This two week journey will introduce you to the birthplace of Western Civilization as you visit Greece’s great archeological sites, meet craftsmen, and experience the beauty of the mountains, sea, and Greek culture.
This two week journey will introduce you to the birthplace of Western Civilization as you visit Greece’s great archeological sites, meet craftsmen, and experience the beauty of the mountains, sea, and Greek culture.
Bronze Age Arts, Artisans, and the Development of Western Civilization
Beginning in Athens, your study abroad journey will balance an overview of the historical highlights of Greece while providing the context for the development of the arts. Together with your professors and local guide you will visit the Parthenon, Agora, Delphi, Olympia, Mycenae, and the ancient theater of Epidaurus. When not visiting historic sites you’ll meet with sculptors, stone masons, wood workers, traditional gunsmiths, and participate in the ancient art of ceramics.
When not strolling among the ruins of ancient temples, you’ll have time to draw, meet with local artisans, learn about the traditions of honey harvesting and olive oil, and have time to walk through town or immerse yourself in the beauty of Greece by swimming in the sea. This trip will provide a foundational experience of the humanities by drawing connections between the building arts, Greek mythology, architecture, nature, commerce, and the freedom of expression provided by democracy.
Your study abroad program will begin with an orientation meeting and lunch where you will meet your Alithea guide for an introduction to Athens and traveling in Greece.
After checking into your hotel, your first stop will be a walking orientation through the historic center of Athens followed by a visit to the Acropolis and Parthenon where your guide will introduce you to the Athens relationship between art and architecture, politics, mythology, and the conditions of human flourishing.
This evening you’ll celebrate at the foot of the Acropolis with a traditional Greek dinner.
After breakfast in your hotel, your study abroad will continue with a focus on Athenian architecture and art as you visit to the Acropolis Museum where you’ll have time to study the original relief sculptures of the Parthenon.
Mid-morning your study abroad will continue with a visit to the Agora, the birthplace of democracy and the temple of Hephaestus the Greek god of craftsmen. You’ll be free this afternoon to use your combination ticket to visit the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian’s Library, the Roman Forum, and the site of Aristotle's University.
This morning you will visit the National Archeological Museum of Greece where your guide will focus on the development of perspective from the Bronze age and early cycladic art until the Roman statuary of the first and second century A.D. The greatest single collection of art in Greece, this museum illustrates the expression of human freedom and perspective through the history of Greece.
At the conclusion of this morning’s tour, you will be given time to draw or study your favorite piece of Greek art. This afternoon you’ll be free to explore Athens on your own.
After breakfast in the hotel, you’ll depart Athens early towards the ancient sanctuary of Delphi. Perhaps the most beautiful of all Greek archeological sites, this ancient center of knowing was dedicated to Apollo, the god of knowledge and the protector of the arts. It sits just below Mount Parnassus, the birthplace of the muses, was considered the center of the world, and was the site of the Delphic oracle and the imperative, know thyself.
Your study abroad will introduce you to the interplay between mythology, natural beauty, architecture, and aesthetics. After visiting the archaeological site you’ll visit the museum where you'll see the great marble statues of the sanctuary along with the bronze charioteer.
Following your visit to the ancient sanctuary, you’ll head over to the new town of Delphi for lunch overlooking the panorama of the valley below.
After lunch, you’ll continue towards Patra, checking into your hotel in the early evening, followed by a brief orientation and a free evening.
After breakfast in your hotel, your study abroad will continue with an architectural tour through the old city of Patra.
The rest of your day will focus on the interplay between nature, culture, and the traditions of Greece as you visit a honey cultivator, an olive oil press, and learn the recipes of Greeks while cooking in a local home.
This morning your study abroad journey will depart from Patra for a visit to a traditional gun maker in nearby Messolonghi where you’ll learn how the guns were made that were used in the Greek war of independence.
Following lunch, you will continue to the nearby island of Cefalonia. This evening after checking into our seaside hotel we’ll celebrate with a seaside dinner.
Today is a free day with no scheduled activities. Swim in the nearby sea or take time to draw the landscapes that inspired the epic journeys of Homeric Greece.
This morning your study abroad will return to the mainland of Greece for a visit to the ancient sanctuary of Olympia. Dedicated to the Olympia Zeus, his gold and ivory statue was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was here that the Olympian games were held, once every four years, for almost twelve hundred years.
Your visit to the sanctuary will conclude with a tour of the archeological museum where you’ll be given time to study the temple relief’s, votive offerings, ceramics, and the bronze weaponry of the ancients.
After lunch your day will continue with a visit to the workshop of a sculptor before continuing your journey to the mountain town of Dimitsana where you’ll have dinner together after checking into your hotel.
Dimitsana is located in the mountains in central Greece and is famous for its unspoiled beauty. Today’s study abroad activities will be spent visiting the workshops of a local stone mason and a local black smith. In each of these visits, students will have an opportunity to observe the master craftsmen working their crafts.
The later part of the afternoon will be unscheduled with an opportunity to visit the gunpowder museum.
Pack your hiking shoes because this morning your study abroad activities will begin with a visit to the frescoed church of New Philosophy monastery followed by a hike across the Lousios gorge to the cliffside monastery of Prodromos with its seven hundred year old frescoes.
Weather depending, you’ll conclude your hike through the Lousios gorge at ancient Gortys, an Aesclypian center of healing, where you’ll have an opportunity to take a dip in the frigid waters of the river, followed by a picnic lunch.
After breakfast this morning your study abroad will depart from Arcadia for Mycenae, the fifteenth century B.C. fortress and former palace of king Agamemnon, of Homer’s Iliad. Here you’ll see the oldest bronze age large relief sculpture in the massive Lion’s gate. These stone walls, now three and a half-thousand years old, were believed to have been built by the cyclops for their enormous size.
In addition to the fortress, you’ll see the tomb of Agamemnon, another architectural marvel of its time with its honeycomb design.
After freetime to explore the museum or draw the bronze age stone work, you’ll depart the archeological site, stopping for lunch before checking into your hotel in Nafplio. This evening you’ll be free to explore town on your own.
After breakfast in your hotel, your journey through the ancient archeological and architectural sites of Greece will continue with a guided tour of Epidaurus. This site was the center of healing for the ancient world and dedicated to the god Aesclepius.
After a visit to the sanctuary and museum, your tour will conclude in the ancient theater whose acoustic is so spectacular that even today it’s possible to hear a coin drop from every seat.
Early afternoon, you’ll return to Nafplio for an afternoon of sketching from the castle of Palamidi or the nearby sea.
After a free morning in Nafplio, you will visit a local ceramic artist for an opportunity to put everything you’ve seen and learnt over your Greek journey into practice as you create your own ceramics following the traditional techniques of ancient Greece.
This evening your study abroad program will conclude with a farewell dinner with time for celebratory toasts to the ancient teachers who paved the way, not only for the craftsmen of Western Civilization, but also for the love of beauty and wisdom.
After breakfast in your hotel or an early morning swim in the sea, you’ll say a dio to Greece as you head to the airport, making one last stop to see the canal of Corinth before heading to the airport and returning to Charleston.
For further questions don't hesitate to reach out to us directly.
For further questions don't hesitate to reach out to us directly.
A $500 deposit is required to reserve your spot. All deposits and discounts (if applicable) will be applied to the total tour price. Deposits are refundable within 30 days of payment.
