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Trip Overview
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The many faces of Greece An illustrated itinerary of one of our many gay travel adventures. This information supplements our Visit 1000-year-old monasteries to gain insights into a 2000-year-old religion, during four days on the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos, one of the most important sites of the Orthodox tradition. Gain a glimpse of the glories of ancient Greece on a tour of Thessaloniki, a visit to Alexander the Great's birthplace of Pella, and a two-night stay in Athens.
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We start our journey in Greece's second city, Thessaloniki (Salonika), known for its culture and architecture. Then we drive to Ouranoupolis where we spend a night as our guide obtains our permits to visit Mount Athos. Ouranoupolis is a lovely small port city with many restaurants and a charming waterfront. We depart from Ouranoupolis by boat to the Holy Mountain, home to the theocratic republic of Mount Athos. We will spend three nights as guests of the ancient monasteries, sometimes sharing simple meals with the monks. Each day we will travel between the monasteries by small boat, by Land Rover or bus, or by hiking along stunning mountains paths overlooking the Aegean Sea. We will then tour the monasteries and inspect icons, crowns, coronation robes, ancient books, manuscripts, and a myriad of Byzantine artifacts. We will dine simply under frescoes of the saints and the Last Supper. At sunset generators are shut down and our world is illuminated by candlelight. Mount Athos is most famous for its 20 ancient monasteries, but there are also several Skiti (smaller or newer monastic dwellings), an historic church in the village of Karyes (Prokrator), and hermits' spartan dwellings located throughout the peninsula. We will observe the full range of religious structures during our pilgrimage. We conclude our exploration of classical Greece with a two-night stay in Athens. From the Acropolis to the Temple of Zeus, Athens is bursting with art, history and culture. Walk through the agora and imagine life in the ancient capital. Stroll through the Plaka and look for bargains in the shops and from the street vendors. Try a cup of Greek coffee or Ouzo at a cafe in Syntagma Square and watch the world go by. During the week following our pilgrimage to Mount Athos, we are offering our Classical Tour of Greece, for those with more time to spend in this ancient land. This tour includes a visit to Nafplio and Olympia in the Peloponnese, to Delfi and Mount Olympus, and to the charming port of Chania on Crete. (See Calendar for details.)
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1: Arrival in Thessaloniki
Fly from home to Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, via Athens or another European hub airport. This city was Europe's Cultural Capital a few years ago, and is known for its art, music, architecture and churches, as well as St. Paul's preaching to the Thessalonians. An assistant will meet you at the airport and arrange your transfer to the Hotel Electra Palace. In the evening we will meet our guide to get to know each other, then have dinner in the hotel or in one of the restaurants in the Ladadika area (the Plaka of Thessaloniki). Return to the hotel for a two-night stay.
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2: Ouranoupolis and Pilgrimage Preparation
In the morning we will tour some of the renowned churches and monuments of Thessaloniki. During our tour we will see sights such as the White Tower, originally part of the ramparts that surrounded the city, and locations where Saint Paul visited and spoke to the Thessalonians as early as 50 AD. At the old market area there are several tavernas and small restaurants where you can get lunch on your own. After lunch we drive about three hours through the hills of the Halkidiki (Chalcidice) Peninsula to Ouranoupolis, where we will stay at a beach resort for one night. Dinner and lodging will be at the Eagles Palace Hotel, a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World. We will also meet with our guide to prepare ourselves for our rare opportunity to be a pilgrim on Mount Athos. Please note that the program on the Holy Mountain depends on the weather and on the local circumstances for the visits. Many factors can change our program. However, anything that we cannot see one day, we can usually see on the second or the third. The region is so amazing, that there is always something worth seeing of similar value. This Mount Athos tour will be very detailed, very accurate, and very meticulous. The guide is specialized, highly experienced, and best of all incredibly enthusiastic about this trip.
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3: The Holy Mountain Beckons
We will enjoy breakfast at our Ouranoupolis hotel. At the Pilgrims Bureau for the Holy Community of Mount Athos, our guide will help each of us obtain our impressive-looking diamonitirion, a document we present to the guest master in each monastery where we stay. One hundred permits are granted to Orthodox men each day, but only ten are reserved for non-Orthodox men. Women have not been allowed on Mount Athos for 1000 years. We will transfer to the port, then depart by boat along the peninsula to the tiny port of Dafni, the key access point to the Holy Mountain. Upon disembarkation, we will meet the monk who will be our driver and will take us to the Monastery Xiropotamou in Karyes, the only town and the capital of Mount Athos. Next, we will visit the Protator (main church of Karyes) where there is a must-see Panselinos fresco. Afterward, we will take a 5-minute walk to visit the Monastery Koutloumousiou, followed by a drive to Skiti Agios Andreas (the Skiti of St. Andrew). From the Skiti we will drive to Iviron Monastery where we will spend the night. (We have people there who can get us the best kelia or cellars: the term for guest quarters in the monasteries.) Our route during our pilgrimage on Mount Athos will depend upon the decision of the Holy Community and the monasteries as to where we are to be received and lodged. On some days, we will ride with our monk driver in a Land Rover, along the recently built gravel roads, and on some days we may have a chance to hike a portion of our journey. In passing from one massive walled, domed and pinnacled monastery to another, we pass through valleys and dense forests, and along cliffs rising precipitously from the sea. During the day the monasteries are powered by generators, but these are replaced by candles at sunset. Although the Internet and cell phones have appeared in some of the monastic offices, the scarcity of signs of modern life has led some travelers to compare Mount Athos to legendary Shangri-La. In the monasteries we hear hammering on wooden boards echoing through the pre-dawn darkness of the courtyard, summoning the monks to prayer. This is the first of several times during the day when the monks unite in worship. We may see the Abbot seated on his gilded throne while bearded monks and novices prostrate themselves during services in the candle-lit churches. We inspect icons, crowns, coronation robes, ancient books, manuscripts, imperial charters and a myriad of additional Byzantine artifacts in the Monasteries' treasure rooms and libraries. In the vast refectories (dining halls), under frescoes of the saints and the Last Judgment, we break bread at marble tables and eat bean soup, fish, vegetables, rice, cheese, olives and fruit. We also drink tea or wine made by the monks. Throughout the meals one of the monks reads aloud from the Holy Scriptures, while we eat in silence. In fifteen or twenty minutes, when the Abbot has had his fill, the meal is finished for us all. These four days on Mount Athos will provide us with an incomparable flashback in time, a very memorable and moving experience.
