Itinerary for Greece Turkey Study Abroad Experience 2010
May 15 (Saturday) Bucknell campus
10am - 1pm First group meeting
Discussion: logistics of travel; last minute details
Beginning language instruction in modern Greek and Turkish
Introduction to the main themes of the course
Reading: Guthenke, Introduction and Ch 1, and selections from Goldhill
May 16 (Sunday) Bucknell campus
10am-1pm Second group meeting
Practice speaking elementary Greek and Turkish
Discussion: What is imaginary about history? How does the history of the Mediterranean world influence modernity?
PM Departure from Philadelphia or NYC to Athens
1. May 17 (Monday) Arrival in Athens
Transfer to hotel
Orientation reception at HERC
Dinner together at local taverna
Overnight in Athens
Reading: selections from Greece: A Traveler's Literary Companion
2. May 18 (Tuesday) Athens
Morning visit to the Acropolis
Topic: "Politics and Religion"
Lunch together and discussion
Afternoon visit to new Acropolis Museum, walking from there to sites in Plaka to discuss the birth of the modern Greek nation (statue of Mavromichalis; monument of Lysicrates)
Discussion in Plaka
Topic: "Nationhood and Imagination"
Dinner on own in Plaka
Overnight in Athens
Reading: Camp, Ch. 4; Guthenke Chs. 3 & 4; selections from Greece: A Traveler's Literary Companion
3. May 19 (Wednesday) Athens
Morning visit to National Archaeological Museum
Topic: "Art, Culture, History"
Lunch discussion
Afternoon free for exploration -- no sleeping allowed
Overnight in Athens
Reading: Camp and Fisher, Ch. on Mycenaean Greece; Iliad Books 1, 16, 24; Odyssey Book 2
4. May 20 (Thursday) Athens
Mid-Morning visit to Athenian Agora and Museum
Topic: "Democracy: Reality and Imagination"
Lunch together
Walk to major monuments of Turkish and Byzantine Athens: Monastiraki square,Fethiye camii, Turkish entrance to the wheat bazaar, Kapnikarea church
Evening free in Plaka
Reading: Camp, Athenian Agora, Excavations in the Heart of Classical Athens, Chs. on Archaic and Classical Agora; Lysias, On the Murder of Eratosthenes
5. May 21 (Friday) Athens to Delphi
Morning departure for Delphi via bus
Stop in Thebes to see museum and lunch
Topic: "Culture outside Athens"
Mid-afternoon arrival at Delphi and discussion at hotel
Topic: "Delphi in Cultural Imagination"
Dinner on own at local taverna
Overnight in Delphi
Reading: Sophocles' Oedipous Rex; selections from Herodotus' Histories; and Greece: A Traveler's Literary Companion
6. May 22 (Saturday) Delphi
Morning tour of Delphi site and museum
Topic: "Identity Politics and the Workings of the Delphic Oracle"
Picnic lunch gathering outside museum for discussion
Afternoon free
Suggested afternoon excursions: monastery and church of Hosios Loukas; swimming at Delphi's port of Krisa
Overnight in Delphi
Reading: Homeric Hymn to Apollo; selections from Smith, A Literary Companion to Travel in Greece
7. May 23 (Sunday) Ancient Corinth
Morning bus from Delphi to Corinth with pit-stop at Isthmus
Dinner at local taverna in Old Corinth
Overnight in Old Corinth
journal entry #1 due
Reading: selections from modern poets George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis, and Constantinos Cavafy; Bible, Corinthians I, II
8. May 24th (Monday) Ancient Corinth
Guided visit of site and the museum by Guy Sanders, Director of Excavations
Topic: "Frankish, Byzantine, and Turkish Corinth"
Visit to the running excavation
Late afternoon on own
optional: Hike with Larson up to the top of Acrocorinth to see Frankish and Byzantine remains
Pre-dinner discussion of Corinth
Dinner at local taverna in ancient Corinth
Overnight in Corinth
Reading: selections from Pausanias' Travels in Greece; and Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad
7. May 25th (Tuesday) Athens to Rhodes
Bus to Athens airport from Corinth
Early afternoon flight from Athens to Rhodes
Dinner together in Old Rhodes town
Topic: "Rhodes: Bridge between Ottoman, Greek and Western-European Culture"
Overnight on Rhodes in Old Town (Pension Minos?)
