Crete & Santorini

Arrive into Santorini and meet your Expert Guide Lecturer and fellow travellers at your hotel.

Meals: Dinner

Our first full day begins at the Prehistoric Museum in Fira, home to dazzling wall paintings from the Minoan buildings at Akrotiri, as well as a large number of artefacts found in various island excavations. Don’t miss jugs depicting elegant birds, dating from the Middle Cycladic period of 1800 to 2000 BCE, and the statue of the golden goat, discovered in Akrotiri in 1999.

This afternoon, we continue to Akrotiri itself. Destroyed by a catastrophic volcanic eruption in around 1500 BCE and buried in ash, the city is reminiscent of Pompeii, and has retained some impressively well-preserved houses. The drainage systems and complex buildings indicate a once prosperous society, with many successful trade links. We admire the delightful Fresco of the Monkeys and the House of the Ladies, with its striking central light well.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, we journey up winding roads to the ancient city of Thera, located on a ridge of Messavouno Mountain, some 360 metres above sea level. The site has been under excavation since 1904, and findings from the city have contributed immensely to our understanding of Minoan culture and history. We imagine the people whose lives were centred around Thera’s 800-metre long main street, who attended performances in the city’s enormous theatre and who worshipped Hermes and Heracles within the walls of the sacred grotto.

This afternoon, we visit Panagia Episkopi, a Byzantine cathedral containing many beautiful frescoes, before a catamaran ride takes us to our next destination: historic Heraklion. We arrive in Crete’s largest city in time for dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

The fourth day of our holiday begins with a trip to the world-renowned Palace of Knossos, a majestic complex erected in Greece’s Bronze Age, and the largest Bronze Age site in the country. The intricate, multi-storeyed layout of the palace has led to its connection with numerous myths and legends, including that of the Minotaur and the labyrinth. We take in the royal quarters, with its decorated Throne Room, as well as noting the axe stands within the House of the High Priest. Later today, we visit two important Museums, the Archaeological Museum of Archanes, which displays collections of Minoan pottery and stone vessels found during excavations at Fourni Necropolis, Anemospilia, and Archanes, and the exceptional Heraklion Museum, with its exquisite jewellery and brightly-coloured wall paintings. Within this peerless collection of artefacts from the Minoan age is the iconic bull’s head ‘rhyton’, or ceremonial drinking vessel, brought here from Knossos Palace.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We enjoy a morning at the columns and courtyards of Phaistos to visit Ayia Triada, a grand but ruinous Bronze Age villa that has yielded more examples of Linear A tablets than any other site of its kind. After this, we travel to the magnificent Palace of Phaistos. Famous finds here include thousands of documents, some inscribed with the earliest known occurrence of the still undeciphered writing of the Minoans – a script also known as ‘Linear A’.

We resume our adventures at the important Greco-Roman site of Gortyn in the verdant Messara Valley, a gem of the archaeological world since its discovery in 1884. Thought to have once been populated by over 300,000 people, the site is best-known for its collection of 5th-century stone blocks, inscribed with the law codes of classical Greece – the oldest and most complete example of coded ancient Greek laws ever found. Our time here includes a visit to the new Archaeological Museum of Messara, which opened in May 2023. The museum is home to a permanent exhibition entitled 'Among the Mountains: the human presence in Messara from prehistoric to Christian times' and features artefacts from the Roman site of Gortyn and the Minoan Palace of Phaistos.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Our day starts with a trip to the Palace of Malia, a huge Minoan complex just north of the Lasithi Mountains, significant not only for its size, but also its strategic port and grand façades. We then proceed to the well-preserved late Minoan town of Gournia, one of the few sites in the region to have been fully excavated. The remains of Gournia cluster around cobbled streets on the side of a hill and are crowned by the now-ruined palace. Traces of some 50 houses are in evidence here, as well as a court and cemetery.

This afternoon, we have the option of a boat trip to the haunting and evocative island of Spinalonga, the location of a former leper colony which was still in use right up until 1962. It is believed that the island was cut off from the mainland by occupying Venetians in the 16th century in order to strengthen their defences.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

This morning, if the weather permits, we have the option to journey by fishing boat across the turquoise Gulf of Mirabello to the tiny island of Mochlos, on which an important Minoan town once stood – a hub of trade and industry. A number of pit graves and tombs have been unearthed here, and the excavations, begun in 1908, continue to this day. This afternoon is free for us to enjoy our spectacular surroundings at our leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After a visit to Sissi to visit the excavations on Kephali Hill, we depart for the airport or continue our trip at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch