UK-based Peter Sommer Travels decided to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a special guided tour of the Peloponnese Peninsula for 2016. Set for May 18-June 1, the 15-day tour of Greece will take guests to six UNESCO World Heritage sites that include the classical wonders of Olympia, the huge Bronze Age fortifications of Tiryns and Mycenae, Epidaurus and the “eye-popping” Byzantine Mystras. The tour also promises to veer off the beaten track and explore the perched villages and gorge-side monasteries as well as the romantic landscape of the region.
“The long and often spectacular history of the Peloponnese makes it a veritable heartland of European and Western culture,” says company founder Peter Sommer. “From the first farmers of the Neolithic to the Bronze Age Mycenaeans, the glories of Classical Greece and Rome and the splendors of the Byzantine Empire, all the way up to the Ottoman Empire and the Greek War of Independence, the Peloponnese has often been center-stage to key historical events.”
The tour costs US$5,651 per person and includes ground transport, accommodations, most meals, crew and guide services, and all entrance fees and tips on excursions. Airfares are not included.
Peter Sommers Travels, headed by archeologist and documentary film-maker Peter Sommer, offers more than 20 different expert-led land tours and sailing journeys to ancient sites. Yes, the same one who in 1994 walked 2,000 miles across Turkey retracing the route of Alexander the Great.