Category Archive: Archaeology/History

Ancient marvels in a monumental setting: Herakleia Latmos Have you ever heard of Kapıkırı? Almost certainly not: it is a small, poor and quite ramshackle village of a few stone houses, a few kilometres off the main road ... Read More

Interactive archaeology online: Bringing the past back to life At Peter Sommer Travels, we are constantly engaged in making ancient monuments accessible and approachable to our guests, usually in a fairly hands-on manner, by "bringing antiquity back to life" ... Read More

The Secret History - hidden corners of Athens Last November, travel journalist Dana Facaros joined our guides in Athens for a press preview of our Exploring Athens tour. She appears to have enjoyed it: her text appeared in ... Read More

The statue of Zeus at Olympia: an Ancient Wonder in Greece Look at these. Not very impressive, are they? Just some flat pieces of baked clay, about 30cm (12”) or so across, sort of wavy in the middle and surrounded by ... Read More

Feasting - Celebrating a Very Ancient Tradition Feasting - for most, the term conjures up colourful associations of flavours, aromas and convivial experiences. For us archaeologists, it describes a significant social activity that can be identified across ... Read More

Rumeli Hisarı Fortress at Istanbul – A Castle and a City Between Two Worlds The Fortress of Rumeli Hisarı, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus and in the northernmost district of Istanbul, is a striking monument. Every year, hundreds of thousands of ... Read More

Terrace House 2 at Ephesus: a Slice of Roman City Life Ephesus - one of the most famous and most visited archaeological sites in the world. The stupendous remains of what was Ephesus (that's it's Roman name; the original Greek version ... Read More

Karanlik Kilise (the Dark Church) in Göreme Open Air Museum, Cappadocia This is the 100th post on the Peter Sommer Travels Blog. At this stage, a little over three years after launching the project, we feel that we have found a ... Read More

Will the real Augustus please stand up? Last week marked the 2000th anniversary of the death of Augustus, that most famous of Roman emperors, on August 19th of AD 14. To mark the occasion, Paul Beston, who ... Read More

Sport in the Ancient Greek world The fascination with sporting prowess goes back a long way – in fact, we come across its early ancestry on many of our tours in the ancient Greek world. The ... Read More

Ancient Morgantina on Sicily - Living on the Edge The island of Sicily was home to numerous cities founded or settled by Greeks during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, leaving behind a rich legacy of architectural remains, especially ... Read More

Gallipoli 1915: Agamemnon returns to Troy The Gallipoli Campaign, a pivotal event in the First World War, began 99 years ago, on April 25th, 1915. Paul Beston, who has newly joined Peter Sommer Travels' roster of ... Read More

Eleusis in Greece: An Enduring Archaeological Mystery Half an hour's drive from central Athens, along the main motorway that links the Greek capital with the south and west of the country, lies the suburb of Elefsina, known ... Read More

A Cosmopolitan Heritage Lost: The Jews of Thessaloniki We are happy to welcome Nota Karamaouna, who accompanies most of our tours in Greece and is our tour expert for Cappadocia, as a contributor to Peter Sommer Travels' blog. ... Read More

Minoan Frescoes: Windows into Past Worlds The largest of the Greek Islands, Crete, has been on our list of destinations since 2013. The island is famous for reams of reasons, such as its long and turbulent ... Read More