Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage — Season 1, Episode 8: The Cyclades
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 12 episodes
Episode synopsis
Francesco da Mosto continues his sea tour around the Mediterranean from Venice to Istanbul by visiting the magical, mystical Greek islands known as the Cyclades. First stop is the most sacred island of all, Delos, the birthplace of the god Apollo. Francesco encounters the lions of Delos and the great phalli of Dionysus. On Tinos, a place of miracle and pilgrimage, he meets a woman who crawls on her hands and knees for a kilometre uphill to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for the recovery of her sick husband. The island of Naxos was a key port for the Venetian empire and even the houses feel Italian - a home-from-home for the travel-weary Francesco, who enjoys the island's traditional and very strong liqueur. After a spot of octopus hunting, Francesco arrives at the great sunken, flooded volcano of Santorini which boasts a civilisation older than the Classical world and the best sunset in Greece.
About Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage
Venetian architect and historian Francesco da Mosto sets out from Venice to cross the Mediterranean - following in the wake of his ancestor, the explorer Alvise da Mosto - to discover the cities and islands where Western civilization was born. Sailing in a late nineteenth-century yawl, his journey starts in Venice and finishes in Istanbul. Along the way he takes in spectacular ruins, like the Acropolis in Athens and the Lycian Tombs in Turkey; sacred sites like the monasteries of Mount Athos and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul; and beautiful Dubrovnik (destroyed and rebuilt in the last decade). Ancient history and bygone legends intertwine as Francesco visits these wonderful ancient sites, bringing the past vividly to life, and taking viewers on a thrilling cultural odyssey.