Day 1:  Welcome to Athens!

After being picked up from your flight and brought to the Hotel, a new, 5-star venue in the heart of Syntagma with one of the most amazing rooftop views of the Parthenon imaginable, you’ll have time to settle in before dinner. The hotel is in the center of the city and an easy walk to great shopping, cafes, bars, restaurants and the mains ites.

The heart of Athens is where ancient and modern culture blend seamlessly. Right outside your hotel, for example, is a thousand-year-old church, and up the street some of the most modern cafes and fashionable shops selling everything from Greek gold to designer shoes!

Athens is always stunning, colorful, fascinating, and welcoming! In the evening we will have a welcome dinner with a view and food worth a thousand words!

Day 2: City Vibes and Culture Tour

Breakfast with a View! The hotel has one of the best breakfast buffets in Athens, chock full of traditional Greek treats and international favorites, too.

After breakfast, around mid-morning, you’ll be able to enjoy a private (optional) guided walking tour to the city’s most famous landmarks, including, of course, The Acropolis and Parthenon, and the Acropolis Museum. It’s a great introduction to the city. There are numerous small museums you might be interested ina s well. One of my  personal favorites is the nearby Lalaounis Museum, devoted to the art of jewelry in Greece and one of three of its kind in the world.

For lunch, I will take you to one of  my favorite spots – a hidden gem off the beaten track in the heart of the city.

In the late afternoon, we will head out for a fun cooking demo and dinner with one of the city’s most renowned chefs.

Day 3:  An Ancient City with a Modern Soul

Breakfast!

Today is our Food & Culture Walk morning and it’s a tour that will stay with you forever! We will walk all over the center of Athens, visiting famous landmarks, taking a look at the fascinating layers of architecture that are part of Athens urban history, and also stopping in for tastes of everything from pastries to cheeses, olive oils andmore, as we meander through the market area. You’ll understand the spirit of Athens through its food, and get a taste of the city’s fascinating urban history between each  bite!

We will lunch together at another little hidden gem of a place, one of my favorites, the kind of place that’s hard to stumble upon on your  own, giving you a real sense of local culture, Athens style.

After lunch you’ll have plenty of free time to rest or wander, and we will provide plenty of pointers for where to go! Just a few blocks, for example, you can stroll through Kolonaki, an upscale part of the city, with lots of nice shops, boutiques, and prestigious haute couture from Greek and international designers along with nice cafés, cute little restaurants, and pastry shops. Kolonaki is the Upper East Sideof Athens, and you’ll enjoy sauntering past its prewar and modernist architecture and enjoying coffee and cocktail culture at its sidewalk eateries and cafes. We can arrange a private shopping tour tailored to your tastes and desires, if you’d like! My shopping maven knows where to find the best deals on just about everything, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how sophisticated and cutting edge are so many Greek designers.

Dinner! A taste of Modern Athens is on the menu, downtown at a great local restaurant.

Enjoy!

Days 5   - Departure for Ikaria

We will fly to Ikaria in the early afternoon and settle into our hotel. This is an easy, relaxing day and in the evening we will head to a local taverna for a delicious, simple local meal as the sun sets on the horizon. Around dinner, I’ll give you a brief introduction to the island and its unique lifestyle, food and culture.

Day 6 – All About Ikarian Longevity

This day is devoted to giving you a taste of Ikarian longevity and hospitality, of the island’s folkways and lifestyle!  And, of course, we’ll cook!

Together we will prepare a great, healthy meal based on local, seasonal ingredients, some of them wild and foraged.

We’ll have time to relax in the afternoon before setting out on a nature walk and visit to a small local monastery, where the tranquility of the island is immediately apparent.

The evening will take us to a local taverna!

Day 7: Goats & Cheese, Curds & Whey

We’ll meet in the morning and head to the hills, so to speak! Today is devoted to some of the things that have made the local diet so unique, namely the prevalence of goat’s milk and cheese as one of the longevity secrets of Ikarians! We’ll milk a few goats together with Diane’s friend and local goatherd, then head back to the kitchen to make cheese and cook lunch.

The afternoon is free to relax.

That evening, we will have dinner on the water.

Day 8:  Honey Time on Ikaria

I like to call this day Honey Time! We will visit a local beekeeper and enjoy a fascinating and in-depth look at the amazing, intriguing, complex community that are bees. We will also, of course, have a tasting of delicious local honey and then head off for a pastry demo of Ikarian sweets that call for local honey.

We will have lunch locally, then enjoy an afternoon to relax before our last dinner on the island together, as the sun sets over the Aegean.