Classical Adventure

Visit the awesome monuments built by Pericles on the Acropolis during Athens' Golden Age in the 5th century BC. On that hill, the goddess Athena reigned supreme. You'll see the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erechtheion with the Kore Porch, famous for its Caryatid columns.

Of course, you'll visit the centerpiece of the Acropolis, the 2,500 years old yet ageless Parthenon. For this huge temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, architects skillfully avoided straight lines and right angles to counterbalance the unsightly optical illusion called optical sagging, which deforms straight lines.

Delve deeper into antiquity at the contemporary archaeological museum open in 2009 at the base of the Acropolis hill, in the hope that it will one day house the superb and much disputed 5th century BC Parthenon Sculptures that were moved to England in the 19th century by Lord Elgin. For now, visitors can view a Permanent Collection with artifacts from the 7th century BC to the 5th century AD, and peer at excavations through a glass floor.

The afternoon is unscheduled.

Travel to the ancient city of Delphi.

Discover one of the most beautiful sites of ancient Greece. Visit the Temple of Apollo, the foreboding Sanctuary of Earth and the Sacred Way, lined with the treasuries of the ancient Greek cities.

See artifacts and treasures on display at the Archaeological Museum, notably the celebrated bronze statue known as the Delphic Charioteer.

Cross the Gulf of Corinth over the elegant Rion-Antirion Fixed Link Bridge. It was inaugurated in 2004 as the world's longest cable-stayed bridge, its continuous deck nearly 1,000 feet longer than the Golden Gate's suspended span.

In the port of Patras, board a Superfast ferry for a crossing of the Ionian and Adriatic Seas to Italy.

Board your coach and drive across the Apennine Mountains to the scenic Bay of Naples.

Walk through the Roman city recognized by UNESCO as a treasure of Western Civilization. See how well-to-do Romans lived 2,000 years ago, until Mt. Vesuvius all at once destroyed this city in one day and preserved it for all time.

Continue to the fabled town of poets and sunsets, also renowned for its embroidery and intarsia (wood-inlay).

Board a fast hydrofoil for a crossing to the Isle of Capri, which rises over the blue Tyrrhenian Sea near the Bay of Naples.

Board your coach and travel up the autostrada, all the way to Rome.

Discover outstanding masterpieces collected for the Vatican Museums since the early 1500s. See exceptional statues from antiquity, such as Laocoön and His Son and the Apollo Belvedere, as well as stunning Renaissance paintings, notably the The School of Athens fresco in the Raphael Rooms.

Walk through the plaza built on the site of Domitian's Stadium. Lined with grand buildings and trendy cafes, this oblong square is adorned with statues and fountains, notably Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.

View a wealth of artwork from the 15th and 16th centuries at the Galleria dell'Accademia, including the best known of all Florentine treasures, Michelangelo's monumental David.

In the nave of the Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as the Duomo, visitors marvel at a cathedral begun in 1296 and consecrated in 1436 that remains one of the largest in Christendom. It houses precious masterpieces, notably Domenico di Michelino's 1320 painting titled Dante holding the Divine Comedy.

Next on your program: the church that's the final resting place of luminaries such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo. Santa Croce is also famous for its art treasures, notably the Cappella dei Pazzi, a chapel attributed to Brunelleschi that's hailed as a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture.