Food & Wine: A Taste of Greece
Food & Wine: A Taste of Greece
11 DAYS / 9 NIGHTS
THESSALONIKI | ATHENS | HERAKLIO | CHANIA
26/05/2018-05/06/2018 and 22/09/2018-02/10/2018
OVERNIGHT STAYS
- 1 night Overnight Flight
- 3 nights Thessaloniki
- 2 nights Athens
- 1 night Heraklion
- 2 nights Chania
- 1 night Athens
ITINERARY
DAY 1 – OVERNIGHT FLIGHT
Board your overnight flight to Thessaloniki today.
DAY 2 – THESSALONIKI
Arrival in Thessaloniki. Pick up and transfer to hotel. Welcome dinner at local restaurant. At the end of the dinner, return to the hotel. Overnight.
DAY 3 – THESSALONIKI – CITY TOUR
Breakfast. Set out on a guided tour to get to know Thessaloniki, the second largest city of the former Byzantine Empire and a modern-day hub for Greek culture. View the Arch of Galerius and Rotunda, which were built for Roman Emperor Galerius in the 4th century. Pass by the Hagios Demetrios and Hagia Sophia churches. See the Roman-style city walls that were constructed during the early 3rd century. Walk along the seaside promenade to view the White Tower of Thessaloniki, one of the city’s central landmarks. Visit the Ladadika district and enjoy free time to explore at your leisure.
This afternoon, head south to the Epanomi wine region and visit the Ktima Gerovassiliou winery. Follow a guide on a short walk through the vineyard to see Malagousia and Assyrtiko grapes that are used to create the winery’s signature red and white Epanomi wines. Tour the production area. Explore the on-site museum to see well-preserved artifacts that are essential to the history of Greek winemaking including bottles, barrels, and corkscrews. Sample some of the wines. At the end of the tour, return to the hotel. Overnight.
DAY 4 – THESSALONIKI
Breakfast. Enjoy a free day for personal activities. Overnight.
DAY 5 – THESSALONIKI – VOLOS – ATHENS
Breakfast. Departure from the hotel and travel from Thessaloniki to the seaside city of Volos. Located on the Pelion Peninsula, this area is known for its culinary scene. During a lunch, you’ll try mezedes, or small plates, and tsipouro, an anise-flavored brandy. After the lunch, continue to Athens. Overnight stay in Athens.
DAY 6 – ATHENS CITY TOUR
Breakfast. Departure from the Hotel in the morning for the tour giving you an opportunity to observe the striking contrasts that make Athens such a fascinating city. Our expert guide will take you to see the Panathenaic Stadium where the first Olympic Games of modern times were held in 1896 (short stop). Continue and visit the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Pass by the Hadrian’s Arch, the Parliament and the memorial to the Unknown Soldier, the Academy, the University, the National Library, the Constitution Square (Syntagma). On the Acropolis visit the Architectural Masterpieces of the Golden Age of Athens: The Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion and finally “the harmony between material and spirit”, the monument that “puts order in the mind”, the Parthenon. Afternoon free and overnight stay in Athens.
DAY 7 – ATHENS – HERAKLION
Breakfast. Departure from the hotel to Athens International Airport for your flight to Crete. Arrival in Heraklion. Our tour starts with a visit to the beautiful city of Heraklion. Heraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete. It is one of the largest cities in Greece .The Venetians improved on the ditch of the city by building enormous fortifications, most of which are still in place, including a giant wall, in places up to 40 m thick, with 7 bastions, and a fortress of Koule Chandax was renamed Candia and became the seat of the Duke of Candia, and the Venetian administrative district of Crete became known as “regno di Candia”. Main sightseeing’s of the tour: the Lion’s square, the Venetian Loggia, and the Cathedral of St Minas or the Church of St. Titus and the 25th August street which links the Marina and the Castle of Koules with the heart of the city and a main open air market. Our next visit will be the famous ‘’Herakleion Archaeological Museum’’ which is one of the largest and most important museums in Greece, and among the most important museums in Europe. It houses representative artifacts from all the periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering a chronological span of over 5,500 years from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The singularly important Minoan collection contains unique examples of Minoan art, many of them true masterpieces. The Heraklion Museum is rightly considered as the museum of Minoan culture par excellence worldwide. The museum, located in the town center, was built between 1937 and 1940 by architect Patroklos Karantinos on a site previously occupied by the Roman Catholic monastery of Saint-Francis which was destroyed by earthquake in 1856.
After the Heraklion tour, depart for excursion to Knossos Palace. Only few kilometers south of Heraklion, Knossos, the capital of King Minos and the center of the magnificent Minoan civilization is located. Our visit here will take us a step back in time and some 4000 years, 2000 BC. Knossos and her Palace, famous throughout the world through the myths of Europa, the Minotaur, the Labyrinth and Theseus, Daedalus and Ikarus, will open us a window to the most ancient civilization of Europe and its reality you can’t miss. Knossos’ architectural feats include several storey buildings (first in the world) with light wells and bathrooms, impressive pillars and an ingenuous drainage system, aqueducts, irrigation systems, paved roads and magnificent frescoes. All these will impress you and show an advanced beautiful jewelry and a way of life you never thought possible in the dawn of history. At the end of the tour, return to your hotel.