Reading: Pindar Olympian 7; excerpts from Angel's The Jews of Rhodes: The History of a Sephardic Community and Varon, The Juderia
8. May 26th (Wednesday) Rhodes
morning view and discussion of cultural geography of Greece and Turkey
Visit Turkish library and mosques of Old Town
Topics: "Ottoman Learning and Scholarship"
optional: archaeological museum with Prof Larson<
Overnight on Rhodes
9. May 27th (Thursday) Rhodes
Visit Palace of the Knights in Old Town
Topic: "The Knights Templar in the Eastern Mediterrannean"
Overnight on Rhodes
journal entry #2 due
Reading: excerpts from Vertot; Brockman; Kagay and Vann
10. May 28th (Friday) Rhodes to Marmaris, Turkey
Breakfast meeting
Ferry to Marmaris
Lunch and some Turkish coffee in Marmaris
Dolmuş to Bodrum
Afternoon Guided Visit to Underwater Archaeological Museum of Bodrum
Topics: "Trade and the Spread of Culture"
"Western Europeans on the Eastern Aegean coast"
Overnight in Bodrum
Reading: Herodotus, Histories, Book 1, opening sections; also excerpts from Bradshaw; Goodwin
11. May 29th (Saturday) Bodrum to Selçuk
Transport from Bodrum to Selçuk
Ephesus museum in early afternoon, together with brief stop at Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Topics: "Wonders of the World"
Late Afternoon trip to the TOMB of St. John at the basilica with Prof. Larson
Topic: "Relics and Religion"
Reading: Bible, John; Strelan, Ch 1
12. May 30th (Sunday) Ephesus museum; Selçuk
Archaeological site of Ephesus (from upper entrance)
Site tour, including new Roman villa excavations
Topics: "Cosmopolitan Ephesus"
Picnic lunch and discussion while sitting in theater of Ephesus
Afternoon pilgrimage to the House of the Virgin Mary with Prof Larson
Topic: "Religious sites and history"
Overnight in Selçuk
optional: Turkish bath experience
journal entry #3 due
Reading: Bible, Ephesians; Woodward, Ch. 4
13. May 31 (Monday) İzmir to İstanbul
Dolmuş to İzmir airport
Flight to İstanbul
Hotel transfer and lunch
Study/Writing/Reading Time
Overnight in İstanbul
Reading: excerpts from Kinzer; Lewis, Chs. 1, 2, 5.
14. June 1 (Tuesday) İstanbul
Architectural Tour of İstanbul with guide
Topic: "Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Architectural Commonalities"
Rest of Day free to wander and explore
Overnight in İstanbul
Reading: Faroghi, Chs. 5 & 7
15. June 2 (Wednesday) İstanbul
Morning tour of Haghia Sophia
Topic: "Justinian"
Tour of Blue Mosque
Topic: "Islamic Art and Ottoman Competition"
Lunch near Sultanahmet Square and post-lunch meeting in hippodrome of Constantine
Dinner on own
Overnight in İstanbul
Reading: Freeley Istanbul: The Imperial City, Chs. 23 and 24
16. June 3 (Thursday) İstanbul
Breakfast and post-breakfast discussion of "east-west" distinctions
Morning visit to Suleymaniye Mosque
Afternoon free. Suggestion: Spice Bazaar; ferries to Asia; Grand Bazaar
Dinner on own
Overnight in İstanbul
journal entry #4 due
17. June 4 (Friday) İstanbul
Morning visit to Archaeological Museum
Topic: "Greek artifacts in 'Turkey'"
Tour of Topkapi
Topic: "Sultans and Ottoman Rule"
Late afternoon free
optional: visit the Byzantine church of Chora with Prof. Larson
Dinner on own
Overnight in İstanbul
Reading: Lewis, Chs. 3-4
18. June 5 (Saturday) ) İstanbul to Philadelphia
Final paper/photoessay due June 11
