After a two-year hiatus forced by the pandemic restrictions, in April 2022 THE EXAMINED LIFE’S Study Tour of Greece will resume. Thirty teachers, writers, librarians, book people will shed the mantle of their professions and became wide-eyed students exploring one of the most remarkable cultures the world has ever known. The study tour is the culmination of ExL’s graduate and professional development course featuring world-renown scholars and specialists.
From the start of the tour, Greek Study Fellows are filled with “enthusiasm” from the Greek word “enthousiasmos” – perhaps not with the same frenzy of a Delphic soothsayer, but, by any measure, in today’s idiom some would call it “radiant” – at the helm will be Mara Kanari, the program’s own muse-inspired guide. Come along with us on our journey!
To be in Greece is to be in an almost continuous state of ascendancy, in Athens climbing up a roughhewn pathway toward the imposing Parthenon or through the spiraling lanes of the old neighborhood of Antifiotika; and once one reaches an apex whether in Athens, Delphi, or Mycenae, one finds oneself within view of the sea.
We meet for the first time face to face in the lobby of our Athens Hotel, our home away from home where we start our journey and will gather again to say “ta léme argótera” and not goodbye before departing for our homes at the end of our time together.
In Delphi, one of the most venerated places in the ancient world, as travelers climb upward on the Sacred Way toward the Temple of Apollo, many will touch the omphalos, the egg-shaped marble stone that marks the center of the ancient world, and then climb higher toward the oracle itself where the Pythia, Apollo’s priestess, transmitts the god’s oft-prophetic words.
But it wasn’t only in Delphi, that the gods find their way into the hearts of travelers. In the acoustically renowned Theater of Epidaurus at the exact center of the stage, Greek Study Fellows, one-by-one, call out their names, and testify to feeling a mystifying reverberation. And in Mycenae their imaginations will flare as they envision King Agamemnon’s triumphant return home from war, only to meet his death at the hands of his wife Queen Clytemnestra.
In Olympia, where the Olympic Games originated and flourished from 776 BCE to 393 AD, before Fellows run the length of the stadium, reliving the first athletic event ever held, and the only one for thirteen Olympiads, we will meander through the beautiful pink flowering trees, through the ancient marble ruins and explore its cultural significance.
At the site of the Battle of Marathon in Marathon Greece, Fellows pay homage to the miraculous Greek victory over a massive Persian force, and will stand silent at the burial mound of 192 Greek warriors who lost their lives in the battle. The decisive victory ensured democracy for Western Civilization and gave birth to the marathon run.
Another magical time will take place on the quaint island of Hydra as artist-writer Gareth Hinds urges teachers to use a palette of earth colors and bright blues to capture the distinct light playing against the busy port in front of us and hills at our backs. In the shade of our hotel’s courtyard, Barbara Scotto, our “professor” will lead a book discussion of a contemporary novel with Greek themes.
On the highway between each site, cruising through the mountains, at the edge of the sea, one’s head swivels back and forth watching the impossibly rocky mountainsides out one side of our big purple bus and trying to catch a glimpse of the bright red poppies growing along the edge of the road as they whiz by. The brilliantly blue Aegean and bright sun shimmer in reflection while millions of olive trees dot the valleys.
What will the teachers bring back to their students in schools across the United States? Increased knowledge, inspiration, and “radiant enthusiasm.” In teacher Maria Brooks’ words, echoing the sentiment of so many, “I’ve never been here before, “but I feel like I’m home.” Greek Fellows will return to their classrooms and students with greater understanding of Greek poetry, drama, mythology, art, and culture that ignited one’s own imagination and collective memory.
In the words of Gregory Maguire “Each day is pure ecstasy,” an emotion comfortable in the realm of mysteries and in the hearts of fellow travelers. The Study Tour of Greece is a deeply moving experience, steeped in learning and the joy of discovery. With renewed vigor teachers will take up the call to the Socratic ideal, so vital to the highest quality of American education.
See our current anticipated itinerary and more Study Tour details