Day 1
You should arrive at the airport to take your flight to Athens where we stay one night at the modern four-star Metropolitan Hotel with breakfast.

Day 2
This morning you have a walking tour of Athens, visiting the Acropolis, so fittingly one of the great wonders of the ancient world. Ascending the hill you soon experience the grandeur of the Parthenon – its blindingly white marble columns with their perfect symmetry and balance completely dominate the skyline.

We also visit the new Acropolis Museum with its amazing glass floor displaying ancient houses and streets below. After a stroll through the Agora, the political, social and commercial heart of the ancient city, we explore the picturesque old district of Plaka. Dating from the end of the 18th century when Athens had shrunk to little more than a village below the Acropolis, it’s utterly charming, crammed with neo-classical mansions, balconies overflowing with geranium pots and twisting cobbled lanes lined with homely tavernas. After some free time for a relaxed lunch and some shopping in the nearby flea-market, you are at leisure for the rest of the day. Later, we leave for Piraeus harbour where the SPV Star Clipper awaits! After time to settle in, we enjoy our first dinner on board, as our ship slips its moorings and heads out through the city’s twinkling lights towards our first port of call, Monemvasia in the Peloponnese.

Day 3
Take an early stroll on deck before breakfast on your first day and savour the fresh sea breeze as the sails silently propel your ship through the azure Aegean.

Known as the ‘Gibraltar of the East’, Monemvasia’s vast rocky bulk juts out of the mountainous coastline of the Peloponnese, linked to the mainland by a narrow causeway - a superb defensive position. It reached its zenith during the medieval period, supporting a population of 40,000, when it was known for its superb wine (Richard III’s brother drowned in a vat of it!). It was a valuable prize and was besieged and attacked numerous times. During WW II a large number of New Zealanders were successfully evacuated to Crete from here. Monemvasia has been sympathetically restored and is considered a wonderful time-capsule of a medieval Greek town. We have plenty of time to wander through the maze of narrow pedestrian streets and relax in one of the tavernas. The more energetic may try the steep path up to the ruins of the Upper Town – on a clear day you may catch a glimpse of the mountains of Crete!

This evening, as the sun sets behind us we sail eastwards, the Star Clipper cutting through the clear waters, bound for the Greek Islands, probably the world’s most beautiful archipelago.

Day 4
Stand on deck this morning for one of the finest experiences Greece has to offer, sailing into the vast caldera of Santorini. Mere words struggle to describe the extraordinary magnitude of the panorama before us: multi-hued 1,000- foot cliffs rise above the dark-blue sea, their rim crowned by the blindingly white cubist architecture so typical of the Greek islands. If the views from below are amazing, the spectacular vista from the top is simply breathtaking! Back in the Bronze Age, most of the island was blown apart by one of the biggest volcanic explosions in history, destroying the sophisticated Minoan civilization in Crete, just 60 miles away. A small crater still bubbles away on an island in the middle of the bay and you can easily spot the pumice stones floating in the water. The main town of Fira perched high above the harbour is nowadays easily reached by cable car. Our included trip visits the highest point on the island, as well as some of the most interesting of the island’s small villages. We end our tour with free time in the stunning cliff-top village of Oia before we drive back to Fira. This evening, the ship does not set sail until later so that you can enjoy the extraordinary colours of the setting sun across this amazing and unique landscape.

Day 5
Today we anchor in Patmos - one of the smaller islands of the Dodecanese; however, what it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty and history. It’s been called the ‘Jerusalem of the Aegean’ for it was here that St. John the Theologian wrote the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. Our included tour departs the pretty port of Skala for the Grotto of the Apocalypse, where St. John lived for two years. This small cave is now a beautiful little chapel and is still an active place of worship. Towering above the main town of Chora is the imposing 11th century fortified monastery of St. John: an architectural masterpiece, with eight chapels, courtyards, terraces and galleries with stunning 12th century frescoes. The Monastery’s museum has manuscripts from the 5th century, jewelled chalices, crowns, crucifixes, and vestments, along with an early work of El Greco. We also visit the three hundred year old mansion of the Simandiris family. This exceptional example of island architecture houses a fine collection of antiques, with gilded mirrors, silverware, paintings, chandeliers and exquisite furnishings. The rest of the day is free to wander around the meandering streets of whitewashed houses before setting sail in the late afternoon.

Day 6
Chios is one of the richest and largest islands in the Aegean, yet it remains little-known. The island has produced some of the most successful Greek shipping entrepreneurs, who still control around 50% of the Greek merchant marine. Its southern half has been known since ancient times for its cultivation of the mastic plant – a precursor to today’s chewing gum and highly prized. Our included tour will pass through the Kambos area with its grand rambling mansions and citrus groves and we’ll also visit Pyrgi, a village unique in Greece, as all the houses are intricately decorated in a geometric ‘sgraffito’ style. Our next stop will be the village of Mesta with its labyrinthine vaulted streets – an amazingly well-preserved living medieval village. This evening we leave Greece as we sit down for dinner amid the wood and polished brass splendour of our luxurious nautical home.

