July 30 – August 8, 2008 with Constanze Güthenke, Assistant Professor of Classics. An optional post-trip extension to Istanbul (August 8-11) will be available.

Zeus and Athena. Homer and Plato. Share the legends and myths, history and culture, poetry and artistry of ancient and modern Greece with the children in your world this summer. Join your fellow Princetonians and their families July 30 – August 8, 2008, for this learning adventure through Athens and the Aegean islands by land and sea.

Begin the program in bustling Athens, where the famed Parthenon sits atop the Acropolis, awaiting exploration. Visits to the Acropolis Museum and the Archeological Museum, as well as to the Parthenon itself, introduce travelers young and old to the artifacts of antiquity and reacquaint them with mythic heroes.

Then board the comfortable, 24-cabin Panorama for a seven-night cruise through the warm Aegean Sea, where Odysseus himself plied the waters. Alight first on the island of Sifnos, unspoiled by modern architecture and home to charming towns and beaches. Then explore the ancient sunken caldera that forms Santorini. Take a modern funicular or traditional donkey and see current excavation work on an ancient city. In contrast to the bustle of Santorini, visit Astipalaia, part of the Dodecanese chain yet closer in character to the Cycladic Islands, with whitewashed windmills and many churches lining mountain ridges.

Continue on to Rhodes, where one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the legendary bronze Collossus once stood. While the massive statue of Helios no longer exists, today Rhodes is one of the best-preserved medieval walled city in Europe. Visit Naxos and Paros before docking in Piraeus and returning home from Athens.

With favorable winds, we will have the opportunity to unfurl the sails and spend time at sea learning about Greek myths and heroes, reading selections from Homer's Odyssey, and exploring the richness of the Greek language—both ancient and modern. Learning opportunities will be tailored with participants' ages and interests in mind and may touch upon Mediterranean geography, classical arts, or the enterprise of travel in the ancient world.

The Princeton Journeys team recommends this journey for travelers age seven and older.

About the Study Leader
Constanze Güthenke, Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics and the Program in Hellenic Studies, will serve as study leader for this program.

At Princeton, Professor Güthenke teaches courses ranging from classical to Modern Greek, as well as topics concerning the afterlives of antiquity (including one on Homer after Homer) and the history of scholarship. She came to Princeton in 2002 from the UK, where she received degrees in Classics and Comparative Literature from Cambridge University and Oxford University. Her book on literary representations of Greece in European and Greek writing of the early nineteenth century is forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2008. She has lived and traveled in Greece extensively as a student, scholar, researcher, conference organizer, and, most recently, as the seminar instructor of twelve Princeton undergraduates on a class trip.

To make reservations, fill out the form in the brochure or contact Princeton Journeys at (609) 258-8686 or journeys@princeton.edu.