Smart Travels Europe with Rudy Maxa Athens & Delphi Greek Islands
While ATHENS sprawls, its historic core survives. After climbing the majestic Acropolis, prowling the Plaka, and cheering Greece’s best folk dancers, we take some easy trips outside the city. We make a pilgrimage to the famed oracle of DELPHI and tour a beautiful medieval monastery. Then it’s off to the Peloponnesian Peninsula where we scope out Nafplion’s charming port and visit the epic ruins of King Agamemnon in the ancient capital of Mycenae. Along the way, we investigate local superstitions and sample tangy specialty treats. TIP: Finding great Greek food, traditional and contemporary. On the GREEK ISLANDS we get familiar with the ferries as we island hop the Aegean. Sun-drenched, upscale and exotic, Santorini sits on the rim of an ancient, but still active, volcano. At one end of the island the archeological site at Akrotiri uncovers a city frozen in time by the volcano’s eruption 3,600 years ago. The island of Naxos offers serenity, a low-keyed pace and bargain accommodations. It’s massive marble quarries and kouros sculptures were the toast of ancient Greece. We catch some R&R on trendy Mykonos, and then head to sacred Delos — an uninhabited island covered entirely with ancient ruins, and the place where the great sun god Apollo was born. TIPS: Discovering little off-the-beaten-path surprises. The superb visual quality of imagery originally captured in the HDCAM High-Definition format and random access of the DVD format provide a superior means to research your travels! Find just what you’re looking for by location or topic, browse quickly by text or image, and watch in letterbox or enhanced for 16×9 widescreen TV (for those of you with widescreen TVs).