Welcome to The Greek Project 2026
From the fortress-dominated, seaside port of Rethymnon we’ll be making our first forays this spring into Elusive Crete, a tour we’ve been much looking forward to, and are planning to do again in spring 2027. The Cretan Lefka Ori mountain range and Psilloritis plateau are a wonderful, flower and scent-strewn paradise at this time of year. But before the island gets too overcrowded with tourists (or too hot!), springtime in Crete equally offers urban pleasures, not least in Chania, a jewel in a once Venetian imperial crown. Its smaller sister, Rethymon, however, is full of its own historic charms and this coming April will be our base too for our regular, week-long intensive, Greek language Adventures in Greek (1) course for intermediate and more advanced learners. (Next year’s language Adventures whose dates are also advertised under this section, is sure to have its own exciting venue!)
For our elementary and upper elementary language course Adventures in Greek Language (2) this September, we’ll be returning to our already much-loved lakeside town of Ioannina set amidst the spectacular mountains of Epirus. And we’re delighted to be able to offer two old favourites. A Thracian Homecoming – also in September – is exactly what it says on the tin, as our Thracian base in Xanthi was the place in which Ellie grew up. But then, once magnificently multi-ethnic Jewish, Muslim and Christian Salonika is where she spent much of her adult life. Knowing the city like the back of her hand, this is also the place we both love to explore, as we will be doing in our short autumn tour in October.
We conceived our first not-for-profit study-tours to express solidarity with a country in adversity. That intention has not diminished. Each tour throws up aspects of a country – and peoples – whose physical beauty, cultural depth and exuberance for life have to be set against an often troubled recent past and austere present. But instead of shying away from these realities our head-on engagement with the histories, languages, cultures, cuisines and precious yet extremely fragile environment of the region has paid dividends in the rewards to our participants.
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Our featured tours for 2026 are yours for the viewing. And don’t forget too to have a look at our tailor-made tours aimed at realising your own educational, recreational or fact-finding passions and agendas.
You can also follow us on facebook and Instagram.
We look forward to your company!
Ellie and Mark
Thanks are also due to Ilias Michailidis at Riverland for the kayaking pic in the title caption as to Andrew Kerr for the pic of Eugenia’s band also in the title captions, and for the Nestos river pic in the Thracian Journey caption. Visit andrewkerrphotography.org
2026 Programme
What makes us different?
The Greek Project began as a conversation between friends. Partly that was about the economic crisis, and how we might do something small to promote ordinary Greek people in their hour of need to an audience that already knew that there was something more to Greece than its negative press.
But that proposition raised a more general question about the nature of modern travel. How does one get to know any country in a more than a skin-deep way? Why is it, for instance, that when one goes on a guided visit of some really stunning place, what one invariably gets to hear is banal, the resulting impression being that ‘tourism’ nearly always plays safe, shying away from the difficult, problematic – but often most seriously interesting things about a country’s past? And why is it always so difficult to genuinely encounter its living people other than in a superficial manner?
Tailor-made Tours
If you have an idea for a study-tour tailor-made to your group, circle or college department, why not get in touch with us by clicking on the enquiry form below? We will scope your idea on request and while we can organise a bespoke tour for any number of people however small, prices become comparable with our featured tours with a minimum of ten guaranteed participants. Tailor-made tours can be organised as a long-weekend, a short or full week, or longer.
Telephone: 07899 637284
Or send us an email