Once I was traveling near the Greek village I
call home. A woman with a broad smile and ruddy complexion hailed me from the
roadside, where she was gathering olives. When I stopped, the woman informed me
about the region. Have you visited the monastery, Saint Irini? she
asked. It is very beautiful, she exclaimed. You must go there
when you return.
Needless to say, I hastened back to Saint Irini, an isolated, dove-white chapel
reached by a dramatic coastal footpath. It is, indeed, a very beautiful place.
I would like to take you there.
I have lived since 1982 in a village in the Peloponnese. In 1995,
I began taking groups of up to 8 individuals to Greece. As a participant
in Excursions & Sojourns in Greece, you create or enrich
friendships within your small group and with native Greeks. You appreciate
accommodations, restaurants, and sites unknown to most tourists and
inaccessible to larger groups. You enjoy a balance between ancient
and modern, between the renowned and the undiscovered, between structure
and spontaneity, between activity and serenity, between society and
solitude. You acquaint yourself with a place, a people, and their history
through literature, through stories I tell, and through your own direct
experience. A sign posted at the gate to the chapel of Saint Irini
reads, For worship, not for tourism. Your stay in Greece
will inspire appreciation, reverence, and sometimes awe.
Thordis Niela Simonsen
Crete
Crete includes Knossos, the Archeological Museum of Heraklion, old
town Hania, hiking spectacular coastal trails and gorges, and ample unscheduled
time for personal pursuits and/or reflection.
Details:
maximum group size: 8
number days: 14
mileage: 550
start: Heraklion, Crete
finish: Hania, Crete
departures: May & October
individualized itineraries & other dates available
price: $3325 plus airfare and meals
Activity level:
Numerous moderate to more difficult hikes/walks on narrow, often rocky
and steep paths and old stone-paved trails and stairs through spectacular
gorges and along coastal sections of the European Mountaineering Footpath
(E-4 ) ranging from 3 to 7 hours duration including pauses to picnic,
sit, explore, and/or swim; hiking boots required; walking sticks recommended.
The standard Crete excursion should not be attempted by individuals
with acrophobia or vertigo.
The standard Crete itenerary can be modified by replacing more
difficult hikes/walks with more moderate activities
Cycladic Islands
Making all passages by ferry, the Cycladic
Islands excursion includes Tinos, ancient
Delos, a night on Mykonos, and a week on Naxos.
Details:
maximum group size: 6
number days: 14
mileage: under 300
start: Athens
finish: Athens
departures: May & September/October
individualized itineraries & other dates available
price: $3325 plus airfare and meals
Activity level:
Several moderate walks on old stone-paved tracks ranging from 1 to 4
hours duration including time to rest and picnic; one or two more difficult
optional hikes to summits approximately 3 hours duration including time
to rest and snack; hiking boots required; walking sticks recommended.
Swimming is optional.
The standard Cycladic Island itinerary can be modified
to include more or fewer walks/hikes.
Epiros & Thessaly
Epiros & Thessaly includes ancient Dodona and Delphi, the monasteries of Meteora,
the museums of Ioannina, the traditional villages of the Zagoria, Vikos Gorge,
easy walks, and ample unscheduled time for personal pursuits and/or reflection.
Details:
maximum group size: 8
number days: 14
mileage: 875
start: Athens
finish: Athens
departures: May &
September
individualized itineraries & other dates available
price: $3325 plus airfare and meals
Activity level:
Easy walks at archeological sites and on riverside and plateau paths
and old stone-paved tracks; climbing steps to monasteries; optional
1-hour climb up steep old stone-paved mule track; 1 to 4 hours duration
including pauses to picnic, sit, and/or explore; hiking boots required;
walking sticks recommended.
The standard Epiros & Thessaly itinerary can be modified
to include moderate to difficult hiking.
The Peloponnese
The Peloponnese includes the ancient sites of Mycenae and Epidavros; the Byzantine
centers of Monemvasia, Mystras, and the Mani; the Peloponnesian Folk Art Museum;
author/guide's reverently restored house, moderate walks, and ample unscheduled
time for personal pursuits and/or reflection.
Details:
maximum group size: 8
number days: 14
mileage: 800
start: Athens
finish: Athens
departures: May & October
individualized itineraries & other dates available
price: $3325 plus airfare and meals
Activity level:
Several easy to moderate, primarily coastal walks on narrow, rocky, often hilly
footpaths and old stone-paved tracks, 3-6 hours duration including pauses to picnic,
sit, and/or explore or swim; hiking boots required; walking sticks recommended.
A healthy woman celebrating her 70th birthday walked the most challenging route
comfortably.