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4: The North Coast of Mount Athos
From the Iviron Monastery we will transfer to the Stavronikita Monastery, following roads perched high above the rugged coastline of the north shore. Next we will drive to the Pantokrator Monastery. At the end of the day we will drive back toward the Iviron Monastery, where will spend another night. 
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5: The Rich Heritage of Agion Oros
From Iviron Monastery we will drive further out along the north coast to visit the richest and most famous Vatopedi Monastery. Next we will drive to Grand Lavra Monastery, considered the original monastery, and #1 in the hierarchy of the Holy Community. Our final stop today will be at Skiti Agia Anna (Skiti of Saint Anna), Karakalou Monastery, Zografoy Monastery or Dohliariou Monastery, and we will spend the night at one of them.
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6: Return to Ouranoupolis and Thessaloniki
This morning we will visit Dohliariou or Zografou in the morning followed by a drive to Dafni. There we board the ferry for our voyage from this unique peninsula, and arrive back in the modern world of Ouranoupolis in the early afternoon. We will meet our bus and drive to the Hotel Electra Palace in Thessaloniki, where we will spend the night. Before dinner we will all meet to discuss what we have just experienced.
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7: Shadows of Alexander
We will have breakfast in the hotel, then visit (in our guide’s opinion) some of the most fascinating sites of the Macedonia region of Greece (which is just south of the country call FYROM - Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). We will drive west for about 50 minutes towards Veria. On the way we will make our first stop at the Palace of Aiges (home of Philip II, father of Alexander The Great), then we will visit the royal tombs. This necropolis is where they would bury their kings even after they transferred their capital to Pella during the 2nd Dynasty. We will see the tomb and the gold from Philip the 2nd, King of Macedonia and descendant of Hercules. Here you will also get a chance to see the tomb of the son of Alexander The Great and Roxana. Many people say that they lived in a magical moment here. From here we will head to Pella, the ancient home of Philip II of Macedonia, and his rather more famous son, Alexander the Great. Today we can visit the Museum and also see the foundations of the palace and other structures that dominated this former capital city (in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC). Still well-preserved are amazing mosaic pavements that were once used to decorate the floors of the nobles' homes. We will now depart for a visit to Miesa, a place near Thessaloniki where Aristotle had his school and where Alexander, Kassandros and Ptolemey were said to study together with other fellow friends as they passed their youth (before they departed to conquer Asia). The park is a paradise where we can see a small theatre sculptured on the rock, and also the location of the school. After the visit we will return to the hotel Electra Palace for dinner and to spend the night.
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8: Off to Athens
After breakfast in our hotel we will provide a transfer to the airport for the flight to Athens. (Flight not included in tour fee). Upon arrival at Athens Airport we will transfer to our Athens hotel, the Electra Palace Athens. Take free time to relax or to stroll around the Plaka neighborhood of small shops and restaurants, and churches, some dating to Byzantine times. In the late afternoon we will meet up with arriving members of our Classical Tour of Greece, and we will explore Athens together with them. This meeting is a great time for introducing ourselves to each other and speaking about our experiences of the tour so far. Dinner will be in the hotel as a group.
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9: The Glories of Athens
After breakfast we will meet our guide and depart by private bus to explore the most important sites of Athens. We will visit The Acropolis and make a stop at the National Archeological Museum. (Note: our Athens tour day is a Monday in 2011, so while we will be able to explore the external parts of the Acropolis, we cannot go inside the new Acropolis Museum which is closed on Mondays. You can return on your own on another day if you are spending any extra time in Athens.) We will return to the hotel about 1:30 pm, then have a free afternoon. Tonight our farewell dinner (and welcome dinner for those just arriving) will be on the terrace of a lovely restaurant overlooking the Parthenon, which crowns the floodlit rocky promontory of the Acropolis. We will say farewell to our new friends leaving for home or some relaxing time in the islands, and we will welcome those who are arriving for the Classical Tour of Greece. If you have extra time while in Athens, you might explore more of the city on your own. For starters, the nearby Plaka (old town) neighborhood is fun to explore any day, and especially during their legendary Sunday flea market, which is a shopper's delight. You might also try a funicular ride to the top of Lycabettus Hill for a breathtaking view of the city. And you can't miss the hourly changing of the tall pom-pom-footed guards outside Parliament, just above Syntagma Square, and on Sundays, they even add a marching band!
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10: Departure day
We will provide transfers to the airport for flights home or to begin the next part of your journey. Those continuing on the Classical Tour of Greece will depart this morning toward Nafplio and the Peloponnese Peninsula with an English speaking professional guide.
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