WHAT IS AN EDUCATIONAL TOUR OF GREECE AND TURKEY?
Here's a brief glance at the educational nature of Sporades tours.

1.  All tours are led by Dick Caldwell, a real classicist with a distinguished record of teaching and scholarship.  A professor of Classics from 1966 until his retirement in 1999, Dick taught at St. Mary's College, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas, the University of Colorado (Medical School), and finally at the University of Southern California from 1976 to 1999.  His many articles cover such subjects as Greek myth, Greek drama, psychoanalysis, structuralism, German literature (Kafka), and English literature (Shelley), and his books include Hesiod's Theogony (Focus), Vergil's Aeneid (Focus), and The Origin of the Gods (Oxford).

      Dick has been leading tours to Greece and Turkey every year since 1978, with occasional forays into Egypt, southern France, and eastern Europe.  He knows every tree and rock, along with its history and mythology, he's an honorary Yoruk (Nomad) in Turkey and an honorary Vlach (northern Greece), and he knows every person in every town we visit.

    No other tour visits as many archaeological sites and museums as we do.  Here's a list:

Greek museums:  Akropolis, Agora, National Museum, Cycladic Arts, Benaki, Minoan Museum, Hania, Eleusis, Corinth, Mycenae, Nemea, Epidauros, Olympia, Chora, Delfi, Vergina, Santorini, Metsovo, Samos.

Greek archaeological sites:  Akropolis, Agora, Knossos, Phaistos, Aptera, Eleusis, Corinth, Mycenae, Nemea, Epidauros, Argos, Elliniko, Mistras, Pylos, Methoni, Vassai, Olympia, Delfi, Dodoni, Meteora, Vergina, Santorini, Samos.

Turkish museums:  Selcuk, Antalya, Konya, Amasya, Ankara, National Museum, Museum of the Ancient Orient, Kariye Museum, Military Museum, Agia Sofia, Topkapi.

Turkish archaeological sites:  Ephesus, Artemision,  Miletus, Pergamum, Priene, Didyma, Euromus, Krya, Tlos, Xanthus, Olympos, Phaselis, Aspendus, Termessos, Perge, Catalhuyuk, Cappadocia, Alacahuyuk, Hattusas, Yazalikaya, Amasya, Sumela.

All visits to museums and archaeological sites are unhurried and relaxed.  We see it all, and we have fun seeing it.  Education shouldn't be boring — and if you occasionally feel "museum-ed out," you can take a break at the nearest taverna and meet us later.