Astra Writing in Greece
Astra Writing in Greece is based in a coastal village in the Peloponnese where host Thordis Niela Simonsen has sojourned annually since 1981. When she takes you to Elika, she takes you home. You will reside in a small family-owned coastal hotel, but you will write under the roof of the house Thordis restored by hand. For decades, Thordis has yielded without relent to her creative impulses. When she facilitates the daily writing practice, she draws on her experience as a visual artist as well as a writer. Thordis is particularly adept at shaping the writing sessions according to the setting and the moment. As one participant in Astra Writing in Greece volunteered, "Wherever she’s going, just follow her and you’ll be fine.” Working in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment that welcomes spontaneity, you are likely to find your authentic voice.
Details:
maximum group size:
8 women
number of days: 11
mileage: 500
start: Athens
finish:
Athens
departures: spring and fall
price: $3125 plus airfare and meals
Application: required
Activity level:
Extensive, easy walking in and around a hillside village and by the sea.
Custom Itineraries
Thordis is also available to design custom itineraries for independent travelers.
When the tour bus turned left, Thordis turned right. Traveling in the
Cycladic Islands with our “Fearless Leader” was like traveling with
a good friend, and she knew the way! The trip was priceless.
—J. Harrington
Fiction
The Battle of Thermopylae, Steven Pressfield, Doubleday,
1998.
A national bestseller, this epic novel is a brilliant telling of a battle
brilliantly waged. The narrator is the gravely wounded sole survivor
of the Battle of Thermopylae, fought in 480 BC between the Persians
and a small number of Spartans under the heroic leadership of King Leonidas.
If you can tolerate or bypass the gory details, you will be rewarded
by the author's masterful recreation of the Spartan way of life.
The Collected Stories and other titles by H. Petrakis.
Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres, Vintage,
1994
A popular book club book that takes patience at the beginning, this
novel seamlessly blends history of WW II in Greece with wit and romance.
Rich and engaging.
A Crowded Heart, Nicholas Papandreou, Picador USA, 1996.
Written by the son of former Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou,
Papandreou creates a young boy whose family is uprooted from their home
in the United States and moves to Greece where the father pursues his
political ambitions. The family is swept up in an avalanche of revolution,
military dictatorship, and exile.
The King Must Die and A Bull from the Sea, Mary Renault***
A beautiful rendering of the historical facts and myths surrounding
the ancient city-state of Athens and the ancient kingdom of Minoan Crete,
the books bring to life King Minos, Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur.
The Murderess, Alexandros Papadiamantis, Writers and Readers
Publishing, 1983.****
This classic of modern Greek literature is a popular tragedy. Its heroine
confronts "woman's fate" with her own violent solution. A powerful,
disturbing, and haunting story.
The Scorpion and Other Stories, Lili Bita, Pella, 1998.****
These stories are about growing up both Greek and female in a culture
characterized by patriarchal oppression. The author is an important
feminist voice, and her stories about women whose only choices are submission,
madness, or violence have meaning for cultures far removed from Greece.
Tales from a Greek Island, Alexandros Papadiamantis, Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1987.
Twelve stories set in the author's native island of Skiathos capture
the folkways of Greece. The book captivates the reader with its rich
combination of realism and symbolism, sensuality, and mysticism.
Zorba the Greek and other titles by Nikos Kazantzakis.
Non-fiction
The Colossus of Maroussi, Henry Miller, New Directions
Paperbook, 1941.
This book about the author's travels in Greece is incandescent with
his feeling for a great people and their past.
Dancing Girl: Themes and Improvisations in a Greek Village Setting,
Thordis Simonsen, Fundamental Note, 1991.****
In 1982, the author moved to Elika, Greece. The villagers invited the
"American Girl" to participate in every facet of village life,
and they told their stories to her. Dancing Girl is a
collection of 44 warm, spirited vignettes based on stories the villagers
tell about themselves and those the author tells about the village.
Demons and the Devil, Charles Stewart, Princeton University
Press, 1991.
Drawing on an unusual range of sources, from the author's fieldwork
on the island of Naxos to Orthodox liturgical texts, this book pictures
demons and other exotica as figures that enable individuals to navigate
the traumas and ambiguities of life. Stewart examines the social forces
that have alternatively led Greeks to understand these demons as links
with the classical past or to reject them as signs of ignorance.
Eleni, Nicholas Gage, Ballantine Books, 1983.
This is the reconstructed story of the imprisonment, torture, and execution
in cold blood of the author's mother for arranging the escape of her
three children during the civil war in 1948.
The First Fossil Hunters, Adrienne Mayor, Princeton University
Press, 2000.
The author theorizes that creatures once thought to be products of the
imagination of the ancients actually are based in solid paleontological
fact. For example, the picture of the griffin, a lion-size predator
with a strong curved beak and wings, was developed nearly 3000 years
ago by Scythian nomads prospecting for gold in the Gobi desert where
exposed fossil remains continue to occur in abundance. When Greeks first
made contact with the nomads from this area sometime in the 7th century
B.C., they acquired stories about the gold-guarding griffin along with
gold and other exotic goods. Mayor's account of how a ferocious, exotic
creature had been brought to life from bones by the Scythian nomads
is fascinating. Not to mention the Cyclops and other giants and monsters
of whom she writes. The book reads like an adventure mystery. It's a
masterpiece!
