A number of first rate ingredients are required - great sites, seamless logistics, and a passionate and knowledgeable guide. Perhaps the biggest element of all for me when planning a tour is the story. I don’t want to simply arrange a route around a series of isolated historical ruins, instead I want to weave a fascinating tale, a historical back-story where each ancient city we visit is like a jigsaw piece that sheds ever more light on the region’s history and culture. Some stories are intrinsically obvious like travelling across Turkey in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, but others require much more careful consideration.
It all starts with a ‘recce’, going out to make an on the ground reconnaissance of the sites in a proposed tour area. To me this is like a marvellous adventure, I’m like a child in a sweet shop trying to decide where and what I should start with, perhaps something Greek or maybe Byzantine, perhaps a small but untouched temple standing romantically lost in olive groves or a giant Roman city, like Ephesus, packed with tourists. I love the energy and buzz of visiting new sites, but on a recce I am preoccupied with all the practical things that need to be thought through, especially how to pick and then unite the most special of sites into a compelling and cohesive tour.In fact the first thing I do when I get to a site is let all the history disappear from my head. For me the first walk around a site is all about practicalities, not least where do I want to begin. More often than not I choose to avoid the specified main entrance and approach a site from a different angle - both physically and historically. I like to enter on an ancient road if possible, like the sacred way leading to the temple of Apollo at Didyma. I like to create a sense of drama, as at Stratonikeia, a Hellenistic foundation in Caria.
A mile away from the main entrance I take groups on a small path through trees, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, which suddenly caves away into a vast theatre with a breathtaking view. If the site is overgrown, and in rural Turkey one goat path looks pretty much like the others, sometimes it’s just a case of finding the best way around.Once I’ve figured out my route around the site, I rewalk the whole route again, and again. Navigation around a site is paramount. When I’m showing a group around I don’t want to be spending my time trying to find my way, and I certainly want my route pre-planned to the best historical and dramatic effect.Back in the office maps are pulled out and it all comes down to matching up the sites, the story, and the logistics. Many of the tours I arrange are archaeological cruises in Turkey aboard handbuilt wooden gulets. They’re a marvellous way to step back in time, not only do you avoid the hotel changes, the roads, and traffic, but it’s often the best means of exploring ancient civilisations, like the Lycians, who were essentially maritime, geared to the sea.
What finer way to visit a city like Knidos, where Praxiteles infamous naked statue of Aphrodite once stood, than to sail straight into its old commercial harbour and drop anchor beside its ancient mooring stones. Travel is a key element in the stories I tell, and whether a tour is based on roads or the sea I always try and make a virtue of the transport, by drawing on ancient parallels - be it shipwrecks, travel writing, or the classical tourists and pilgrims who visited the same sites and even bought tacky souvenirs.To know Details visit
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