Rome; Late Republican and Augustan Rome; the Early Empire;
the High Empire; Christian Rome; and the Imperial Palaces
of the Later Empire, thus giving us a true understanding of
each era as a whole. We will spend a full day at Ostia Antica,
the port of ancient Rome, and another day at Tivoli visiting
Hadrian’s Villa, the largest villa ever built in the Roman
Empire. By looking beneath the contemporary levels of the
city—under churches, in the basements of restaurants, as well
as in subterranean archaeological sites—we will rediscover
significant parts of the ancient city that still exist on
the banks of the Tiber.
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Hidden
Treasures of Eastern Turkey
Remote and unspoiled eastern
Turkey is one of the most interesting areas of the country.
Our tour features Antakya (Antioch) with its fabulous mosaic
museum, ancient Harran, the amazing funerary sanctuary of
King Antiochus I on top of Nemrut Dag, the Armenian and
Urartian sites around Lake Van, the Armenian churches of
Ani and the Black Sea coast. This year we have added a stop
in Mardin, where we will visit the architecturally significant
old town as well as the former seat of the Syrian Orthodox
patriarchate, the monastery of Mar Hanania, built in 495
CE. We will tour the Hittite sites of Altintepe, Karatepe,
Alaca Höyük known for its Sphinx Gate and Royal Tombs and
Hattusa, capital of the Hittite empire. The tour ends with
the outstanding Archaeological museum in Ankara. A special
highlight of the tour will be our visit to Göbekli Tepe,
considered to be the oldest man-made place of worship yet
discovered.
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Treasures
of the Balkans:
Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo & Montenegro
As we wend our way from Pristina
in Kosovo through the dramatic landscapes and mountains
of central Serbia to Cetinje, this unique tour will explore
the Balkans’ rich artistic and cultural heritage as
found in the lavishly decorated churches and monasteries
including Decani, Sopocani, Pec, and Studenica. As we continue
our journey south along the spectacular Dalmatian coast
to Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and into the Istrian Peninsula,
we discover the Roman emperor Diocletian’s extraordinary
residential and urban complexes, charming medieval cities
and the fabulous Roman amphitheater at Pula. The tour ends
in vibrant Zagreb with its gorgeous old town.
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Scotland
and Its Isles
This unique tour encompasses
a series of prehistoric sacred places and monuments on the
mainland and northern islands of Scotland. Stone circles
and awe-inspiring tombs; intricately decorated Pictish stelae;
towering brochs; stone-built villages; medieval castles;
and mysterious landscapes are set amid peat-covered moors
and along swift-flowing burns. We will begin with the Early
Christian monastic settlement on Iona and continue to the
Isle of Lewis, where we will ponder the enigmatic megalithic
Stones of Callanish. We then fly to Edinburgh and travel
into the countryside to see the unusual Bronze Age burial
cairn at Cairnpapple Hill, fascinating carved Pictish menhirs
and a fairy-tale castle. Tour highlights include our five
days on the Orkney and Shetland Islands visiting fabulous
Neolithic and Viking sites such as Maes Howe and Skara Brae,
Britain’s most outstanding Stone Age settlement and
burial cairn.
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Viking Age Scandinavia -
Sweden, Denmark & Norway
This new tour places the
Viking Age in the wider context of European history, and
in Scandinavian history from the Bronze Age to today. The
tour includes visits to the national museums of Stockholm,
Copenhagen, and Oslo as well as the fabulous ship museums
of Roskilde and Oslo and the celebrated archaeological sites.
Other tour highlights are the market towns Birka and Sigtuna,
the great mounds and sanctuary at Gamla Uppsala, the UNESCO
World Heritage town of Visby, the superbly constructed camps
of the Danish warriors at Fyrkat and Trelleborg and the
hall excavated at Lejre that is the Hereot of Beowulf and
the Hleidr of Norse legend. Join us as we travel through
Scandinavia’s spectacular and varied landscape that
shaped life in the Viking Age.