Greek Women in Resistance, Eleni Fourtouni, Thelphini Press,
1986.****
From 1940-1950 women, who for centuries had been confined to the home,
joined the Resistance and gained a sense of their human potential. Those
confined to concentration camps were severely oppressed, yet by harnessing
their energy and resources, they resisted tyranny.
Honour, Family, and Patronage: A Study of Institutions and Moral Values
in a Greek Mountain Community, J.K. Campbell, Oxford University
Press, 1964.**
This book is a fascinating in-depth study of the fundamental values
and institutions of a traditional community of Sarakatsani shepherds
in the Greek mountains.
Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese, Patrick Leigh
Fermor, Penguin Books,1958.*
Mani is a glorious fusion of scholarship, imagination,
and history. The Mani was a remote and untouched region of the Greek
Peloponnese where people lived in stone towers and practised the vendetta.
The book is an inspired evocation of the past.
My Story, Elisavet Moutzan-Martinegrou, University of
Georgia Press, 1989.
This first literary work in modern Greek by a woman sheds light on the
restricted life of a genteel 19th century woman of the island of Zakynthos.
She confides her feelings of lonliness and frustration and her longing
for independence.
Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon and Schuster,
1965.
Autobiography by the author of Zorba the Greek and
other classic works.
The Unwritten Places, Tim Salmon, Lycabettus Press, 1995.**
The author travels into the remote and trackless northern Pindos mountains
to discover the landscape and to become a part of the life of the of
a black-caped Vlach shepherd family. The book is a story of passion
and friendship.
*Of particular interest to participants
in The Peloponnese
**Of particular interest to participants
in Epiros & Thessaly
***Of particular interest to participants in Crete
****Reading for Greek Village
Sojourn
Most of the titles listed above can be ordered from:
Tattered Cover
Book Store tel 800 833-9327 or 303 322-7727
Greece in Print tel 800 267-6672
Autographed copies of Dancing Girl can be ordered directly
from astragreece
inc.
Videos
Corelli's Mandolin
Eleni
Mediterraneo
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Shirley Valentine
Zorba the Greek
Cost:
Tour price, payable to astragreece inc., includes all hotels listed on the itinerary; transportation by van, car, or boat; specified meals; specified entrance fees; and trip notes. Tour price does not include cost of airfare to/from Athens, Crete, or elsewhere in Greece; cost of a valid passport; airport taxes; trip interruption/cancellation insurance (available from travel agent); emergency medical evacuation insurance (mandatory); medical insurance or expenses; transportation to/from airports; local bus and taxi fares; meals except those specified; entrance fees except those specified; personal expenses such as shopping and communications; additional expenses due to delay or changes in air or other services, sickness, weather, strike, war, or other causes beyond the control of astragreece inc. Uncovered meals (including gratuities) will usually cost approximately $250 to $350 per person. Price is based on double occupancy; a single-room supplement will increase the cost of the trip by $300 to $400.
The price of this tour is based on estimates of actual costs; increases
in exchange rates, tariffs, and surcharges may be passed on to participants.
Reservations and payment: A deposit of $500 per person is due
at the time of reservation. Full payment is due 45 days prior to commencement
of the tour or immediately if registration occurs within 45 days of departure.
Please make all checks payable to astragreece inc.
Cancellations and refunds: Due to the unusually small size of
the group, the deposit of $500 is not refundable. Changes in the itinerary
are not expected, but astragreece inc. reserves the right to make necessary
changes. astragreece inc. will not be able to refund the tour price if
a person cancels within
45 days of commencement of the tour unless the tour is full and the place
can be resold or astragreece inc. cancels the tour. No refund will be
made for any
person starting but not completing a tour. No refund will be made in
the event that the tour cannot be completed due to events beyond the
control
of astragreece inc., e.g. natural disaster, war, etc. For these reasons,
participants are encouraged to purchase trip interruption/ cancellation
insurance. astragreece inc. reserves the right to cancel the trip prior to its commencement
for any reason, in which case a full refund will be made. After paying
this refund, astragreece inc. has no other obligations to tour participants
of canceled trips.
Restrictions: As a courtesy to other participants, no perfumes
or other strong fragrances in the vehicle; no smoking in the vehicle,
hotel rooms, or restaurants.
Other agreements: In an honest effort to fulfill its obligation to
provide a safe, quality experience for tour participants and to respect
the host country, astragreece inc. reserves the right to refuse the application
of anyone or expel any tour member whose conduct is deemed incompatible
with these goals. Payment of the deposit or any or all of the tour price
constitutes a tour participant's consent to all the terms, conditions,
restrictions, and agreements specified in astragreece inc. literature.