DESTINATION GREECE

The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, Greek province of Macedonia. The Apidima Cave in Mani, southern Greece, contains the oldest remains of anatomically modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 210,000 years ago. All three stages of the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) are represented in Greece, with Neolithic settlements being the oldest in Europe by several centuries (7th millennium BC), as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe.

Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilization, beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete (2700–1500 BC), and then the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland (1600–1100 BC). These civilizations possessed writing, Linear A by the Minoans and Linear B by the Mycenaeans, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, along with other civilizations, during the period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent.

The year of the first Olympic Games, 776 BC, is considered as the end of the Dark Ages, and it is when various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula emerged, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, Southern Italy ("Magna Graecia") and Asia Minor.

Greek states and their colonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of classical Greece, expressed in architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy.

• Homer composed the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.
• The world's first democratic system of government was instituted in Athens by Cleisthenes in 508 BC.
• The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens was constructed in 432 BC, and served as emblem of classical Greece, enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and Western civilization, and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments.

The Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia were controlled by the Persian Empire around 500 BC, and after the attempts by some of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule failed, and Persia invaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after a defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by Sparta, which was the first historically recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the Trojan War.

A second invasion by the Persians followed in 480 BC. Following decisive Greek victories in 480 and 479 BC at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale (Prien, Turkey), the Persians were forced to withdraw for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all of their European territories.

Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history, as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as the Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greek development that laid many of the foundations of Western civilization.

Because of the lack of political unity within Greece, conflicts between Greek states was frequent. The most devastating of them was the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), won by Sparta and marking the end of the Athenian Empire as the leading power in ancient Greece. Both Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting most of the Greek city-states in the League of Corinth (also known as the Hellenic League or Greek League) under the control of Phillip II, even though Sparta did not join the League and actively fought against it. Despite the efforts of Phillip II, the Greek world remained largely fragmented and would not be united under a single power.

Following the assassination of Phillip II, his son Alexander III, or ("The Great") assumed the leadership of the League of Corinth and launched an invasion of the Persian Empire with the combined forces of the League in 334 BC.

Undefeated in battle, Alexander had conquered the Persian Empire in its entirety by 330 BC. By the time of his death in 323 BC, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to India.

After Alexander’s death followed a period of confusion, commonly known as Wars of the Diadochi (from Greek: Διάδοχοι, Diádokhoi, “successors”) i.e. the rival generals, families, and friends of Alexander the Great. During this period Alexander's empire split into several kingdoms, the most famous of which were the Seleucid Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch, Seleucia, and the many other new Hellenistic cities in Asia and Africa. Although the political unity of Alexander's empire could not be maintained, it resulted in the Hellenistic civilization and spread the Greek language and Greek culture in the territories conquered by Alexander.

Greek science, technology, and mathematics are generally considered to have reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.

The Antigonid dynasty, descended from one of Alexander's generals, established its control over Macedon and most of the Greek city-states by 276 BC.

From about 200 BC the Roman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a series of wars with Macedon. Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC signaled the end of Antigonid power in Greece. In 146 BC, Macedonia was annexed as a province by Rome, and the rest of Greece became a Roman protectorate. The process was completed in 27 BC when the Roman Emperor Augustus annexed the rest of Greece and constituted it as the senatorial province of Achaea.

Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and became heavily influenced by the achievements of Greek culture, hence Horace's famous statement: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit ("Greece, although captured, took its wild conqueror captive”).

The epics of Homer inspired the Aeneid of Virgil, and authors such as Seneca the younger wrote using Greek styles. Roman heroes such as Scipio Africanus, tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. Similarly, most Roman emperors maintained an admiration for things Greek in nature. The Roman Emperor Nero visited Greece in AD 66, and performed at the Ancient Olympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation. Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks. Before becoming emperor, he served as an eponymous archon of Athens.

1. Arrive Glyfada, Athens
2. Athens centre (full-day tour)
3. Glyfada-Nafplio
4. Nafplio-Monemvasia
5. Monemvasia-Limeni
6. Limeni-Messini
7. Messini-Olympia
8. Olympia-Ioannina
9. Ioannina-Metsovo
10. Metsovo-Delphi
11. Delphi-Glyfada, Athens
12. Fly out

• Acropolis of Athens (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Acrocorinth
• Epidauro (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Mycenae (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Pyramid of Hellinikon
• Pavlopetri
• Gates Of Hades (Cape Tainaro)
• Mystras (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Messini
• Apollo Bassae (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Olympia (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Dodoni
• Pindos nat.park (Papingo / Vikos)
• Meteora (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Delphi (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Plataea battlefield
• Sanctuary of the Cabeiri
• Valley of the Muses

Our on-road Historical Tours are accessible to most people with an average level of fitness and average mobility (Easy L.1 tours) and provide the option of riding with a pillion passenger. We ride asphalt-paved roads in fair condition and normal altitudes. On certain routes, we ride on coastal or mountain roads that are easily accessible, with varying landscapes, but we may also have to travel on easy dirt roads (less than 5% of the tour) or at high altitudes with varying weather conditions.

The Greek mountains are characterized by their diversity, rare scenery, and unique forests, some of which rank among the oldest natural wooded lands in Europe. Due to the unsurpassable rich flora and fauna, many are protected as National Parks. The weather at this time of year is generally good. It is cooler at night and on the higher mountain elevations.