Photo: IGS members in front of the Parthenon former temple on the Athenian Acropolis with guide Marika Fotouchou.

On Sunday 23rd March twenty-six Irish Georgian Society members commenced a six-day tour of the city of Athens, celebrated as the cradle of western civilisation. Tour leader Dan Calley curated an exceptional programme. The tour encompassed both the major Greek archaeological sites, such as the Acropolis and the Eleusis, with the superb guides, archaeologists Marika Fotouchou and Popi Papangeli, respectively, to quintessentially IGS ‘not on the tourist trail/ behind the scenes’ visits, to the ruinous palace of the former Greek Royal Family with President of the Friends of Tatoi, Vassilis Koutsavlis and the millennials old historic home of Lydia Carras, who co-founded with her late husband Costa Greece’s most respected environmental and cultural heritage NGO, Elliniki Etairia (ELLET). Special thanks also to Lucie Willan for her extraordinary tour of the gardens of the Mediterranean Garden Society at Sparoza and Dr George Manginis for his tour of the superb Benaki Museum. Further augmenting our understanding of Athen's unique and ancient history was journalist and author of ‘Athens: city of wisdom’, Bruce Clark who accompanied us to many of the sites and provided in depth interpretation.