The guides who lead our escorted holidays in Turkey, Greece, and Italy, are true specialists - archaeologists, historians and travel writers - natural enthusiasts steeped in Turkish, Greek, and Sicilian history and culture. We choose our tour guides not just because they are extremely knowledgeable, but because they are great communicators and friendly hosts. They are there to bring the history and archaeological sites to life. They are also there to make your holiday in Turkey, Greece, or Sicily as enjoyable, relaxing, and inspirational as possible.
Peter Sommer
Peter studied Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University before completing a Masters on the archaeology of Central Asia. He has taught at Birmingham University and Istanbul’s Bogazici University. In 1994 he walked 2,000 miles across Turkey, retracing the route of Alexander the Great, and fell deeply in love with the country. For this epic journey he received The Explorers Club of America Young Expeditioners’ award. Two years into a PhD. at University College London, he was seduced into television to work on In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (BBC/PBS).
An award winning documentary producer, he has shot around the world for acclaimed series like Millennium: A thousand years of history (BBC/CNN), Commanding Heights: the Battle for the World Economy (PBS/BBC), and Tales from the Green Valley (BBC).
Dr. Michael Metcalfe
Like Peter, Michael studied for his PhD. at University College London, however Michael took the trouble to actually finish his - focusing on the ancient Greek cities of western Turkey!
For many years Michael was Assistant Professor in Ancient History at The Mediterranean Center for Arts and Sciences in Sicily, before joining us full time in January 2009. A specialist in deciphering ancient inscriptions, Michael is the co-editor of the Blue Guide to the Aegean Islands and is currently revising the Blue Guide to Sicily. He speaks Greek, Italian, and Turkish. Michael has led many gulet tours for us previously in Turkey, Greece and Italy, and received rapturous praise. Not only is he ‘enthusiastic, charming, and knowledgeable’, he is also a natural born organiser. We are delighted to have him as one of our key team.
Heinrich Hall
Fluent in 4 languages (including Greek), Heinrich has lectured at Trinity College Dublin and was for many years the Assistant Director of the Irish Institute at Athens. A resident of Athens, he writes a weekly archaeology page in Greece’s oldest English-language paper, the Athens News, and has a weekly radio slot on the same topic.
He has excavated throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, and has an infectious enthusiasm for the history, traditions, cuisine, music and modern culture of the area. An experienced and popular guide for our tours in Greece and Turkey, he is currently finishing his PhD. for University College Dublin, and is Co-Editor of the Blue Guide to the Aegean Islands.
Serdar Akerdem
Peter has been working with Serdar since 1999, when Serdar acted as the local fixer on a BBC/CNN documentary series Peter was filming around the Antalya region of Turkey.
A man of many talents, not only is he a highly experienced location manager and tour guide, Serdar is a genteel, enthusiastic and knowledgeable archaeologist. He has lectured at a number of Turkish universities, and excavated and surveyed widely along Turkey’s southern shore, including major work at Patara, Tlos, and Kaunos. His major passions are Roman architecture and maritime archaeology. With his intimate understanding of the Turkish language, culture, and of course ancient sites, Serdar is a very valued member of our tour leaders.
Marcello Baglioni
Marcello first began his love affair with Italian food and wine as an 8 year old sous-chef in the kitchen of his father’s Italian restaurant in Hollywood, California. He ended up going into the food business, working as the manager of a successful catering company, before moving to Sicily where he has lived for the last ten years, immersing himself into the island’s history, food and culture.
Married to a native Sicilian, Marcello worked for many years as a Program Director at The Mediterranean Center for Arts and Sciences in Syracusa. Michael Metcalfe, Peter’s right hand man and our Italian tour specialist was a lecturer there at the time, and fortuitously brought his knowledge and tour leading skills to our attention. Since then Marcello, has set himself up as a one man Sicilian culture specialist, focusing on ‘Slow Food’ and ‘Slow Travel’. He’s done so well, he has been selected as Sicily’s top travel specialist by CondeNast Traveller magazine and one of their World’s Top 126 Travel Specialists. We’re delighted he’ll be leading our first ever Sicilian gastronomic tour.
Dr. Richard Bayliss
After a degree in archaeology Richard lived in Turkey working at the British Institute in Ankara as resident illustrator and surveyor. He has travelled widely around the country over many years, surveying and excavating many celebrated sites, from a church with its mosaics falling into the sea at Sinop, to the hidden rock-cut villages of Cappadocia, to the Byzantine palaces, fortifications and aqueducts of Constantinople.
His PhD. (under Jim Crow’s supervision) explored the evidence for the rise of Christianity in Roman cities. After lecturing at Newcastle University, Richard went on to work in building design and heritage conservation and now works in sustainable construction.
Prof. Jim Crow
Jim Crow is Professor of Classical Archaeology at Edinburgh University with special research interests in Byzantine Archaeology and Roman Frontier Studies. A graduate of Birmingham and Newcastle Universities he has worked in Turkey for over twenty years and recently completed a major research project on the Water Supply of Byzantine Constantinople and the city’s hinterland fortification system ‘the Anastasian Wall’.
