Greece Travel: Travelers Reviews
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Greece Travel: Travelers Reviews
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Dick Caldwell's Sporades ToursYour article about the difference between being on your own in Turkey and taking a tour was great. But how about
a tour for people who don't like tours? We had the best of both worlds in July 2001, on a two week non-tour, tour. We traveled with Dick Caldwell,
who runs Sporades Tours. Dick is a retired Classics professor, who has been taking groups to Turkey (and Greece)
for more than 25 years. He actually bills his trips as "tours for people who don't like tours" which
is one of the things that attracted us to his trip. Dick is a fabulous guide, speaking without ever referring
to notes, about everything from the ancient world to the current political situation in Turkey. We saw fabulous sites, never ate in a restaurant where there
was another tour group (and had fabulous food every time), and enjoyed every minute of the trip. Anyone considering
a trip to Turkey should consider going with Sporades Tours. I've been on lots of varying degrees of "tours". I've backpacked across Uganda and slept in tents in fields with a group of friends and done it all ourselves. And I've been on Wilderness Travel/Mountain Travel Sobek-type "soft adventure" trips where, for instance, the group kayaks across open sea for 5-6 hours and camps on an island each night, but the meals are cooked for us, food's provided, tents are ferried to the islands. And everything in between. The common thread throughout all organized trips was varying degrees of control on the part of the organizer and a certain amount of physical-type adventure and concern for safety/liability. I read about Dick's trips in the Washington Post, it sounded like a good idea, I signed up. Yes, it was organized and he knew where we were going to be from day to day, meal to meal. But with Dick, you were to show up when he said to (even tho he never was anywhere near on time) and participate and if you decided to do something stupid like do a double-back flip from the top of the mast on the goulet, then go for it! And he just may do it, too. Or he may come in from an evening out in the taverns at 4 AM, and show up at the bus with a beer in his hand. If you're a raving prude or a stickler for rules and punctuality, Dick's tours aren't for you. If you're open to doing things on a tour the normal tour doesn't do, and, by the way, get the most thorough education on Greek and Roman mythology anybody could ever want, then they are. You have to be open-minded. He expects everybody to be adults. One couple traveling with us had been on 6 other trips with him. I could tell lots more stories, but won't. So, yes, his customers will probably rave about him at the same time they're saying he's a raving maniac. Both are true. He's a truly liberated creature who's not hidebound by any stringent rules. I'd probably go on one of his trips again if I wanted another trip exploring ruins that most tourists never hope to see. You should go on one of his trips and see for yourself - - - Matt,
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