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Caves & Castles
Northern Spain & France
An exploration of the outstanding
Paleolithic art found in the caves of northern Spain and
southwestern France, the tour begins in Burgos, visiting
Atapuerca, an extremely important paleontological site.
From Santillana del Mar we visit caves known as Tito Bustillo,
El Castillo, Las Monedas and Altamira II, as well as the
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, before crossing the Pyrénées
into France. Tour highlights in France include the caves
of Gargas, Bédeilhac, Le Mas d’Azil, Lascaux
II, Pech Merle and the major caves around Les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
We will also explore medieval villages, castles and fortresses
of the Dordogne Valley.
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Sicily & Southern Italy
Our
tour to Sicily and Southern Italy provides an opportunity
to see some of the best-preserved monuments ever created
by the ancient Greeks. Touring includes the Byzantine and
Norman monuments of Palermo, Phoenician Motya and the classical
sites of Segesta, Selinunte, Agrigento and Siracusa, as
well as a Roman villa unique for its 37 rooms floored with
exquisite mosaics. We will take a break in luxurious Taormina
and, on the mainland, visit the fascinating ancient cities
Paestum, Pompeii and Herculaneum, plus the incredible “Bronzes
of Riace.” The tour ends in Naples with a visit to
the Archaeological Museum where we will view an unsurpassed
collection of classical art.
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Bulgaria:
Ancient Peoples of the Danube Valley
While studying the complicated
and colorful history of the many peoples who have occupied
the lands along the Danube River, we will visit Neolithic
villages and tombs, Greek settlements and marvelously carved
and painted Thracian tombs. We will see great monuments
and cities built by the Romans, fabulous Byzantine churches
and World Heritage monasteries, as well as uniquely Ottoman
architecture. But our most amazing discoveries will be in
the museums, where the archaeological evidence of an unparalleled
artistic heritage is revealed including Vratsa’s outstanding
collection of Thracian artifacts and the famous Rogozen
Treasure hoard of silver and the oldest gold jewelry in
the world at Varna. Throughout we will be astounded by the
beauty of the countryside and charmed by our hosts.
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Cyprus
& Crete
This study tour explores the
spectacular and varied cultural treasures of Cyprus and
Crete as manifested by their fabulous sites and museums.
From Neolithic villages to the Bronze Age palatial cultures
of the Minoans, Mycenaeans and Cypriotes, then on to the
Greco-Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras, our Aegean adventure
unfolds a clear development of cultural achievements. After
a nine-day tour of Cypriote sites (south and north), we
fly to Crete for an extensive six-day exploration of Minoan
archaeology. Sunny skies, excellent beaches and delicious
Mediterranean cuisine will enhance our discovery of these
ancient civilizations.
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Magna Graecia
Basilicata, Calabria & Apulia
This new tour visits the significant
archaeological and art historical sites of the south of Italy
from remote antiquity through the Middle Ages. We become acquainted
with early Italic peoples in the form of prehistoric, troglodyte-like
settlements and tour the homeland of the Iapygian tribes with
settlements at Egnazia, tombs near Matera and at Maduria.
We experience the Greek presence at Apulia, Canosa, Herakleia,
Sybaris, and Tarentum and stand where Hannibal triumphed over
the Romans at Cannae. We will admire the art and architecture
of the churches at Trani, Otranto, and Bari which offer local
Apulian interpretations of the Romanesque style. As we explore
this little known region’s remarkable art, historical
and archaeological past, we will take advantage of its beautiful
beaches and traditional cuisines.
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Malta,
Sardinia & Corsica
We are never far from the sea
as we explore these three gorgeous islands, each unique
in its ancient monuments, physical beauty and fabulous cuisine.
The immense megalithic temples on Malta are constructed
with the island's wonderful golden stone while Sardinia's
amazing nuraghes are scattered amid lush green rolling hills.
We will journey through Corsica's wild and spectacular mountain
scenery to mysterious cult sites and enigmatic menhirs.
Along the way we will visit ancient Phoenician ports and
cities built by Romans, Greeks and Crusader knights as well
as wonderful museums and historic villages.
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