Introduction by John Julius Norwich

I'm looking forward more than I can say to my two cruises aboard the Aegean Odyssey in 2011, setting sail in May from Athens to Rome and then again in July from Istanbul to Venice.

There are many different ways of getting from Athens to Rome – but to circumnavigate Sicily is the best of the lot. There is no more magical island in the world: quite apart from its beauty, virtually all the great civilizations of Europe have left their monuments on its soil. And what monuments they are, from the haunting loneliness of Segesta to the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, from Syracuse Cathedral – still essentially the Greek temple from which it grew – to the tiny but miraculous oratories adorned by the greatest stuccoist of them all, Giacomo Serpotta.

"Sicily", said Goethe, "is the key to everything." By the time we reach the home stretch of our journey and find ourselves sailing up that breathtaking Amalfitan coast, we shall know what he meant. And then suddenly, while we are sailing round Sicily, we enjoy a wholly unexpected bonus – a hop across to Malta. I'm always surprised by how few of my friends have been there: the first sight of Grand Harbour is alone worth the trip, and we shall be seeing it as it should be seen – from the water. Make a big effort and be on deck at seven that morning: you will never forget it. 

The itinerary of the second cruise could hardly be more different. We sail through the Dardanelles, pass Mount Athos (that astonishing mountainous peninsula where nothing female has been allowed for well over a thousand years), call in at Thessaloniki and then visit Volos and Patmos – surely the most magical of Greek islands, where St John wrote the Book of Revelation – before spending the day in Athens (the Parthenon is, I am told, at long last free of scaffolding) and – always an excitement – squeezing our way through the Corinth Canal. We call in at Corfu, and then cross the strait to Butrint in Albania to see its superb Greek, Roman and Byzantine monuments.

Finally, as if all this were not enough, we call in at Dubrovnik and – wonder of wonders – Ravenna before ending up in Venice.

There are, I think you will agree, many worse ways of spending a fortnight in summer; and the Mediterranean is so unbelievably rich in wonders that we can none of us ever see them all; we'll just have to visit as many as we can.

I do hope you'll join me on at least one of these cruises – though, come to think of it, why not both?

	The Middle Sea, one of John Julius Norwich's remarkable books about the Eastern and Central Mediterranean, alongside A History of Venice and Byzantium, The Early Centuries, has inspired our outstanding itineraries.  He will be joining us aboard the Aegean Odyssey in May 2011, to accompany our Sicily is The Key to Everything cruise and in July - on The Holy City of Byzantium.
Photo credits: Jonathan Himoff