Description
Here is an opportunity to join the Archaeological Institute of America lecturer Michael Hoff, a classical archaeologist who specialises in the Roman period in Greece and Asia Minor for this cruise following St Paul’s route from Cyprus along the coast of Turkey to Istanbul. See and learn about fascinating Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sites and civilisations. We are delighted that our US associates at Criterion Travel who have chartered the MS Serenissima for this voyage have made some cabins available for our passengers.
This voyage takes us through an area steeped in history; a history of great empires, of conquest and of conflict and a history rich in cultural and religious diversity. It is an area that can lay claim to the foundation of the early Christian Church; a place where not only churches were built but where Christian doctrine was first formulated at the great Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus. While many of these early churches no longer exist, the sense of place remains and the legacy of St Paul lives on.
Highlights are many and include the Neolithic settlement of Choirokoitia on Cyprus, inhabited from at least the 9th millennium BC; the 2nd century Roman theatre at Aspendos, considered perhaps the best-preserved theatre in the Mediterranean; the Greek island of Patmos, where St John wrote the Book of Revelation; a full day exploring the evocative Lycian Peninsula sites of Xanthos, Letoon, and Patara; the ruins of Ephesus, where St Paul spent three years; the ancient Greek site of Pergamon, one of Turkey’s finest archaeological destinations and finally Troy, of Iliad fame, with at least nine ancient cities built one on top of another.
