Religious Sites

9-day, 8-night “moderate”-level walking tour. Avg. 7-8 miles daily. Monthly departures May-October 2022.

10-day, 9-night archaeological tour of mainland Greece. Departures May 7 & Sept. 10, 2022. “Moderate” fitness level required. Group limit, 10-22. Highlights: Transfer from Athens to Nafplio for ruins at Tiryns, Mycenae, Fortress of Palamidi/5th-century Temple of Apollo in Arcadian mountains/temples of Zeus, Hera at Olympia/Oracle of Delphi on Mt.

My husband, Bill, and I took a 13-day tour of Egypt with Collette (Pawtucket, RI; 800/340-5158, www.gocollette.com) in March 2017 that cost around $5,000 for both of us. We used airline miles for the plane tickets. 

We had both been to Cairo several times working as airline employees and had toured the city, but neither of us had been up the Nile. This trip was a “bucket item,” our chance to really see Egypt.

Located in northern Norway, over 215 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the city of Tromsø, is a landmark known as the Arctic Cathedral, also called Tromsdalen Church. Completed and consecrated in 1965, the church — shown in our October mystery photo — was built with cast-in-place aluminum-coated concrete panels that were based on a design by architect Jan Inge Hovig.

8 days, 7 nights in GREECE, April 18-25, 2022. Highlights: In Athens, Acropolis and museum, Parthenon, Kerameikos cemetery, ruins of Eleusis, visit to potter’s workshop/on Aegina, 2,500-year-old Temple of Aphaia, Byzantine Omorfi Ekklisia (“Beautiful Church”)/on Good Friday, watch celebrations in Plaka (oldest section of Athens)/private cooking lesson/Benaki Museum, 11th-century Monastery of Kaisariani/traditional Easter lunch.

On Oct. 3 in Kabul, Afghanistan, a mosque holding prayers for Taliban officials was bombed. Three people were killed, and multiple injuries were reported. The Islamist militant group Daesh (ISIL) was blamed for the attack.

On Oct. 8 in the city of Kunduz, a suicide bombing in a Shia mosque with over 300 worshippers killed at least 50 people and injured more than 100. Daesh was again blamed.

11-day, 10-night cultural tour. Group limit, 2-8. Highlights: In Sofia, Bulgaria, St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, 4th-century Church of St. George, Roman ruins of Serdica/frescoes at Rila Monastery/Tsarevets fortress in Veliko Tarnovo/Klianti House in Plovdiv’s Old Town/wine tasting in Demir Kapija, North Macedonia/Lake Ohrid/in Skopje, Memorial House of Mother Teresa, Mustafa Pasha Mosque, Kale Fortress. $3,340 ppdo. Single supp., $355.

On the Rua do Carmo, in central Porto, Portugal, two churches stand side by side, so close that they appear to be one building. They are the 17th-century Igreja das Carmelitas nunnery and 19th-century Igrejo de Carmo monastery. In fact, the two churches are separated by one of the world’s narrowest houses, no more than one meter wide and yet three stories tall, known locally as the Hidden House.