Island of the Knights

Castles, moats, knights, and gods may be the stuff of fairytales, but in Rhodes, Greece, the fantasy is alive. Inhabited since about 4,000 B.C. this island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, is at a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, creating a rich mosaic of different cultures and civilizations, including influence from the…

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The Land of the Gods

Mythology was at the heart of everyday life in Ancient Greece and even today, modern Greeks continue the tradition of recounting their oral history in the form of vivid stories of gods, heroes, and monsters. Greek mythology, that body of wildly imagined, fantastical oral and artistic teachings created by the ancient Greeks, is an integral…

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Italy’s Melting Pot

Because of its vulnerable geographic exposure, Sicily was much dominated during its history, by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Normans, Germans, Arabs, French, Spanish, Bourbons, and Italians, each leaving their architectural and cultural footprints, but never conquering the fiercely proud and independent spirit of its people. While Sicily has only been part of Italy since 1861, the…

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