17 DAYS: Overnight CYPRUS Larnaca (1 nights) • Paphos (2 nights) • Nicosia (3 nights) • Kakopetria (1 night); CRETE Heraklion (1 night) • Rethymno ( 1 night) • Hania (2 nights) • Heraklion (2 nights) SANTORINI Firá (3 nights).

Visits include CYPRUS Larnaca (Church of St Lazarus, Hala Sultan Tekke)• Khirokitia • Lemba • Kourion • Kolossi • Nea Paphos (mosaics, basilica, Tombs of the Kings) • Kakopetria • Byzantine Churches of Ayios Nikolaos tis Steyis & Panayia Phorviotissa • Nicosia Museum • Büyük Han • Selimiye Mosque • Kyrenia Shipwreck Museum • Salamis • Famagusta CRETE Phaistos • Kommos • Rethymno • Souda Bay Commonwealth War Cemetery • Ayia Triada Monastery • Hania • Khora Sphakion • Samaria Gorge • Heraklion Archaeological Museum • Knossos • Lasithi Plateau SANTORINI Caldera • Akrotiri • Santorini Prehistoric Museum.

The islands of Cyprus, Crete and Santorini (Thira) lie at the heart of the Eastern Mediterranean. Their strategic location, their fine harbours and valuable resources, such as minerals and timber, have made them the focus of trade and colonisation since the Neolithic period. Close maritime links have engendered a social and economic network through which people, goods and ideas have constantly passed from island to island, fostering many social and cultural similarities between them.

'Islands in Time' explores the history of Cyprus', Crete's and Santorini's shared past, from prehistory to the present, which has led to common social practices. Yet at the same time each island is unique, so our tour also explores the way each island's peculiar history has generated its distinct ethnic composition and the particular Cypriot, Cretan or Thiran identity of its people. We identify elements that unite these islands culturally and what separates them from each other by exploring their archaeology, their urban and visual culture, and the customary practices of islanders. To achieve these various ends the tour combines visits to the remains of ancient cities and shrines, medieval citadels and palaces, modern towns and small mountain villages with opportunities to maximise your immersion in island culture by tasting local dishes, shopping in open-air markets and spending time interacting with locals. On day trips we explore each island's distinctive landscape that has played a crucial role in moulding its peculiar history, culture and identity.

In Cyprus we visit archaeological sites that span millennia, from the first Neolithic farming village of Khirokitia (c. 7000BC) to the 16th century Venetian walls of Nicosia. We explore UNESCO World Heritage Sites at Paphos (1980), centre of the cult of Aphrodite and of pre-Hellenic fertility deities, and some of the exquisitely painted Byzantine churches in the Troodos Mountains (1985). We eat local pastries in one of the many watermills that pepper the banks of the fertile Karkotis River and visit a modern mining museum in the small rural village of Katydata.

We explore Nicosia and spend a day visiting Kyrenia, Bellapais, Salamis and Famagusta. Kyrenia is a town that in many ways encapsulates the ongoing migratory complexities of the island. Before the division of the island in 1974, Greeks predominantly inhabited the town, along with a sizeable British community - a legacy of British rule of the island (1878-1960). Within Kyrenia's 16th century Venetian castle, built on the remains of a Crusader castle, houses the oldest trading ship and its cargo (4th century BC) ever to be recovered from the bottom of the sea in its Shipwreck Museum. Nearby is the village of Bellapais, immortalised in Lawrence Durrell's Bitter Lemons. The history of the ancient city of Salamis was recorded by the Greek historian Herodotus, and the nearby port town of Famagusta provided the historical setting for the Venetian story recounted in The Hundred Fables by Italian author Giraldo Cinthio; this inspired Shakespeare's play Othello.

In Crete we journey from the Minoan Palaces of Knossos and Phaistos to the small coastal fishing villages of Khora Sphakion and Ayia Roumeli. In Heraklion, Rethymno and Hania, we explore the legacies of Venetian, and Ottoman architecture that mingle around their harbors. Crete is renowned for its natural beauty and diverse landscape and our travels include visits to the fertile Lasithi Plateau, rumoured to be the birthplace of Zeus and famous for its white-sailed windmills once used to irrigate the land, and to the secluded peninsula of Akrotiri where the monks of the 17th century Ayia Triada Monastery sell homemade wine and olive oil. At the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Souda Bay we visit the graves of those who fell during the Battle of Crete in 1941.

We complete our tour in Santorini, one of the most dramatically beautiful islands in the Mediterranean, which is famed for its golden sunsets. This island was the site of the volcanic eruption that contributed to the downfall of the Minoan Civilisation. Some believe that it inspired the myth of Atlantis. A half-day boat excursion provides us with views of the island's active crater. A highlight of our journey to Santorini is a visit to the Minoan Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri (due to be reopened in 2012). Dubbed the 'Minoan Pompeii', the flourishing town was at once destroyed and preserved by the volcanic eruption in 1450 BC that rendered the island uninhabitable for about two centuries while the land cooled and plant and animal life regenerated. The site was re-discovered in 1860 by workers quarrying volcanic ash (the main ingredient of pozzolanic cement used in underwater construction) for use in the Suez Canal, but serious excavations at the site didn't begin until 1967. Exploring the contemporary culture of Santorini is an important part of our visit to this island and time has been allocated to allow you to view modern art exhibitions and to taste traditional local food and wine. Here you will have an opportunity to relax, soak up the natural beauty of the island and enjoy the charm of its people.