Day 7
This morning brings our first glimpse of Turkey’s stunning Aegean coastline as the Star Clipper glides into the small port of Dikili. From here our included guided tour explores the fascinating ancient Hellenistic city of Pergamon. Perched on a high rocky outcrop with stunning views, the city was famed for its library, which rivalled Alexandria’s. Knowledge then, as now, was power and so concerned were the Egyptians about this competition, they cut off supplies of papyrus, thus prompting the invention of parchment. We’ll see the remains of the Temple of Trajan, the altar of Zeus and the steepest ancient amphitheatre in the world. Pergamon was also renowned as a healing centre so we visit the Asclepion sanctuary where the sick came to be cured by having their dreams analysed! We return to our ship in the afternoon to continue our journey along the scenic coastline to our next port of call, Canakkale and Troy.

Day 8
Today we anchor at Canakkale, the main port along the Asian side of the famous Dardanelles Strait and from where we drive inland for an included guided tour of Troy. Who can forget the famous ‘Wooden Horse’ story, when Queen Helen of Sparta eloped with Prince Paris and her enraged husband followed - classic stuff! Today, Troy is a complex archaeological site covering nine separate cities and remains a romantic and alluring place to anyone who has read about the heroic struggles in Homer’s Iliad. On the other side of the strait lies the Gallipoli peninsula, the scene of one of the most tragic campaigns of the First World War. Over 35,000 Australian, British and New Zealanders perished here, their deaths commemorated in the many cemeteries dotted along this now peaceful and rural area. For anyone not wishing to tour Troy, we can arrange a visit (subject to minimum numbers) to the Lone Pine memorial and Anzac Cove, where the Australians landed by mistake and had to scale steep cliffs and ravines under constant bombardment In the afternoon we set sail on the final leg of our journey through the Sea of Marmara, to the great city of Istanbul.

Day 9
Istanbul is a revelation: an exotic city of huge contrasts and a centre of shifting civilisations for 2,500 years. Chosen by Emperor Constantine as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, it then became the capital of the Ottoman Empire and probably nowhere in the world can you find such an array of diverse monuments and fascinating places to see. We visit the Blue Mosque, symbol of the city - you cannot fail to be impressed by its grace and harmony, but its real attraction is the interior lined with 20,000 blue Iznik tiles and Arabesque inscriptions. Its beauty is hardly surprising when you consider that many of the same craftsmen who built it also worked on the Taj Mahal!

We continue to the breathtaking Haghia Sophia, conceived as a mirror of the heavens, arguably the greatest church ever built and quite simply one of the world’s greatest architectural achievements. Built in the 6th century it was the largest enclosed space in the world for 1,400 years! The artistic highlights are the amazing Byzantine mosaics with their vibrant golds, reds and yellows. And, just as you leave, you see a beautifully crafted massive bronze door dating from 300BC – the sheer skill of these ancient artisans will never cease to astound you.

For thousands of years Istanbul was at the centre of overland trade routes and its Grand Bazaar became home to merchants from throughout the known world. Its 4,000 shops sell all sorts of goods: mainly gold, silver, leatherwear, ceramics and carpets and in the maze of tiny shops surrounding this unique institution you can still find tiny, industrious workshops.

We end our tour at the Topkapi Palace, the glittering imperial residence of the Sultans for a thousand years. Today, it is a spectacular museum, but in its heyday it was a city within a city, home to over 4,000 elite guards, eunuchs, courtiers and, of course, the ladies of the Harem. There is a superb display of arms from throughout history: crossbows, firearms inlaid with ivory and beautifully crafted armour from as far afield as Japan. The Treasury is breathtaking too, with an amazing array of jewellery including the world’s fifth largest diamond, emeralds, jewel-encrusted thrones and the famous Topkapi dagger – all displaying outstanding craftsmanship.

After our tour we check into our hotel for the night, the four-star Crowne Plaza Old City on bed and breakfast. Alternatively, you may upgrade to the sumptuous five-star Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel with rooms overlooking the Bosphorus.

Day 10
Today at the appropriate time you will be taken to the airport for your flight home.

SPV Star Clipper
Within the setting of this evocative and stylish Tall Ship is a world for those who seek a genuine sailing experience and wish to re-discover a maritime tradition, without sacrificing hard-earned creature comforts. The ship glides effortlessly through the waves, just like her predecessors did a century and a half ago, but unlike then, nowadays the sails are unfurled by computer, hammocks have been replaced by sumptuously appointed cabins and ‘hard tack’ by exquisite cuisine!

This beautiful, traditionally-built ship is living proof that craftsmanship is far from dead, making extensive use of rich hardwoods, polished brass and wrought iron fittings, marble, deep pile carpets and tasteful furnishings which all together have created a ship of outstanding harmony, beauty and luxury. The Star Clipper is not just a cruise ship and is of a sufficiently intimate size to sail close to the shore where the views are stunning, plus visiting small, fascinating ports: so not only do you have a wonderful seafaring experience, you are simultaneously able to learn much about the areas you are sailing through.

Ships are nothing without their crew and as you would expect on this prestigious craft, from the Stewards to the Captain – all are commensurate professionals. You will love the informality of life on board too and you will be amazed that even within the confines of the ship you can always find places to be alone if you wish, perhaps catch up on some reading or, as the sun sets, just lean over the teak rail, drink in hand and reflect how good life can be!