He directed the archaeological excavations on Hadrian’s Wall for the National Trust for some 5 years earlier in his career, and has led study tours to Istanbul and lectured on gulet cruises in Lycia and for Cunard around the Eastern Mediterranean. Jim is a marvellous enthusiast and travelling companion, and we are delighted to welcome him to our team of specialist guides.
Dr. Cathie Draycott
Before moving into archaeology, Cathie first trained as an artist with a BFA from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her Doctorate in Classical Archaeology at Oxford University focused on Greek and Roman sculpture and the art and archaeology of Anatolia (ancient Turkey).
She has worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford and is currently lecturing on Classical art at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She is also working on a number of books that focus on the imagery on ancient monumental tombs. Cathie likes nothing better than exploring Turkey’s ancient sites in fine company. We are very pleased to welcome her to our team.
Dr. Alan Greaves
A lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, in 2005 Alan was one of 50 British university lecturers to win a National Teaching Fellowship for their inspiring teaching. There can’t be many archaeologists that have acted as tour guide to American Presidents. Alan Greaves is one of them, having escorted Bill Clinton around Ephesus in Turkey.
He has spent many years excavating sites right across Europe – in France, the UK (at Hadrian’s Wall), and especially in Turkey. He knows western Turkey intimately, having spent 9 summer seasons digging at Miletos, and has written one of the definitive books on the history of this most influential of ancient Greek metropolises.
Dr. Claire Nesbitt
Claire visited Turkey for the first time a decade ago and was captivated by the land and its antiquities. She gained a first class degree in Ancient History and Archaeology before specialising in the Byzantine period. Fascinated by the Byzantine churches she saw in Turkey, she has been studying them ever since, focusing on their archaeology and aesthetics as the subject of her PhD.
Claire has lectured at Newcastle University and Queen’s University Belfast, and is now Research Associate at Durham University. She has worked on a wide variety of archaeological projects in the UK, from Neolithic henges to Hadrian’s Wall, and has led historical tours in Istanbul and Rome. Claire has spent many fieldwork seasons working in Turkey, learning the language, absorbing the culture, and examining the archaeology of Istanbul and Thrace, primarily the fortifications and aqueducts of Byzantine Constantinople. We are extremely pleased she can share her expertise and zest with our guests.
Dr. Michael Scott
A research fellow and affiliated lecturer at Cambridge University, Michael enjoys nothing more than spending time among the sites of the ancient Mediterranean. He also believes passionately in making the ancient world as accessible, relevant and interesting as possible in the 21st century.
Michael has had the opportunity to guest lecture for several cruises, teach undergraduates on site across Greece and Turkey, give lectures across Europe, in the US and Brazil, write books accessible to the non-specialist and present TV documentaries for the History Channel and National Geographic in the US, for the BBC in the UK and for Australian television. His first book, ‘From Democrats to Kings: the downfall of Athens to epic rise of Alexander the Great’ has now been translated into 5 languages, and his second ‘Delphi and Olympia’, was published in 2010 by Cambridge University Press.
Jeremy Seal
Peter first met Jeremy on the gulet Almira when he took part in our very first Sailing the Lycian Shore tour back in 1997. You can read his piece about this gulet cruise for The Sunday Times).
Jeremy is an award-winning travel writer and author of Turkey-based travelogues A Fez of the Heart, and Santa: A Life. Other books include The Snakebite Survivors’ Club, and The Wreck at Sharpose Point. He is a regular contributor to the travel pages of the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Conde Nast Traveller, and numerous other publications. He has presented TV documentaries and is a regular on radio programmes like Radio 4’s ‘Excess Baggage’. He has tutored on numerous residential courses in creative travel writing, and is a charming and witty host with an extensive knowledge of the Turkish coastline.
Dr. Nigel Spivey
Peter had the good fortune of directing Nigel a few years back in a documentary about Britain’s ancient monuments. We are absolutely delighted that he is one of our tour leaders.
Nigel is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, where he teaches Classical Art and Archaeology. His books include The Ancient Olympics, Greek Art, and Panorama of the Classical World. A renowned TV presenter, his credits include How Art Made the World (BBC), Kings and Queens, and Heroes of World War II. He’s also an experienced tour lecturer. His knowledge and passion make him an ideal guide in bringing Turkey’s past to life.
Dr. Jennifer Tobin
Peter met Jennifer digging at the ancient city of Issus back in 1994 at the end of his Alexander the Great walk in Turkey. We are delighted she is part of our team.
Jennifer is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has dug in Turkey, Israel, and Greece, speaks Greek and Turkish, and published widely on everything from Roman architecture in Syria to Alexander the Great as a builder. A renowned tour leader, noted for her passion and enthusiasm, she has been leading trips in Turkey since 1993 for companies and institutions such as the Smithsonian.