Dinner at local restaurant within walking distance from the hotel. After the dinner return to the hotel. Overnight.
DAY 8 – HERAKLION –RETHIMNO-CHANIA
Breakkfast. Departure from the hotel, make your way to Chania by travelling through Heraklion wine country, stopping to tour to Cretan Vineyard. You will enjoy a lunch and tasting featuring a variety of the wines produced from Kotsifali, Mandilaria, and Malvasia. Then visit to the picturesque Venetian City of Rethymno before continuing on to Chania.
Rethymno was originally built during the Minoan civilization (ancient Rhithymna and Arsinoe). The city was prominent enough to mint its own coins and maintain urban growth. One of these coins is today depicted as the crest of the town: two dolphins in a circle.
This region as a whole is rich with ancient history, most notably through the Minoan civilization centered at Kydonia east of Rethymno. Rethymno itself began a period of growth when the Venetian conquerors of the island decided to put an intermediate commercial station between Heraklion and Chania, acquiring its own bishop and nobility in the process. Today’s old town (palia poli) is almost entirely built by the Republic of Venice. It is one of the best-preserved old towns in Crete. Spend a free evening in Chania enjoying a dinner in a local tavern. Return to hotel. Overnight stay in Chania.
DAY 9– CHANIA
Breakfast. Today our tour starts with a visit to Venizelos Tombs in Akrotiri. Akrotiri is a rocky promontory on the northern side of the island of Crete, in the Sea of Crete. It is roughly circular in shape, connected to the rest of the island by a wide causeway between Chania and the town of Souda. The tombs of Eleftherios Venizelos and his son Sophoklis are found on Akrotiri, at a site overlooking Chania. At this site, the Greek flag was raised in defiance of the Turks and the Great Powers, with the peninsula acting as a headquarters of the Cretan Revolution. During our visit to Akrotiri we stop for a photo shoot overlooking the beautiful peninsula of Souda Bay. Our tour ends with a city tour to the picturesque city of Chania. Chania is the second largest city of Crete. The city of Chania can be divided in two parts: the old town and the modern city which is the larger one. The old town is situated next to the old harbour and is the matrix around which the whole urban area was developed. Return to the hotel. This evening, head to a restaurant where you will have a variety of Cretan meze. At the end of the dinner, return to the hotel. Overnight.
DAY 10– CHANIA – ATHENS
Breakfast. Departure for the Airport with destination the city of Athens. Arrival in Athens. Pick up and transfer to hotel. This evening, head to the area of Plaka, where you will have a cooking class where you’ll prepare regional dishes of Greece alongside the chef of the restaurant. Then, enjoy drinking Greek wine and eating the food you cooked. So having a special farewell dinner with this cooking lesson to celebrate the trip, while having a cooking class also. Return to hotel. Overnight.
DAY 11– ATHENS – DEPARTURE
Breakfast. At appropriate time transfer to the Airport for departure of the group.
2018 GROUP DATES
Group size: 18-35 travelers
May. 26 – Jun. 5
$2,965 pp based on DBL – Domestic (2) and Transatlantic flight to be added
Sept. 22 – Oct. 02
$2,965 pp based on DBL – Domestic (2) and Transatlantic flight to be added
THE ABOVE PRICE INCLUDES:
- Arrival transfer Thessaloniki Airport–hotel with private bus and English-speaking assistant
- 3 nights hotel in Thessaloniki on bed & breakfast basis
- Welcome dinner at local restaurant with private bus and English-speaking assistant (no drinks included)
- Thessaloniki city tour with private bus and English-speaking guide with entrance fees
- Wine tasting with private bus and English-speaking guide
- Thessaloniki–Volos–Athens with private bus and English-speaking guide and lunch included (no drinks included)
- 2 nights hotel in Athens on bed & breakfast basis
- Athens city tour with private bus and English-speaking guide with entrance fees
- Transfer hotel–Athens Airport with private bus and English-speaking assistant
- Heraklion city tour, archeological museum & Knossos Palace with private bus and English-speaking guide with entrance fees
- 1 night hotel in Heraklion on bed & breakfast basis
- Dinner at local restaurant in Heraklion with assistance included (no drinks included)
- 3-day tour of Crete with private bus and English-speaking assistant
- Wine tasting with private bus and English-speaking assistant
- Lunch at local restaurant with private bus and English-speaking assistant (no drinks included)
- 2 nights hotel in Chania on bed & breakfast basis
- Chania tour with private bus and English-speaking guide with entrance fees
- Dinner at local restaurant with variety of Cretan meze with assistance included (no drinks included)
- Departure transfer hotel–Chania Airport with private bus and English-speaking assistant
- Arrival transfer Athens Airport–hotel with private bus and English-speaking assistant
- 1-night hotel in Athens on bed & breakfast basis
- Farewell cooking lesson dinner at local restaurant with transfers & assistance included (no drinks included)
- Departure transfer hotel–Athens Airport with private bus and English-speaking assistant
