International Tours

From 7 to 24 October 2024, about 17 days, and covering roughly 4,000 years of engaging history, stimulating art and impressive architecture.

 

In Athens, we visit the unforgettable marble buildings of the Acropolis, other archaeological sites and museums, plus some outstanding 19th-century Neo-Classical houses.

 

In southern Greece, we travel through the picturesque landscape to visit the Late Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, the harbour town of Nafplio with its Venetian, Turkish and Greek overlays, the Byzantine citadel town of Mystra, the fortified tower houses of Mani (the ultimate in neighbourhood disputes), the site of the ancient athletic games at Olympia, and the revered sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.

 

On the island of Crete, we will explore 3,500-year-old palaces and on Thira contemplate the power of the volcano which blasted a huge caldera out of the island. About 1600 BC, the volcanic explosion covered the island in 60 m of tephra. Excavations in the 1970s revealed an amazing town, much older than Pompeii, of substantial two-storey stone houses still with their contents intact.

 

HHA tours are limited in numbers and designed to give you a special insight into the various regions visited. We will enjoy local cuisine and sample wines from the resurgent Greek wine industry.
 

John Wade, a former archaeologist and museum curator, will lead the tour, which requires a degree of ambulatory fitness due to the terrain.

In May, Dr James Broadbent AM led a study tour of England focusing on the Arts and Crafts Movement that transformed the architecture, garden design and decorative arts of late 19​th​ Century and early 20​th​ Century Britain.

 

The group visited the Home Counties, the West Country and the Cotswolds. 

 

Subsequently, Dr Broadbent led a group that visited ancient sites, historic gardens, landscapes, “ruins in demesnes deserted”, private country houses and public museums in the counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Kerry and Limerick.​

​

Both tours were fully booked. 

Twelve HHA members and guests were treated to blue skies, fabulous food and wine and exceptional guides on our study tour of Auckland and the Bay of Islands.

 

The jam-packed itinerary included visits to 15 properties over ten days (including those belonging to Heritage New Zealand) with the group soaking up the history of the first contact between two cultures in the early 1800s.

​

Our study tour took guests back to this era to learn more about the relationships and visit many of the locations where events took place, such as Marsden Cross, the site where Samuel Marsden performed the first Christian service in the presence of Ruatara (1814) and the Treaty Grounds (where on 6 February, 1840, the first Treaty of Waitangi signatories were recorded.) 

 

Other highlights included heritage strolls around Mt Eden, Devonport and Warkworth and dinner at historic places such as the Warkworth Hotel and Duke of Marlborough in Russell. Plus we experienced geothermal hot springs, sailing on a tall ship in the Bay of Islands, and a delightful trip to Mansion House on Kawau Island on the Mail Run!